These colourwork mitts are based on a pair knitted in 1846 in the Yorkshire Dales
PENELOPE HEMINGWAY
HISTORIAN PENELOPE Hemingway is an expert on the tradition of Dales glove knitting, and the motifs on her ‘Swaledale Mitts’ were inspired by a historic example called the ‘G.Walton 1846’ gloves. This type of mitt or wristwarmer was sometimes called a ‘muffatee’. “In her unpublished diary, Marie Hartley, the writer of the 1951 book The Old Hand-Knitters of the Dales, commented on a now lost pair that she saw, after the book’s publication: ‘...Mrs Alderson… showed us a pair of muffatees that had come from Mr Alderson’s home. They were knitted like the Swaledale gloves with the date 1867. (Very thick and warm)’”
PATTERN NOTE
LOOPS
You can knit in the loops as you cast on, or sew them on to the finished welt edge later, when the mitts are finished.
MITTS
Using 4mm needles, yarn B and a stretchy cast-on method, cast on 40 sts.
Work Rnds 1-17 of Chart A, joining yarn A when necessary.
Work Rnds 18 to 20 of Chart B, noting the increases at the beg and end of rnd. 44 sts.
Next round: M1P, pm, work Chart B as set to end of rnd.
THUMB GUSSET
You will now work Chart C from Rnd 22, noting the increases at each side on every other round, and continue with Chart B until Rnd 38 of both charts has been worked.
19 thumb sts, 44 hand sts.
Rnd 39: Place 19 thumb sts on waste yarn, cast on 6 sts using yarns A and B as shown in Chart B, work Chart B to end. 50 sts.
Continue working Chart B in the round until Rnd 51 has been completed.
Change to 3mm DPNs. Work rnds 52-55 of Chart B. Cast off 50 sts loosely in rib.
THUMB
Pick up 5 sts along the cast-on edge at the end of the thumb gusset, then return the 19 held thumb sts to your 4mm needle and join to work in the round. 24 sts. Work 1 rnd in yarn B. Next rnd: *K1, P1; rep from * to end. Rep last rnd twice more. Cast off in rib.
LOOPS
Attach loops to the cuffs as per instructions overleaf, using the illustration as a guide. Once you have added the loops,
