Harmony Mitts

The Harmony Mitts are an excellent introduction to thumbs, as well as cables! This guide has some supplemental information that you may find useful.

Notes

Naming System: To accommodate left handed knitters who mirror knit, we're trying to get away from designating garments as a "right mitt" or "left mitt" - it's extra confusing for them because their right mitt is actually a left mitt. So instead, we're using "first" and "second" mitt. If you're a right handed knitter, your first mitt will be your left mitt, and for left handed knitters, your first mitt will be your right mitt. 

Gauge: While we list a recommended gauge, these mitts are super stretchy and the mitts work up quickly. So we recommend using your first mitt as your swatch. Cast on and knit a few inches, then check the fabric and mitt to make sure you like it. 

Yarn choice: We chose an amazing Cashmere yarn in fingering weight for this design. However, cashmere blooms when washed, so if you're subbing out another yarn, like wool, you might want to consider a sport weight. Using fingering weight wool will likely require a smaller needle (ours did!) and that makes your mitts smaller. For us, the smaller mitts worked fine, but they may not for you. Here's what some of our testers did:

  • Malabrigo Arroyo (Sport Weight) on US 4/3.5 mm (met gauge, good look & fit))
  • Less Traveled Yarn Paloma (Fingering Weight) on US 4/3.5 (fabric was loose, mitts were small)
  • Mad Tosh Pashmina (Sport Weight) on US 6/4 mm (met gauge,  super happy with look & fit)

Size and Fit

These mitts are incredibly stretchy! The smaller size is recommended for most adult hands size XS/S/M/L (many women's hands and some men's hands) and the larger size is recommended for XL/2XL/3XL (some larger women's hands and many larger men's hands). Most people won't need to modify, but the easiest way to make modifications are to go up or down a needle size. If more drastic modifications are needed, you can insert an extra 8 stitches (4 on the front needle and 4 on the back needle.) To lengthen at the wrist, repeat rounds 2-13 an integer number of times (and to shorten, omit rounds 2-13). 

Magic Loop

If you haven't worked Magic Loop before, it's a nice way to keep stitches grouped together in specific ways. We like it because it can make some patterns a little easier to follow. But by all means, use the method that works best for you! This video shows the mechanics of working Magic Loop on a sock for both right- and left-handed knitters.

Thumbs

These mitts show you how to make a thumb gusset, which is an essential part of mitts, mittens, and gloves! When you get to the Lower Hand Sections, you're going to increase one stitch on each side of the thumb on every other row. 

Once you've made room for your thumb, you'll bind off the thumb stitches while knitting in the round, then knit the stitches on each side of the thumb gusset together to make a hole for your thumb. 

Cables without a cable needle

There are lots of ways to work cables without a cable needle. Alison loves this method, where you rearrange your stitches first to get them in the right order, then work your cable. This method can be used for just about any cable, but as the cables get wider (and as gauge gets tighter), it gets more difficult. It's also more difficult when working with 2 strands as shown in this video, because you have to get all the loops. But with a little practice, it works out!

The general rules are 

  • when doing a RIGHT CROSS, slip stitches knitwise through the front
  • when doing a LEFT CROSS, slip stitches knitwise through the back

If you're doing a 1x1 right cross, you slip 2 stitches knitwise through the front, then slip each stitch back to the holding needle one at a time. If it's a 2x2 right cross you slip 4 stitches knitwise through the front, then slip 2 stitches together back to the holding needle, untwisting, and the slip the remaining 2 together, untwisting.