So I have been on a massive ride with this pattern! My original idea was for a stockinette mitt with stitches picked up from the cuff and worked in a band that wrapped around the hand and wrist and was joined to the top of the mitt before working the cuff – which also inspired the name, Cuibhrichte, which means bound in Scottish Gaelic. Ultimately the design wasn’t working out for me – the strap was too loose in the wrong places, grading it was tricky but I still loved the idea so it was time for a new plan. I remember seeing this dropped stitch braid but I’d only seen it used vertically. I had to find out if it could be worked on a slant and still look good, figure out where to start and finish the braid and how to get it all the way around the hand.
I made up a whole prototype mitt in the left overs from my Goldmead. Unfortunately, although it was meant to be a left hand mitt it actually looked better on the right hand! The braid also sat awkwardly across the heel of my hand but I liked the length of the glove and the top of the braid sat well with the thumb placement and the fit was great. So I sat down with squared paper and marked out the whole of the stockinette part of the glove and used my prototype to figure out where everything should go. It seemed like the best idea was to have two chains, but I really wanted to have one that completely circled the hand. The solution was inspired by all the embroiders I was following on IG – chain stitch! It matches the drop stitch braid perfectly and solved all my problems!
At this point, it was finally time to start for real! I picked Eden Cottage Yarns Hayton 4ply again, this time in Red Kite. It’s truly my favourite yarn for mitts – warm from the merino, super soft thanks to the cashmere and with just a bit of nylon to make it hard-wearing – perfect. The final design worked out beautifully and I flipped the left hand to make the right so they are completely symmetrical. It’s been graded into six sizes from 6” to 8.5” which I hope will fit everyone – there’s not much info out there for hand sizes, if you need a different size do please let me know! The pattern includes photo tutorials for the cast-on, drop stitch braid and chain stitch and I’ve also got the tutorials up here!
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