Shetland Marl Mittens free pattern

I finished the mittens that I had blogged about on Friday... so I'll share the pattern, in case anyone's intereted in making these! They're actually quite cozy and warm! They're called 'Shetland Marl' for two reasons: firstly, because the yarn they're made from is Paton's Shetland Chunky, and secondly, because the colours happened to be called 'marl' - in different shades.

Cozy Shetland Marl Mittens

materials needed:

- leftover Paton's Shetland Chunky in 5 different colours

- 6mm straight needles

- a crochet hook or needle to stitch the peices all together

Tension 15sts = 4" (10cm) using 6mm needles

Pattern:
Deside, firstly, which of your 5 colours will be Colour A, B, C, D, and E. These could be 5 different colours, or just 5 different dye lots, it doesn't make a lick of difference in this case.

Front Panel:
- Cast on 12 stitches in colour A. Rib in K1, P1 manner for 5 rows.
- Next row: K1, P1 in the 1st stitch. K3, pick up 1 st, K3, and K1,P1 in the last stitch. (16sts)
- Purl next row.
- St st (knit 1 row, purl 1 row) for 2 inches from ribbing.
- Knit side: bind off 2 stitches. This will accomodate thumb. Knit accross. (14sts)
- Continue in St st for desired length of hand, less 1 inch.
to decrease/round top of mitten:
- K2tog, K4, K2tog, K to end of row.
- P2tog, purl across.
- row 3: Dec 1 @ beg, K2, K2tog, K to end.
- row 4: P2tog, purl across.
- row 5: bind off.
Repeat this with colour B. To save time, you can knit both of these panels at the same time on the same needle.

Back Panel:
do the same as front panels using colours C and D respectively, BUT when binding off the two stitches to accomodate thumb, do so on the PURL side, not the knit side.

Thumb: (worked top down) - make 2
- Cast on 4 stitches with colour E. Purl 1 row.
- K1, P1 in the first stitch, K1, pick up 1 stitch, K1, K1 P1 in the last stitch.
- Purl next row.
- K1, P1 in first stitch. *K1, pick up 1* x4. K1, and K1, P1 in last stitch.
- St st for 1.75 inches
- K2 tog or P2 tog at the beginning of each row, and continue to work in pattern using this decrease until 4 sts remain, bind off.

Now, it's a matter of sewing/stitching everything together. I suggest using some pins or something to help lay out each mitten. Make sure that the wrong sides are facing out and thumb gussets are facing each other, it'll be turned inside out so that the seams are hidden inside the mitt. It may be easier to stitch up the thumb first, the closing seem will be at the top of the thumb. Secondly, stitch together the part of the mitt between the bottom of ribbing and the thumb gusset, thirdly stitch in the thumb, and then fourthy around your mitt (if that all makes sense!). Be sure not to close the thumb up!

I hope these instructions were clear enough... Paton's Shetland Chunky has a lot of yardage to it... I had originally knit a toque from each skein colour, had enough yardage to knit each respective mitten pannel in a different colour, and still had yarn left over in each.