Red Fair Isle Fingerless Mitts

I love knitting fair isle. I also love fingerless mitts. So the Red Fair Isle Mitts are just the perfect combination. Fingerless Mitts are just so useful when walking the dog and throwing his sticks. J&S Shetland Heritage is 100% real shetland wool and is a wonderful fibre to knit with. The finished mitts are incredibly light weight yet so very warm and cosy.

The Red Fair Isle Fingerless Mitts are based on the Cunningsburgh Gloves pattern in the Art of Fair Isle Knitting by Ann Feitelson.

I used 4 colours of Jamieson and Smith Shetland Heritage wool.

The main colour is the richly coloured and appropriately named Berry Wine a fabulous deep coloured wine red.

This is contrasted with Flugga White, Auld Gold and Silver Grey. I love how the Silver Grey looks sky blue against the Berry Wine. Isn’t colour alchemy magical.

I used 3mm dpns and cast on 45 sts. I worked 30 rounds of  k2, p1 ribbing for the cuff using the Berry Wine Heritage Shetland wool.

Then I followed the the Cunningsburgh Gloves chart for the fair isle patterned section. I used Berry Wine for the background throughout.

I simplified the fair isle colours with the light colours set against the dark Berry Wine.

• Rounds 1 – 3 were knit using Flugga White.
• Rounds 6 – 10 were knit using Auld Gold.
• Rounds 11 – 15 were knit using Silver Grey.
• Rounds 16 – 20 were knit using Flugga White.
• Rounds 21 – 25 were knit using Silver Grey.
• Rounds 26 – 30 were knit using Auld Gold.
• Rounds 33 – 35 were knit using Flugga White.

After finishing the gorgeous fair isle section, I worked 7 rounds of k2, p1 ribbing then cast off in the rib pattern.

The afterthought thumbs were worked over 18 sts, 9 sts were picked up from below the waste yarn and 9 sts from above the waste yarn. This was a surprisingly fiddly and tricky process for one side of the waste yarn where it was surprisingly difficult to work out which were the correct stitches to pick up.

Once the stitches were picked up, I worked 7 rounds of k2, p1 ribbing then cast off in the rib pattern.

To finish the mitts I wove in the loose ends and then gently washed the Red Fair Isle Fingerless Mitts and dried them flat. This gives the finished fingerless mitts a lovely soft haze and evens out the fair isle knitting.

Oh, and the ginger bread man and hot coffee were delicious on a cold Autumn day.