I want to tell you a little secret about how I swatch for mittens… I just start knitting the pattern. Of course I know it’s important to get the gauge right but honestly to get the gauge “in the round” you need to make something the size of a mitten. As for picking colors, it’s true that you can make a little square of the pattern but if you think you’ve got the colors that you want, you could just start knitting the mitten. 

This idea of skipping the swatch or having the mitten be the swatch works well with a lot of my patterns because I like to start the cuffs with colorwork. Stella Nova Mitts have very long cuffs—6 inches of colorwork before you get to the wrist. The cuffs are knitted with Size 3 needles so they are looser than other mittens that I have designed. 

With such long cuffs these mitts were not designed to be practical—am I stating the obvious? They were designed to be a fun explosion of stars.

Here is the free pattern for you to enjoy.