Celestial Mittens + Hand Warmers
When Swedish designer, Kajsa Vuorela, knits up celestial motifs, her mind is on the swirling, majestic beauty of the northern skies. For her Celestial Mittens + Hand Warmers, Kajsa has scaled down that awesomeness, fitting your own night sky into the palms of your hands.
Kajsa’s colorwork does a marvelous job of evoking traditional beauty with a modern flair, so wonderfully twinkly and starlit!
To make a set of your own, you start with the bottom cuff, then follow along with a colorwork chart, bind off and cast on for the thumb opening, then finish with ribbing for a hand warmer or decreases for a mitten. Don’t forget the thumb, then it’s on to the next one!
Kajsa chose our Linen Quill for its natural integrity and also because it comes in so many dozens of beautiful colors… The sky is the limit! You’ll need just one skein of each color for a child or adult pair of truly celestial mittens or hand warmers!
Designed for Purl Soho by Kajsa Vuorela, @tornedalsfrun.
Share your progress + connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoCelestialMittensAndHandWarmers, and #PurlSohoLinenQuill. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
- Purl Soho’s Linen Quill, 50% fine highland wool. 35% alpaca, and 15% linen. Each skein is approximately 439 yards/ 100 grams.
- Main Color (MC): 1 skein; approximately 75 (125) yards required for Mittens or 65 (105) for Hand Warmers. We used Kiln Red for the Mittens, Red Poppy for one set of Hand Warmers, and Bright Flamingo for the other.
- Contrast Color (CC): 1 skein; approximately 65 (110) yards required for Mittens or 45 (70) for Hand Warmers. We used Pale Oats for the Mittens, Peony Pink for the Red Poppy Hand Warmers, and Honey Pink for the Bright Flamingo ones.
- A set of US 2 (2.75 mm) double pointed needles
- A set of US 1½ (2.5 mm) double pointed needles
- A stitch marker
- Stitch holders or scrap yarn
Gauge
32 stitches and 31 rounds = 4 inches in stranded colorwork pattern on larger needles
Sizes
Child Medium (Adult Medium)
To fit hand circumference of approximately 6 (8) inches, with no ease
- Finished Circumference at Palm: 6 (8) inches
- Finished Length from Cuff to Tip for Mittens: 8 (10¼) inches
- Finished Length from Cuff to Tip for Hand Warmers: 6¼ (7¾) inches
Samples: The Mittens shown here are Adult Medium, worn with 0 inches of ease. The Red Poppy Hand Warmers are also Adult Medium, worn with 0 inches of ease, and the Bright Flaming Hand Warmers are Child Medium.
Notes
Charts
NOTE: For instructions help with charts, please visit our Reading A Chart tutorial.
Be sure to choose the correct charts for the size you are making, and read charts from right to left, starting at the lower right corner.
Color Dominance
For best results, float the CC under the MC throughout. If you knit with one color in each hand, hold the CC in your left hand and the MC in your right hand.
Pattern
NOTE: Work the following instructions once for Right Hand, then again for Left Hand, adjusting the Thumb placement according to the Hand Chart.
Cuff
With Main Color (MC), cast 42 (56) stitches onto smaller double pointed needles. We used a Long Tail Tubular Cast On, because it’s nice and stretchy, but a basic Long Tail Cast On would also be beautiful (and less complicated!).
Place marker and join for working in the round, distributing stitches evenly among 3 or 4 double pointed needles.
If you use the Long Tail Tubular Cast On, don’t forget to work the two Foundation Rounds below (note that these differ from the ones described in our tutorial). If you use the Basic Long Tail Cast On, skip the Foundation Rounds and begin with Round 1.
Foundation Round 1: *K1, slip 1 purlwise through back loop with yarn in front (wyif), repeat from * to end of round.
Foundation Round 2: *Slip 1 purlwise with yarn in back (wyib), p1, repeat from * to end of round.
Round 1: *K1, p1, repeat from * to end of round.
Repeat Round 1 until Cuff measures 1 inch.
Hand
Change to larger double pointed needles.
Work Rounds 1-16 (22) of Hand Chart (see Notes; see also Color Dominance Note for stranded colorwork advice). [48 (64) stitches]
Work Thumb Hole
Work Round 17 (23) according to Chart up to stitches marked with a red box, place next 9 (13) stitches onto stitch holder or scrap yarn, use Backwards Loop Cast On to cast on 9 (13) stitches in the colors as shown within the box, continue to knit according to Chart to end of round.
Finish Hand: Mittens Only
Work Rounds 18-54 (24-72) of Hand Chart. [4 stitches remain]
Cut yarns.
Thread MC tail onto a tapestry needle and pull through 2 remaining MC stitches. Repeat with CC, pulling tail through 2 remaining CC stitches.
Go on to Thumb section, below.
Finish Hand: Hand Warmers Only
Work Rounds 18-33 (24-45) of Hand Chart.
Cut CC.
Change to smaller double pointed needles.
Round 1: With MC, *k1, p1, repeat from * to end of round.
Repeat Round 1 until ribbing measures 1 inch.
Bind off in pattern. We used a Long Tail Tubular Bind Off, but a Basic Bind Off will also work. If you use the Long Tail Tubular Bind Off, work the following two Foundation Rounds first (they are also described in our tutorial).
Foundation Round 1: *K1, slip 1 purlwise wyif, repeat from * to end of round.
Foundation Round 2: *Slip 1 purlwise wyib, p1, repeat from * to end of round.
Go on to Thumb section, right below.
Thumb
Pick Up + Work Thumb: Mittens Only
Place 9 (13) stitches from stitch holder onto larger double pointed needle.
Join MC and CC.
Pick-Up Round: Work stitches 1-9 (13) of Thumb Chart along stitches from holder, with CC pick up and knit 1 stitch at side of Thumb Hole, pick up and knit 9 (13) stitches along Thumb Hole’s cast-on edge (working in colors of stitches 11-19 (15-27) of Thumb Chart), with CC pick up and knit 1 stitch at side of Thumb Hole. [20 (28) stitches]
Distribute stitches evenly among double pointed needles. Place marker for end of round.
Work Rounds 2-18 (23) of Thumb Chart. [4 stitches remain]
Cut yarns and work last 4 stitches as for Hand.
Pick Up + Work Thumb: Hand Warmers Only
Place 9 (13) stitches from stitch holder onto smaller double pointed needle. Join MC.
Pick-Up Round: Knit 9 (13) stitches from holder, pick up and knit 1 stitch at side of Thumb Hole, pick up and knit 9 (13) stitches along Thumb Hole’s cast-on edge, pick up and knit 1 stitch at side of Thumb Hole. [20 (28) stitches]
Distribute stitches evenly among double pointed needles. Place marker and join for knitting in the round.
Round 1: *K1, p1, repeat from * to end of round.
Repeat Round 1 until ribbing measures ¾ inch.
Bind off in pattern as for Hand.
Finishing
Weave in all ends, closing holes at base of Thumbs. Block as desired.
Thanks for pattern, mitts are perfect for me all winter and whenever it’s cold!! Blessings
Nice patterns. Thank you.
I’d like to make some of these for Christmas gifts.
Ooooh LOVE! Looks like we can squeeze 3 pairs from 2 skeins? Am I mathing this right? 🤣➕
Hi Jordana,
That’s correct! You should be able to make 3 pairs of mittens with 2 skeins of Linen Quill (1 skein for each color). The Adult Medium size requires approximately 125 yards of the Main Color and 110 yards of the contrast color; 3 sets of mittens would require approximately 375 yards of the Main Color and 330 yards of the Contrast Color, and each skein of Linen Quill has approximately 439 yards! I hope this helps you with your project planning!
Warmly,
Kelsey
This pattern is gorgeous! Any suggestions for type of yarn that would be similar weight but is an alternative for those allergic to wool?
Hi Alexis,
Thanks for writing in. We have a good number of options for non-wool fingering weight yarns! I would suggest Buttercup Cotton, which 100% cotton, Cattail Silk, which is 100% silk, or Santolina, which is a blend of cotton, bamboo, and hemp.
As always, we recommend making a gauge swatch before starting a project to be sure you’re working with the right needles, especially when substituting yarns. If this is daunting, I’d recommend checking out a tutorial called All About Gauge, which covers some incredibly helpful information.
I hope these recommendations give you some inspiration!
All the best,
Lili
Thank you so much!!!!! 🙂
Making the Celestial fingerless gloves (adult size). Written instructions say work through round 48; chart says stop after row 45. Please advise which is correct.
Hi Leila,
Thanks for reaching out! Thank you for bringing this to our attention! The chart is correct, you will stop after 45 rows, we have updated the written instructions to reflect this.
Happy knitting!
Gianna
I have a pattern question: when I start the pattern with stitch 1 and knit to the end, there will always be a 1 row offset in the pattern where it starts in row 2 and so on, resulting in a one row distortion of the pattern at this point. I do not see this distortion in the photos, so obviously I am making a mistake there. Can you help me out? Thank you very much.
Hi Vanessa,
Thanks for reaching out! There shouldn’t be any row distortion or an offset in the pattern, so please send the information above along with a clear photo of your work to our customer service team at customerservice@purlsoho.com and they can troubleshoot further what may be causing the offset!
Warmly,
Gianna
I would like to make these mittens in a small child size and wondering if you have any suggestions. It looks like the pattern is over 12 stitches? My thought was to alter the pattern by subtracting 2-3 of the stitches
on the sides(total of 4-6), maintain the pattern and adjust the thumb hole. I love the pattern and hoping I can this figure out!
Hi Heidi,
Thanks for reaching out. I’m afraid that we don’t have the time or resources to make modifications to our patterns ourselves, but it sounds like you already have an idea of how to approach this! Please let us know how it goes if you try it out.
All the best,
Lili
Hello…Row 1 of the colorwork, the gap in the chart 32-40 ..am I increasing 8 times ? it doesn’t say M1 ? AM I using the CC colors?
Thanks
Karen
Hi Karen,
Thanks for your question! Whenever you see a blank spot like this you are meant to ignore it and continue working what’s next. So in this case, you will actually skip that section of stitches on round 1. Once you get to each subsequent round, you will follow the chart to the next set of charted stitches. So for round 1, you will work up to stitch 31, and your next stitch will be stitch 40 of the chart. You don’t need to do anything further. For round 2, you will work up to stitch 31, and your next stitch will be 39 (M1). I hope this helps but please feel free to let me know if you have any other questions!
All the best,
Gavriella
These mittens are beautiful. Would Line Weight work as a substitute for Linen Quill?
Hi Anna,
So happy to hear you are looking to make the Celestial Mittens! Line Weight would make a great substitute for this pattern but we always recommend knitting a gauge swatch to make sure you are happy with the fabric and ensure you can get the same gauge of the pattern for sizing! I hope this helps but let me know if you have any other questions!
Happy making,
Gavriella
Thank you, Gavriella!