Magnificent Mittens

In this book, Zilboorg teaches how to make beautiful mittens with long warm gauntlets. These are not hard to knit, and a nice item to learn new techniques. These reverse the standard method - cuff to tips, being knit from the fingertips to the cuff, rather like Turkish folk socks.

Zilboorg teached a variety of possibilities for significant parts of mittens. She includes detailed instructions for cast on techniques that are illustrated with both line drawings and photographs.

She teaches several different kinds of thumbs. First is the peasant thumb, which matches and blends into the patterns on the palm - she calls it "the invisible thumb". Second is a thumb that sticks out from the side of the mitten, which she calls "the sore thumb". show more Third is the more standard "gusseted thumb", which she includes in only a couple mittens.

And she includes several different finishing techniques for the cuff edges. The colors she uses are extravagant and exciting. She also makes pairs of mittens that don't match, but rather complement each other, using the same colors in different ways.

Zilboorg encourages experimentation. You can adapt any of the three thumbs to any of her mitten patterns, as you prefer. Use whatever colors suit your taste. And complete your mittens with or without gauntlet, and with any of the several finishing techniques and embellishments, among them knit picots and braided knitting.

I've made several pairs of mittens using the methods i learned from this book. And i return to it again and again for hints on techniques and inspiration. show less