Quickly-knit mitt

Last time Mike’s sister was visiting, she did not have proper winter hand covers. I have a pair of mittens that I recently finished and she liked, so I decided to make her a similar pair. I used a beautiful rust-colored Ultra Alpaca yarn from Berocco (color #6228), that is 50% super fine alpaca and 50% Peruvian wool, and the pattern below.

I planned to finish the mittens before our next visit – which was this past weekend. As the visit approached, I was only done with the first mitten. Luckily the bus ride to NYC is long. You can see I had just started the second mitten when the bus ride started.

By the time we were approaching our destination, I was almost done with the mitten.

I was able to finish these and surprise the lucky recipient. You can see these mittens were really appreciated!

To create these mittens, I  modified a basic pattern. These fit small female hands.

Basic Mittens for Small Adult Hands
Materials
Size 8 (5mm) double-pointed needles
Worsted weight yarn, at least 100 yards
Stitch holder
Stitch marker

Cuff: Cast on 30 stitches, divided evenly over three needles. Work K1, P1 ribbing for 2 1/2 ”

Begin main pattern: K5 rounds, then begin thumb gusset at beginning of 6th round.

Begin thumb gusset: K1 in front and back of the stitch, M1, K to end of round. K one round even
Increase round: K1, M1, K2, M1, K to end of round.
Knit one round even.
Increase round: K1, M1, K4, M1, K to end of round.
Knit one round even.
Increase round: K1, M1, K6, M1, K to end of round.
Knit one round even.
Increase round: K1, M1, K8, M1, K to end of round.
K one round even.
Next round: Place 11 stitches on stitch holder. Cast on 1 stitch over 11 stitches on holder.

Begin main hand part of mitten: Continue knitting every round until piece measures 6 3/4″ overall (from bottom of cuff).
Top of mitten: Decrease round *K2, K2Tog*; repeat for entire round, ending with K2
K4 rounds even.
Decrease round: *K2, K2Tog*; repeat for round, ending with K3
K1 round even.
Decrease round: *K2Tog*; repeat for all stitches in row
Draw thread through these remaining stitches and pull tight. Weave in the end.

Thumb: Place 11 stitches from holder onto two needles. Leaving long end (~8 inches), pick up 4 stitches in cast-on row (space forming top of thumb opening). Work these 15 stitches of thumb in stockinette stitch until thumb is 2″ long.
Decrease for top of thumb: *K2Tog*; repeating for entire round.
K1 round even.
Decrease round: *K2Tog*; repeating for entire round.
Draw thread through these remaining stitches and pull tight. Weave in end.

Reinforcing thumb: Thread long end from beginning of thumb onto darning needle. Reinforce thumb opening and holes created by thumb gusset. Reinforcing this weak part makes a warmer and stronger mitten.

2nd Mitten work as for first.

Voila!