Striped Thumbless Baby Mittens Knitting Pattern

After a few months of experimenting and testing, our newest knitting pattern has been released! It's a playful twist on our traditional thumbless mini mittens for babies. 

This striped version is knitted in the round with a lightweight 3 yarn. I chose K+C Smooth because it knits up so nicely for something this delicate. There's a wide variety of colorful and neutral options for creating many stripe combinations.

Since knitting in the round is actually a spiral, it can be tricky to keeps stripes looking even with a "step" in between rows. As always, Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book helped me figure out how to solve this tricky problem!  This pattern uses the jogless join technique to keep the striped rows even. 

Buy the pattern on Etsy

Shop finished striped mittens

The Year of the Striped Afghan

Last year I taught myself to crochet one afghan at a time. This year I continued to practice crocheting, mostly the double crochet stitch, and expanded on my stripe variations.

Treble Crochet and Shell Stitch

I picked up where I left off last year with the treble crochet stitch AND experimented with adding a shell stitch border.

Two Blue Stripe Projects

Next I made two blue striped afghans in a row. They were slightly different colors but both in double crochet. The first was a gift. I finished it the night before it was to be given (nothing like coming in just under the wire) and forgot all about taking a picture.

Here's the second one:

Strawberries and Cream

Another double crochet project, I made this one in shades of pink and cream. It was pretty popular on Instagram - I'm thinking of releasing a pattern for this one. What do you think?

Burgundy and Fuchsia 

This time I experimented with some less traditional baby colors. It's another double crochet afghan with bolder stripes.

You can view more of my projects on Ravelry.

Shop baby blankets

Top Knitted Gift Picks of 2018 and USPS Holiday Shipping Deadlines

There's no need to panic if you haven't finished (or started) your Christmas shopping. You can order as late as December 21 and packages shipped within the continental U.S. will still make it in time for the holiday. 

The USPS has provided the following shipping deadlines for the continental U.S. (orders must be placed on the day prior):

• First-Class Mail - Dec. 20 (order by Dec. 19)
• Priority Mail - Dec. 20 (order by Dec. 19)
• Priority Mail Express - Dec. 22 (order by Dec. 21)

The shipping deadline for First-Class and Priority Mail International is Dec. 8 (order by Dec. 7) for Australia/New Zealand, Canada, and Europe.

And here are a few gift ideas for anyone and any budget. They all ship free!

green scarf | more scarves

red headband | more colors

gray mittens for adults | for kids

bag charm

wool newborn hat

white baby afghan | more blankets

burgundy baby mittens | more colors

View the Marion's Mittens Etsy shop

Busy November & Sign up for Savings!

We've been having a busy and fun November! The month kicked off with a wedding in the family and over the weekend we celebrated a milestone birthday. There hasn't been a whole lot of time for knitting but I've squeezed in just a little bit.

THN Feature

The month kicked off with a guest blog post on the Hook Nook. I shared my strategies for selling handmade items when you also have a full time day job. Read the post.

Custom Knitting

No matter how many pairs of mittens we knit and keep stocked in our shop, someone's bound to request a custom order. This hat will be worn by a toddler during his family photo shoot over Thanksgiving! View Marion's Mittens on Etsy.

Big Sales Happening Soon!

Our best and biggest sale is always during Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend. Marion loves a coupon and always shops on sale, so we like to extend the opportunity to our loyal shoppers! Sign up to receive our biggest promo code of the year in your inbox.

Knitted Items at the County Fair - 2018 Edition

This year marked my fourth year entering handmade items in the county fair and the second year of entering some items for Marion. It's always exciting to see if we win any ribbons and to find out what comments the judges leave for our items.

Knitted Baby Sweater

Marion's baby sweater took first place! She recently gave me this vintage cardigan to list on our Etsy shop. It's yellow with an extra special white detail along the top. She's been knitting baby sweater sets in this pattern for more than 70 years. The judge's note? "Perfect."

Knitted Hat

Marion's baby bonnet is knitted to match the sweater set, although I entered a plain white one that didn't match the yellow sweater. It won second place!

Knitted Baby Booties

These booties are typically part of the sweater and bonnet set. They won second place.

Scarf

My super soft and textured purple cowl received a second place ribbon. I wasn't sure how it'd do since it's not a traditional scarf. I'm glad the judges liked it as much as I do!

Children's Mittens

I made a last-minute decision to enter a pair of our thumbless mini mittens instead of a pair of kids' mittens like I usually do. It turned out to be the right decision! My mini mittens took first place in this class.

Interested in trying to make a pair of these yourself? The pattern is on Ravelry and Etsy!

4-Needle Mittens

This class was a head-to-head competition for us. I entered a pair of mittens that Marion made as well as a pair I've been working on this summer. Marion's were made from Caron Simply Soft Party in Fuchsia Sparkle and I used an alpaca fiber. I knitted the thumbs onto my mittens the night before entries had to be dropped off. They were a bit small but I didn't have time to do them over.

Marion, the original mitten maker, won the class! My mittens were right behind in second place. It was the perfect way to close out the fair and the summer.

More fun at the fair: 2017 | 2016 | 2015

Learning to Crochet, One Stitch and One Afghan at a Time

Crocheting was never something I was interested in - but then again, neither was knitting. After learning how to make mittens the closest I got to crochet was chaining strings to connect mittens.

Never say never. There are some crochet projects I'm looking at for the future but just don't have the skills to do. So, I picked up a hook and some of my trusty Caron Simply Soft, and started learning to crochet. My teachers were a combination of some great tutorials on YouTube and a crochet stitch book I picked up in the clearance section of Barnes & Noble.

In order to really learn the stitches and commit them to finger muscle memory, I decided to one baby afghan per crochet stitch. Boredom or project fatigue can be a problem for me and so striped afghans seemed to be a good idea. Yes, there were ends to weave in - but stripes kept it interesting.

Single Crochet

I started at the beginning with single crochet stitch. This was the most time consuming of the three I've learned so far. It also produced the heaviest, thickest, nicest blanket of the bunch. It sold the same day it was listed to a customer who already had a similar afghan that my aunt made and sold in our shop! Details on Ravelry.

Half Double Crochet

Silly me, I thought that double crochet would be the next stitch in my crochet adventure. Turns out there is a stitch in between single and double and it's called half double. This blanket went faster than the first and I had fun playing with blue hues. My biggest challenge was learning that there are a few extra chains required at the end of each row. When I realized it was starting to be shaped like a pyramid, I ripped out, learned, and started again.

Double Crochet

My third stitch was the double crochet. This one produced results the fastest since each row is considerably taller than those made from the other crochet stitches I've tried. Of course, the tradeoff is that the afghan is less dense and the holes are larger, but it's light and fluffy and of course super soft thanks to the Caron Simply Soft yarn. I went with purples again since the first afghan sold so quickly.

Baby afghans in the Marion's Mittens Etsy shop

Looking back... Knitted Baby Wear Photo Shoot

These photos are over a year old, but I thought this would be a fun post to share! My friend had a baby and offered to let me shoot some photos of her wearing some of her knitted hats and sweater. 

Shop knitted wool baby hats

Shop knitted baby sweater sets

New Line of Baby Hats: Knitted from Superfine 100% Merino Wool

I have been asked about hats quite a bit over the years and several months ago I was inspired by some really fine yarn I saw at Joann's. What could I use this yarn for? Baby hats seemed to be the answer.

The yarn is a superfine 100% merino wool by Cleckheaton in Australia. You can read about it here. What I love about this yarn is that it's very soft and doesn't seem as fuzzy/pilly as traditional wool. It is luxuriously soft and smooth. The yarn is very fine and yet it has 8-ply strands woven together for thickness.

The hats are fairly simple but it's the yarn and stitching that sets them apart. In the newborn size, for example, there are 880 stitches in the ribbed band of the hat alone!

The result is a warm, soft garment that will keep your baby's head warm. Using a fine yarn means that the hat isn't too bulky.

I have spent some time designing my own hat pattern (with matching mittens, of course). As of this blog post I am up to three sizes:

• Small preemies
• Preemies or small newborns coming home from the hospital
• Newborns

Shop wool hat & mittens sets

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope you have a great start to a fresh, new year.

We launched many new things late in 2016. Maybe you will want to give them a try in 2017!

Here's what's new...

Crochet Top Dish Towels

set of 2 crochet top dish towels

Handy dish towels hang from crochet top that fastens with an upcycled button. These are full dish towels with a crochet hanger down the middle. The dish towels are the same on the front and back.

They come in a set of two - you'll always have one clean and one in the wash. Or you can give one to a friend!

Shop crochet dish towels.

Knit Headbands

knit headband trios

Our knitted headbands come in sets of three - you'll get one light purple, one charcoal gray, and one blue teal. Keep them all or share with your friends and family! They are cozy, soft, and stretchy to help you get through the upcoming chill in January and February.

Shop knitted headbands.

Wool Baby Hats & Mittens

wool baby hat & mittens sets

We recently started knitting baby hats from 100% superfine merino wool. They are luxuriously soft and made from natural fibers! Sets are available in white for preemies and newborns. They make wonderful new baby gifts.

Shop wool baby hats & mittens.

What should we add in 2017? Let us know in the comments.  :)

New Knitted Baby Afghans in the Shop

I just finished a photo shoot for some new baby afghans that are now available in the shop. These colors look pretty together or on their own.

purple, white and green baby afghans

These baby afghans each measure 34" x 44" and are knitted in a basketweave pattern.

green baby afghan

My aunt makes these baby blankets soft and cozy. Lots of people buy the white ones for baptisms or christenings. They also make great baby gifts!

white baby afghan

All of our afghans are made from 100% acrylic yarn. Acrylic is soft, doesn't have the allergen issues associated with wool, and can be machine washed and dried.

purple baby afghan

Shop all baby afghans

Visit the Marion's Mittens Etsy shop

Customer Photos: Babies Wearing Sweaters & Mittens

We love it when our customers share photos of our knitted mittens and other items being worn. Here are some photos submitted by our customers this year. Faces blurred to protect the innocent.  ;)

a baby boy in one of our baby sweater sets

a young gentleman wearing a pair of our mini mittens

a big baby boy in a pair of our mini mittens

Looks like lots of people are having baby boys these days!

If you have ordered something from us, please consider sharing a photo. It helps us see how our items fit a variety of ages and sizes. It's especially tough for us to guess how mittens and sweaters will fit babies and kids, so if we can see them wearing the items, we can reconfigure our sizing or update our suggestions accordingly. This helps everyone to have a better experience.

Feel free to share your photos with us on social media @MarionsMittens (Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter) or via email at Marions.Mittens@gmail.com.

Shop Marion's Mittens

New Afghans on Etsy! Baby Gifts

I know I just blogged about our afghans last week but since then two new ones have been added to the shop, and you've got to see them. These aren't your typical pastel baby blankets!

First up is my favorite, this lavender basket weave knit:

The color is just perfect! I would love it for myself as a lap afghan. It would also make a great gift for a new mom to a girl. Not all girls love pink, you know! (Especially this one right here.)

The second new afghan is in royal blue. We had a custom order in this color a few months ago. It's a nice alternative to pastel blue for a baby boy.

Like what you see? You can see more baby afghans at the Marion's Mittens Etsy shop!

Cozy Afghans for Chilly Fall Nights

It's starting to get chilly here but I'm not ready to turn on the heat just yet! I try to wait until the end of October for that since heating costs are high. Instead, I snuggle up with cozy blankets!

There are many afghans in our shop right now. Although these are listed as baby afghans, they would be perfect to tuck around yourself as a lap afghan while you watch TV or read.

Here are a few of our color choices:

cream afghan

blue ombre afghan

pink and blue afghan

Shop all afghans

Click here for our white afghan