It’s always fun to connect with other folks in the industry, and at Stitches West in February I had the chance to hang out a little bit with Amy Gunderson, creative lead at Universal Yarn. Amy is not only extremely talented, she’s also hilarious, with a dry sense of humor that I adore. Recently she sent me a copy of her new book, Crocheted Mitts & Mittens: 25 Fun and Fashionable Designs for Fingerless Gloves, Mittens, and Wrist Warmers
The first thing you’ll notice when you look at Amy’s book is that it’s got a lot of patterns — 25 in all. I love how the Ravelry listing shows each mitten or wrister against a relatively plain background, with the hand flat, because it makes it easy to see and compare all of the various designs.
(That one is called Holey Color and uses a lace stitch to showcase a multicolored sock yarn.)
Another thing that you notice right away is the unbelievable variety of styles and techniques used in the patterns. Lace, colorwork, cables, embellishment, texture… it’s all included! If you like regular mittens, you can find them; if you like wristers with individual fingers, you’ve got it; if you want a decorative wrister, you’ll find options like Adorn:
My favorite design in the book: these adorable robot mittens:
I also like the Little Victory pattern, which uses shells to make a dramatic long gauntlet:
and the Houndstooth Mittens:
Frolic features a charming ribbon embellishment, along with crossed stitches, eyelets and texture.
The Radiate mitts feature clever construction, working from the thumb out — a great use for the flexibility of crochet, and the perfect use for a self-striping yarn:
The Emotimitts have removable emojis so you can tell the world how you feel on any given day:
The Ode to Bruges mitts feature a lovely lace pattern inspired by Belgian bobbin lace from the 17th and 18th centuries.
In addition to a variety of techniques, there are a variety of yarn gauges, from fingering on down to worsted, so if you’re looking for crocheted handgear, you’ll definitely want to check this book out.
If you are reading this and saying “Dayum, I don’t crochet” you should be advised that Amy also published a book of knitted mitts and mittens last year. It also features a very wide variety of techniques, yarn gauges and styles, and honestly, these fish mittens are worth the price of admission all by themselves:
You can check out the rest of the knitted designs in Knitted Mitts & Mittens: 25 Fun and Fashionable Designs for Fingerless Gloves, Mittens, and Wrist Warmers
