Dense and squooshy, with eye-catching patterning - fun to knit and perfect for keeping your hands warm when it’s really cold. These mittens are knitted using Marlisle, a combination of two yarns held together to make a marl and worked separately as stranded colourwork (aka fairisle) to create pops of patterning. Because you are always carrying both yarns around, you have both colours available at all times and can have long distances between the single-yarn colour patterning, without worrying about floats.

This technique is particularly satisfying for working seamless projects in the round, as these mittens are. They can be worked as a twinned pair (as pictured) with Yarn A and B being reversed for the second mitten, or as an identical pair. Aside from the possibility of a colour reversal, left and right hand are worked the same. There is a thumb gusset and the top of the hand and thumb taper for improved fit. To add an extra layer of interest, the decorative ‘A’s are worked with travelling stitches to create a fabric that is on a sort of bias - decreased stitches are replaced by increases. Visually, the two ‘A’s in ‘AIA’ mirror the construction of the mittens.

Cuff circumference: 16.75cm/6½”
Cuff length: Adjustable, 6cm/2½” suggested
Palm circumference: 20cm/8”
Length (from cast-on edge to tip of mitten): Adjustable, but at least 17cm/6¾” long
Gusset length (from top of cuff to where sts are put on hold for Thumb): Adjustable, 5.5cm/2¼” suggested
Thumb length: Adjustable

The AIA Mittens were first designed for the 2017 Oslo Knitting Festival Magazine. The version that appears in the festival magazine uses Hillesvåg Ullvarefabrikk, Huldra Kamgarn (light 4ply/light fingering; 100% wool; 425m per 100g), a lighter weight yarn. The individual pattern has been revised using Rauma Finull. It has a new layout (by Kristin Blom aka (/people/LadyRowena) and chart, having been re-edited, tested and photographed (through the lens of Saskia de Feijter, aka (/people/SASKnitsItAgain)) since appearing in the magazine. Rauma Finull is a more standard 4ply/fingering weight that is easier to track down outside of Norway. It is used in the mittens pictured here.

If substituting yarn, there’s no need for the yarns you plan to use in combo to be the same brand, breed or spin type as each other, but this pattern will work best if they are a very similar weight to each other.

To be able to get a pair of mittens from two 50g balls of Rauma Finull yarn, quantities are not overly generous. If you tend to use more yarn than specified or want bigger mittens, you may want to get two 50g balls of each of Yarn A and B.

Pick two visibly different coloured yarns for A and B. You will get the most impact if the colours vary clearly in both saturation/tone and colour. Interesting effects can be achieved with more subtle variation.