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Ampersands, ampersands, ampersands! Yay, typography!

A bold ampersand motif sits on the wrist and the back of the left hand, while a line of text along the outer edge of the right hand identifies the character by name. Or both hands have an ampersand, and the text is on the palm - it’s totally up to you. For extra fun, why not add some stripes?

This design is my Ravelry namesake. As these mittens are a heavier weight of yarn, I deviated from my regular font of choice (Raleway Thin!) towards something a little more substantial to create a unisex colourwork mitten that would be lovely for budding male and female typography enthusiasts to wear.

These mittens are reversible for easy wear and can easily be converted into lined fingerless gloves: follow the guidance of the pattern and then complete a 3-needle bind off with stitches picked up from the second-last row of the outer mitten.

Size varies based on yarn and needle size used. This is a 64-stitch chart. For a 7” circumference hand, a 7.75” outer mitten should be knit to be lined comfortably. This mitten would need a gauge of just under 8 stitches per inch. Using worsted (more densely knit than normal to stop the wind) or sport weight yarn, one of the needle sizes listed above should be close to this gauge.

As always, adjusting your gauge and yarn weight to fingering (10 sts/in for 6.5” circumference), DK (7 sts/in for 8.75” circumference), or worsted (6 sts/in for 9.5” circumference) allows this chart to fit almost everyone as desired.

Yardage requirements are for worsted-weight yarn and exclude any yarn used for a liner: expect to add between 150-200 yards (about 50 grams) of heavy fingering weight to the posted range. 85 grams of MC and 25 of CC should be enough for this project if colours are not reversed. To be use two 50 gram skeins, reverse the MC and CC on your second mitten.

Disclaimer:
This mitten chart is not intended to be a complete pattern and is not recommended for non-adventurous beginners. Those without prior experience knitting Selbu-style mittens should consult some of the excellent tutorials available on Ravelry and YouTube. These mittens have long stretches between colours around the ampersand design that are not particularly suitable for beginner colourwork or intarsia. I suggest anchoring your floats every four to five stitches and adding a lining: a liner will form a loosely knit but stable layer of fabric to hold in heat while hide your colourwork floats. They’re truly the best of both worlds, and a great excuse to affordably use a luxury yarn!

This free pattern is provided for personal use only and remains the property of ampersand designs. Should you wish to sell items you have knit based on this pattern, please provide a reference tag crediting ampersand designs as the pattern designer prior to item sale.
For more information about text particulars or if you have any other questions please contact & through Ravelry or 4mpersand.designs@gmail.com.