This pattern was in test-knitting phase for quite a while but the free Ravelry download is finally here!

The dancing stick figures on the outside of the muff are from the Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of the Dancing Men,” found in The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. They are part of an alphanumeric substitution cipher used by the villain of the story to hide messages in plain sight. I have used them to encode my knitting chart with the words “Baker St” and “Irreglr”, so you can proclaim your allegiance to the greatest sleuth of all time whenever you carry this muff. The color work on the outside is charted.

The muff has an inside pocket for a phone or small wallet, plus ribbing around the openings to keep out the cold air (but not much, not like a sock stuck on the end, because that’s just annoying). It also has a clever wrist strap for when you’re not wearing it. The inner layer is thrummed with alpaca roving; the loose alpaca tufts are sandwiched and sewn in between the outer and inner knitted layers.

The recommended yarn contains New Zealand possum fiber, for added warmth and a lovely texture, but any worsted weight yarn will do.