Elephant? But they are covered in flowers! The name may seem odd, but these mittens really were inspired by elephants. In India, there is a custom of painting ones elephant for special occasions. The chalky-bright paint in floral patterns on the rough grey skin is really stunning, and I wanted to recreate that effect in these mitts. This is why they are named Elephant Mitts.

Knit in the round, from the cuff up. The pattern includes both a chart of the whole mitts, and line by line instructions. Choose the one you prefer to follow, or use both. They use an unusual thumb gusset, with increases on one side. A slim fit makes these mittens very comfortable, you won’t feel like your fingers are swimming about in them or like they want to fall off.

These mittens have some longer floats inside. I do not recommend using a superwash wool yarn, or any fiber that will not felt. You want a “catchy” yarn so the floats will stick to the inside of the mittens. The yarn I used has uniquely short color changes and makes the petals of the flowers different colors. Two skeins will be sufficient to make 3 pairs of mittens (if your friends are anything like mine, trust me - they will want a pair of their own!), with over half of the multicolor yarn left over.