Fire and Ice
by Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

The lovely Celtic cables and mock cable ribbing wind in opposite directions on each mitt, and twist in mirrored symmetry from elbow to hand. The pattern starts at the arm cuff and includes instructions for short and long mitts, as well as small and large mitts. All measurements are approximate and reflect the relaxed measurement, so they will stretch to be quite a bit larger around for men’s sizing or those with larger arms. The pattern is easily modified to be larger or smaller in diameter by adding or subtracting 4 stitches in twisted ribbing. Once markers are placed, slip markers every round. The cable pattern is based on cable #85 in Vogue Stitchionary, Vol. 2 – “Fire and Ice.”

12/5/10: In making several pairs as Christmas presents, I noticed that even the smaller size seemed to be too big on the hands of most of my friends. I added instructions for an even smaller size and changed the position of the thumb gusset to fit a smaller hand better. For reference, my hand is 7.5” around the palm (not including thumb), 5” from base of palm to first knuckle on my middle finger, and 7.25” from base of palm to top of middle finger. My thumb is 2 3/8” around at the narrowest point.

The updated pattern now has 3 sizes (small, medium, and large) with 2 thumb sizes (small/medium now have 16 total stitches on the thumb, and large has 20 total thumb stitches) and 2 lengths to choose from (short and long.)

Happy holiday knitting!