Inspired by cabin fever and the polar vortex, Helianthus will warm your hands and bring cheer and color into the winter knitting landscape. The colorwork design uses both stranding and duplicate stitch. Substitute colors and create your own flower garden. Note that the actual yarn amounts for each of the contrast colors ranges between 40 and 100 yards each. Main Color uses approximately 200 yards. Any fingering weight yarns may be used to make these mittens.

Helianthus is a standard round top mitten with thumb gussets, and is worked entirely from charts. Separate charts are available for left and right mittens. It will be helpful, but not necessary, to be familiar with stranded knitting (especially holding two yarns, either in both hands or one hand), duplicate stitch, and Kitchener stitch. Since each mitten is worked in the round, chart rows are always read from right-to-left.
Materials:

MC: Pagewood Farm Hand Dyed Sock Yarn, Denim, 1 skein
CC1: Shelridge Yarns Soft Touch Ultra Hand Dyes, 3-Ply Fingering Weight, Marsh Marigold, 1 skein
CC2: Shelridge Yarns Soft Touch Ultra Hand-Dyed 3-Ply Fingering Weight, 1 skein
CC3: Miss Babs Cosmic Naked Sock Yarn, Naked, 1 skein
CC4: Miss Babs Cosmis Hand Painted Sock Yarn, Blackbird, 1 skein
CC5: Shelridge Yarns Soft Touch Ultra Hand Dyed 3-Ply Fingering Weight, Peat, 1 skein.

US size 2 (2.50 mm) needles, or size needed to obtain gauge.

Stitch markers, tapestry needle, stitch holder or scrap yarn

Gauge:

9 stitches / inch in stranded color work pattern, 8 stitches / inch in Stockinette stitchSize:

Finished mitten circumference is 7 inches. To make mitten larger or smaller, add or subtract stitches immediately on either side of the yellow side border. Adding or subtracting 4 stitches at a time should increase/decrease circumference by one-half inch.