Buy both Meteor Shower patterns, Beanie and Mittens, for only $6.00! No coupon code needed; the discount will be automatically applied when you buy both. And if you have already purchased the beanie pattern, the discount still applies - you’ll get the mittens pattern for only $2.00! Please note that the retroactive discount will not work if you downloaded the beanie pattern when it was free; only if you purchased it.

Now earthfaire is offering a kit that includes all the yarn and beads you need to knit the Meteor Shower Beanie and Mittens! They have included gorgeous yarns from Malabrigo and the Fibre Company in colors similar to the originals. See it here..

The annual Perseid meteor shower is right around the corner! It’s the second largest of the year, and this year’s should be especially good viewing because the new moon falls on August 11 and there will be no moonlight to obscure the meteors’ light. The peak viewing dates are August 11 – 13, and since my birthday falls during this time I always look forward to the Perseids with happy anticipation – it’s like a special birthday treat! I hope you’ve made plans to watch so they can be a special treat for you as well. If you can find a good viewing spot away from city lights and noise and are willing to stay up until the wee hours (best viewing is after midnight to pre-dawn), you’ll be amply rewarded. The sight of the bright white meteor tails blazing through the night sky in absolute silence is truly magical.

I’ve designed these as a companion to the Meteor Shower Beanie, and like the hat, they begin with a landscape in Noro Kureyon. I’ve added a band of blazing white meteors in a regular repeat for easy stranded colorwork, with beaded stars above accurately representing the summer sky in the northern hemisphere. Because the mittens are a smaller “canvas” than the beanie, I split the sky into quadrants, with one on each mitten. All four quandrants, Northeast, Northwest, Southwest and Southeast, are charted, and you can choose your two favorites to personalize your mittens. Choose the two where you saw the most meteors, or the ones with your favorite constellations! (“Starmaps” are included for each quandrant chart with everything labeled.) Either way, they’ll be a wonderful memento of the Perseids, and will help keep you warm while watching meteor showers in colder months (like the Quarantids in December, the largest one of the year!).

Meteor Shower Mittens begin with a ribbed cuff in Noro Kureyon, or any color you like to represent the landscape. At the horizon the yarn color changes to midnight blue as a backdrop for the meteors and stars, both of which are worked from charts. Beads are added with a small crochet hook, and the mitten tops are shaped with simple decreases. The thumb is an easy peasant thumb – it is placed with waste yarn, then the live stitches are picked up and the waste yarn is removed to knit the thumb (instructions are given).

These mittens have an 8” circumference and are sized for an average woman, but size can be adjusted by gauge and/or yarn weight to fit a larger or smaller hand. Suggestions are given in the instructions.

Skills required:
• Long tail or other elastic cast on
• Knit and purl stitches
• Knitting small circumferences in the round
• Stranded color stockinette knitting
• Simple decreases (K2tog and SSK)
• Adding beads with a crochet hook (instructions given)

Materials:

Worsted weight yarn suitable for stranding in three colors (yarns used in sample are in parentheses):
• Landscape – 42 yds (Noro Kureyon – 100% Wool, 50g/109 yd – Shade 221 – this color has been discontinued, so just choose one you like)
• Night Sky – 110 yds (Cascade 220 – 100% Peruvian Highland Wool, 100g/220yd – Shade 9543 Midnight Blue)
• Meteors – 20 yds (Cascade 220 – 100% Peruvian Highland Wool, 100g/220yd – Shade 8505 White)

Beads: Size 6/0 seed beads:
• 75 x Crystal A/B (this quantity will allow you to knit any combination of two quadrants)
• 1 x Silver Lined Amber A/B for Jupiter, if you knit the Southwest quadrant (optional)
• 1 x Red Peacock for Mars, if you knit the Southeast quadrant (optional)