Tag: knitting pattern

Re-introducing the Just Plain Mittens!
This post comes to you from a crisp, cold -40 day in northern Alberta. Brr! So even if you’re looking at crocuses and spring showers or summer sunshine with hints of autumn in your part of the world, let me remind you that anytime of year is a good time of year to be preparing for colder weather.

Which brings me to my latest pattern (re-)release: the Just Plain Mittens Pattern Bundle!

Just Plain Mittens knitting pattern bundle: Knit love in every stitch. Project level: Easy.

But first, a brief history:

One of my very first pattern designs, way back in 2010 when I was first venturing into publishing patterns, was a kind of wonky mitten pattern I called (very imaginatively) Lined Seamless Mittens. I typed it up and posted it for free on my personal blog, where I and many other people used it over the years.

However, it had its limitations—for one thing, it was only available in two sizes, both of which were on the small side. (I was making mittens for my kids, after all.) And I designed it for a chunky yarn that was discontinued two years later and replaced with a yarn that had the same name but a different gauge. (Bernat Chunky—thanks, Bernat.) I’m sure that was fun for people trying to make up the pattern.

Besides, as my kids grew, I needed bigger sizes. So, a few years later, I started on the rather ambitious project of creating the Just Plain Mittens bundle.

The newer version had five sizes, better fit, a better design for the sewn liners, and was available in three yarn weights. However, despite making about a million mittens while designing and testing this pattern, a few issues remained—not so much with the design (though the thumb could use a little tweaking) as with the pattern layout.

Also? The yarn manufacturer discontinued that bulky yarn too, and it had a gauge that was difficult to find substitutes for. (This time, Knit Picks Biggo. I’m so sad. Do you know how much of that yarn I have that I can no longer design with? Sigh. But I digress…)

So, when I decided to move my knitwear design business to my new site and undertake the project of updating all my patterns to have better layout, formatting, and low vision accessible formats in 2023, I knew that this particular pattern would need more than minor tweaking. It was going to need an overhaul. Which is why it is one of the last previously published patterns I tackled.

But now…

The New and Improved Just Plain Mittens are here!

Okay, so what’s so great about these mittens, you ask?

Well, let me tell you. :-)

What’s the same:
- The pattern is still available in three yarn weights: Bulky, Worsted, and Fingering.
- It still includes both a short- and a long-cuff variation.
- The fingering-weight size includes instructions to make a Shell (regular mitten) or a Liner (to go inside a Shell).
- The pattern still includes instructions to make a sewn liner out of fleece, if you prefer. (You also don’t need a liner at all, if you don’t want!)
- These mittens are a fantastic blank canvas to showcase exciting yarn colourways or your own colourwork designs.
What’s new:
- It now comes in six sizes, from Toddler (5.5-inch or 14-cm hand circumference) up to Adult Extra-Large (10.5-inch or 26.5-cm hand circumference). (The largest size is new.)
- The bulky weight has been completely redesigned to use “Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash Bulky“, a hardy 100% wool yarn that comes in gorgeous colours, has a gauge that’s easy to find substitutes for, and is a staple in Knit Picks’ line that isn’t likely to disappear anytime soon.
- The thumb has been redesigned for better fit. Instead of tapering to the end as the original design did, it’s now straight, with plenty of wiggle room for holding warmth.
- The entire pattern has been redesigned for a more consistent fit in all sizes. This required spreadsheets and some really technical math. So much math. But now they all fit better—even the fleece liners.
- It is now available in three formats: standard PDF format for printing, plus the two low-vision-accessible formats—ePUB and large print screen-reader-accessible PDF.
The new bulky weight mittens in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash Bulky will be a much better fit with these new thumbs. The top pair in teal are Size 3 (Junior & Ladies Small), and the bottom ones in green are Size 2 (Child).

Here’s one of the teal ones one my hand. (They are slightly too small for me, but they would still work.)

That’s not all! While I was at it, I learned a whole new software program so I could create a decent schematic and all-new digital sewn liner patterns! (I don’t know if you’ve ever wanted a mitten pattern with a schematic, but after you get one, you’ll wonder how you lived without it! Probably. Heehee.)

I actually learned two software programs while formatting this pattern—the design software for the graphics, and a publishing format software to lay out the Standard PDF pattern in a more professional (and easier to read) layout than I’ve ever been able to achieve before. (No one may notice the difference but me, but I’m celebrating anyway.)

However, here’s one more thing that didn’t change: most of the photos. Many of the sample photos for this pattern feature the old thumb design. I’ve tried to label these as such in the pattern where it’s obvious, but I didn’t want you to be confused, as I didn’t want to take two years to republish this pattern while I sample knit every size.

The new thumbs on the bulky mittens above? All the thumbs are like that now.

But the rest of these images? They have the old thumbs and feature the old Biggo yarn. Just so you know. But still, they’re so bright and cheerful to look at, they always make me smile.

Bulky mitten in Size 5 (Adult Large) with long cuff (and old thumb design).

Worsted mitten in Size 1 (Toddler) with long cuff (and old thumb). Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted.

Fingering-weight mitten in Size 3 (Junior and Adult Small) with a long cuff and old thumb. Also, I’m modeling these again, and again, they’re slightly too small, because they were a gift for a friend. I have really big hands for a woman! Yarn: Knit Picks Chroma in “Avalon”.

Fingering-weight liner pattern in Size 2 (Child). Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll in “Wonderland Heather”. Pro tip: if you don’t sew in the liners, you’ll have more flexibility to dress for the weather—but kids are definitely going to have more to lose, so just sew theirs in, okay?

I’m introducing the bundle at 33% off. So make sure you snap it up before this deal goes away!

Get the Just Plain mittens knitting pattern bundle

Just a basket o’ mittens, hangin’ out and bein’ chill.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this new pattern bundle! What will you do to make it your own? Are you looking forward to making some extra-warm mittens with liners?

Let me know in the comments!

Show off your Finished Objects!

Has one of my patterns helped you create some knitting magic? I would love a chance to showcase your amazing work to the rest of the community in an upcoming blog post and newsletter. To be featured, share your project in the new thread I just created in my Ravelry community or send me an email. Make sure to include “Permission to repost” so I know you’re okay with me sharing it here. (I’ll confirm with you before I use it and give credit.)

While you’re in my Ravelry community, please pop over to the Introductions thread and let me know who you are. It’s been pretty quiet in the community, and I’d love to hear from you. More than that, I can’t wait to see what you’ve been making!

Happy knitting, Magic Maker!
February 4, 2025
Introducing the Adventure Socks!

Hello, magic maker!

It’s been a minute. But I’m thrilled to pop in here to say there’s a new pattern in the store for something warm, toasty, perfect for winter…

Okay, they’re socks. Toe-up socks. With waffle texture and gusset heels and just enough pattern interest to keep you paying attention but not so much you can’t knit while watching Castle. (Or your own favourite show. You do you.)

Presenting the Adventure Socks pattern!

Cover for the Adventure Socks knitting pattern by Talena Winters, a waffle-texture toe-up sock. Project Level: Intermediate.

This pattern is perfect for tucking into hiking boots and hitting the trail, or keeping your feet toasty while you dive into your latest read.

AND!

It’s got low vision accessible formats! Get it in large print screen reader accessible PDF, ePUB, or standard PDF formats, all from a single purchase!

Feast your eyes on these details:

Using a provisional cast on like Magic Cast On or Turkish Cast On at the toe means no grafting later! Easily shape the toes using raglan-style increases on the edges while knitting in the round.

Use short row shaping to produce a gusset heel at just the right foot length for a perfect fit.

The waffle texture is an easy four-stitch, four-row repeat that captures a little extra warmth while providing textural interest—as well as a little more interest for the knitter.

Finish with an inch (or more) of one-by-one ribbing for a stretchy cuff that won’t fall down, then bind off with either Sewn Rib Bind Off or Super-Stretchy Bind Off for a smooth, professional edge.

Put it all together for a pair of snug-as-bug feet on yourself or some lucky person you love!

While I made my sample in a variegated yarn, this would also be a great pattern for solids to really show off that waffle texture.

The pattern is available in three sizes, from Youth / Adult Small (8.5-inch or 21.5-cm instep circumference) up to Adult Large (11-inch or 28-cm instep circumference.)

What are you waiting for? Go get yours and cast on your next knitting adventure today!

Get the Pattern

Or you can add it to your Ravelry queue here: Add on Ravelry.

October 25, 2024
Revolutions and Returns

Hello, friend.

A month ago, I posted the announcement that I was done. My Secret Wish Knitting was closing down, and for good reasons—mainly, that I didn’t feel capable of continuing to run this business, which took too much time and energy from my primary passions of writing and editing.

Over the last several weeks, I have gone about the process of following through on that. I took all my patterns down off of Etsy and Lovecrafts. I deactivated my pattern sales on Ravelry. I started making other changes to separate my knitting brand from other aspects of my online presence. I started backing up my extensive stitch tutorial pages elsewhere, in case I ever wanted to do anything else with that work.

And then, this week, I had meant to take the final steps of closing down this website and finally shutting the doors for good.

But when the time came, I found I couldn’t do it.

More than that, I realized I didn’t need to.

This cutie is courtesy of Sdf Rahbar @sdfrahbar on Unsplash.

What Got Me Here

My previous concerns were valid. This knitting brand did take up a lot of my timeâbut that’s because I was spreading the brand too thin, and in places that didn’t serve me. Or, in retrospect, my customers.

Etsy, while an excellent search engine for new customers to find me, is the worst accounting nightmare I’ve ever experienced. And I’ve dealt with a lot of different platforms and retailers, so I have a really solid spectrum of platforms to compare it to. I’ve sold on Etsy for fourteen years, and that entire time, dealing with hundreds of hours of accounting annually for microtransactions that don’t even make sense to pay someone else to enter has been an ongoing drain on my time, energy, and financial resources.

(I have other issues with what Etsy has become, but this was my primary problem with selling there.)

Well, guess what? I’ve now closed my Etsy shop. (It technically still exists, but there are no active listings.) That headache is blissfully, wonderfully gone.

But that doesn’t mean my knitting business has to be.

One of the reasons I built this website last year, besides allowing me to serve my customers in ways my previous setup wouldn’t allow, was exactly because I could automate so many of the processes—the follow-up emails, for one, but mostly, the accounting. But because I thought I still needed to stay open on Etsy to make this profitable, this new website didn’t actually free up any of my time.

And because of that, I also wasn’t able to expend any energy on the things I really want to do to serve my knitting clients better, such as continuing to revise my older patterns to be more accessible, or to publish any new designs that have been languishing in just-need-to-be-written-up limbo for years. I was so drained from simply trying to stay on top of the admin that it left no room for growth or creativity.

If I hadn’t reached a breaking point this year and decided to close everything down, I wouldn’t have realized where the real problem lay.

But now I have. And in taking these steps, I’ve discovered that I can have the best of both worlds—keeping my side hustle hobby business alive, while continuing to fill what I feel is an important niche in the knitting community by working to provide low-vision-accessible, hand-ambiguous patterns and tutorials.

Same photographer, same cutie (I think).

A Mindset Revolution

As I’ve considered what led me to my dramatic conclusions last month (to make sure reversing my decision wasn’t a bad idea), I’ve had another epiphany.

I always want to do everything the very best I can. I’d rather do something correctly, to the best of my ability, and serve my customers in a way that satisfies me as well as you, than take shortcuts to do it fast and sloppy.

Like the slow fashion we create, my entire career has been built on slow growth.

I also have enough business knowledge and savvy to dream up what the best version of any endeavour I undertake might look like… in a perfect world.

The gap between those two things—wanting to create things well, even if it’s slow, and building a product or project into the best version of itself, which requires a lot of development—has been a constant source of frustration and character growth for me over the years.

This week, I realized that part of my frustration with this brand stemmed from not having the time nor energy to devote to bringing about that “perfect version” of it right away. And I kind of went, Well, yeah, Talena. What else did you expect?

To be honest, for me to do all the things I can envision for my knitting clients would require a lot of growth in all of my businesses. The kind of growth that would allow me to have a team and free up my time to focus only on the creative and community-building aspects of my brands.

But I’m not there yet.

Over time, I believe those dreams will be achievable. Eventually, I may be able to host the community events, publish new patterns on a consistent and frequent basis, and become more involved in the knitting community. I just can’t do those things right now.

And, as long as I can be okay with that, and stop trying to pressure myself into being in a place I’m not, then this business could continue to grow slowly, as it always has. I can keep this side business that’s always held a dear place in my heart alive. And my tutorials and knitting designs will remain available for those who want them.

So, that’s my big news. I’m not closing down completely. This website will continue to stay open for as long as it continues to pay for itself.

Back in Action

So, inspired by that burst of enthusiasm, this week I finished revising and republishing one of my most popular designs that had been sitting on the back burner: the Revolution Toque.

You can get it in my store:

Get Revolution Toque

This pattern pairs perfectly with the Revolution Mittens:

Get Revolution Mittens

And if you add both the hat and the mittens to your cart, you’ll get an automatic bundle discount (about 25% off).

Thank you for your continued support, friend. By God’s grace, I think I’ve found a path that will allow me to continue to serve you for years to come.

If you’re in the market for a new project, please take a moment to browse my patterns, and be sure to subscribe to my newsletter so you can be notified when I have news to share.

Happy knitting, my friend. Go make some magic!

Talena (The Yarn Mermaid)

June 28, 2024
Warm Hands for the Win!

Mittens can do so much more than warm hands—such as delight the eye and warm the heart. Pictured: Pale yellow The Honey Tree mittens.

Winter hit northern Alberta yesterday morning. I woke up to find my lawn covered in inches of snow, with more huge, fluffy flakes coming down fast. Within minutes, my thoughts had turned toward hot cocoa, Christmas decorating (yes, I know, it’s only late October—don’t throw things), and handwarmers.

Well, for a crafter, knitting handwarmers is kind of a logical next thought after Christmas decorations, isn’t it?

If you have some hands to warm up this winter, here are some great ideas for making knitted mittens, gloves, fingerless mittens, convertible glittens, fingerless gloves… you get the idea. All of these knitting patterns come in sizes from wee to adult large, so you can outfit hands of every age.

Title card that reads: 5 Knitting Patterns for Fast and Easy Hand Warmers. Warm Hands for the Win! Patterns shown, going clockwise from top left: The Honey Tree, Just Plain Gloves, Revolution Mittens, and Twisted Rope Fingerless Mittens.

Just Plain Gloves

Get Just Plain Gloves (Multi-Pattern Bundle)

As a boy mom, I’ve knit a lot of gloves. I mean, half of those are because they lost them, not outgrew them, but the things we do for our kids, right?

One of my favourite things about the Just Plain Gloves pattern is that you can layer them up. (Here in the north, surviving winter is about layers.) You can use just the shell on its own, or you can make a fingering-weight liner for extra warmth. And if you want to be super-versatile, just make a shell in both fingering weight and either the worsted or bulky weights—then you’ll be able to pick exactly how many layers you need for the weather, and how thick those layers should be.

The bonus? This pattern is low vision accessible, so even more knitters can help keep hands warm this winter. (See the accessibility statement in the pattern listing for details.)

Mix’n’Match Gloves, Mittens, and Glittens (Convertible) Sets

Once upon a time, I had the brilliant idea to create a pattern set where you could choose your own finishing options. Each hand covering would be the same up to the thumb gusset, but from there, you could choose any type of finger finishing option you wanted to suit your personal style and needs.

(I was a big fan of choose-your-own-adventure books as a kid, can you tell?)

I used a simple two-stitch cable for the cuff (and included instructions for cuffs of different lengths), then a variation of the same cable over four stitches for the hand back. The finger finishing options would let you mix and match between fingerless mittens or gloves, regular mittens or gloves, or flip-top mittens or gloves (glittens). PLUS! I included a plain fingering-weight liner glove pattern so you could line these babies for extra warmth.

The first set I made with this idea was the Mermaids & Dragons set. I loved these so much, that then I created the Honey Tree set. For extra versatility, these two sets use the same yarn and measurements, so you can even mix-and-match the cable options between them if you want!

Your biggest dilemma with these two pattern bundles will be choosing which configuration to make first. 😄

Mermaids & Dragons and The Honey Tree

Get Mermaids & Dragons Gloves, Mittens, and Glittens Set (Multi-Pattern Bundle)

The Honey Tree Gloves, Mittens, and Glittens Set

Get The Honey Tree Gloves, Mittens, and Glittens Set (Multi-Pattern Bundle)

Revolution Mittens

Get Revolution Mittens

Can I say how much I adore the look of brioche knitting? I mean, just look at those squishy vertical stripes! All that squishiness makes for extra-thick, extra-warm fabric, too. Which is why I designed these mittens for all sizes, with both long- and short-cuff versions (depending how much snow you need to keep out of your sleeves).

This pattern breaks down the stitches so you can finish these mittens like a pro, which means it’s a great project to start with, even if you’ve never knit brioche before!

Fingerless Mittens

If you live in a climate that hasn’t hit full-on snow-pocalypse like mine has (okay, that was yesterday, but I’m not going to see grass until April sometime, so allow me my moment of drama), you might be leaning more toward fingerless typing or texting gloves to keep your digits warm.

Honestly, I use these all winter long for typing, as my office is in the draftiest, coldest corner of my living room, and my fingers can turn to solid blocks of ice after only a few hours—not so conducive for typing. In fact, I’m wearing the Secret Garden Fingerless Mittens right now!

Besides the fingerless mitten and glove options in the two mix-and-match sets I mentioned above, here are two other patterns that might tickle your fancy—and keep fingers free for tickling other things.

Twisted Rope Fingerless Mittens

Get Twisted Rope Fingerless Mittens

Secret Garden Fingerless Mittens

Get Secret Garden Fingerless Mittens

Whether you’re a beginner looking for a simple yet stylish design or an experienced knitter seeking a challenge, one of these patterns should delight your sensibilities. So go ahead, grab some luxurious yarn, choose a design that speaks to your soul, and cast on to start warming up hands and hearts today.

I hope you enjoyed this round-up of mitten and glove handknitting patterns from my shop. I’ll have even more designs coming (or coming back) soon, so be sure to subscribe to my blog through the link below, or join my newsletter list to be notified about future releases.

Happy knitting!

October 23, 2023