Bern mittens by Carol Schoenfelder

Bern mittens

Knitting
March 2021
Aran (8 wpi) ?
5.5 stitches and 5.5 rows = 1 inch
in stranded
US 7 - 4.5 mm
200 - 250 yards (183 - 229 m)
men's, ladies'
English
This pattern is available as a free Ravelry download

Here’s my take on the famous mittens. This pattern is not for the faint of heart. It uses 2 provisional cast-ons (one for the cuff and the other for the thumb), stranded knitting, and intarsia (to prevent long yarn carries). The mittens are worked from the cuff up and end with a 3-needle bind off. The cuff is a turned cuff.

The mittens are made from scraps of yarn in different colors: C1: café, C2: café latte, C3: beige, C4: aran, C5: white, C6: light gray, C7:hunter green, C8: navy. The first 4 colors are used for the back and the other 4 for the palm. The total weight of a pair of mittens is 1/4 lb.

The patterns are charted for both Men’s and Ladies’ sizing. Directions are given for knitting onto 2 circular needles, one for the Palm and the other for the Back of the hand. The first 4 colors are used for the Back of the mitten and the other 4 for the Palm.

The mittens could be put together in other ways than the pattern suggests - by using the charts creatively.

This is as close to the original as I could come. It seems to me that the original mittens have a light gray on the palm - which I’ve included.