When I saw my friend Jane’s Hedgerow Socks, I knew I’d knit them. I finished my first pair using a beautiful, subtly variegated yarn from Spirit Trail Fiberworks and knew I’d knit them again. And when I repeatedly slipped a partially knit Hedgerow sock over my hand to show curious friends how attractive and stretchy the stitch pattern was, I knew mitts were in my future.

I wanted to play with the strong verticality of the stitch pattern and use it to wrap the hand elegantly while maintaining Hedgerow’s handsome simplicity. I also wanted to design mitts that would wear like iron and truly warm the hands.

Finally, I wanted the finished pattern to transition easily from size to size and gender to gender without fuss. Simply by changing yarn weight, the size of these mitts changes to accommodate both a woman’s and man’s medium to large hand.

Both sizes are designed to be dense and warm while also being rugged and comfortable. I knit the women’s pair using Spirit Trail Alexandra in a colorway that echos river water in wintertime, and I knit the men’s pair in Spirit Trail’s luxurious cashmere-blend Paivatar in Myst.

I knew I’d hit my mark when I took the mitts to be photographed by my friend Chip York, and both the rugged Chip and his elegant wife Anna Marie loved these Hedgerows for hands.