The Secret (stranded) by Julie Hamilton

The Secret (stranded)

Knitting
February 2013
Fingering (14 wpi) ?
10 stitches and 12 rows = 1 inch
in stranded colorwork in the round
US 1 - 2.25 mm
Ladies Large, Ladies Medium
English
This pattern is available as a free Ravelry download

These mittens are knit with only 2 colours at a time. The third colour is added later using duplicate stitch.
The floats are really long over the body of the bird, but if you catch your floats every 3 or 4 stitches, the inside remains tidy.

MEASUREMENTS: 9.5 cm (3 ¾”) wide 19 cm (7 ½”) around by 17.5 cm (7”) long (not including the cuff), 24.5 cm (9 ¾”) with cuff.
(I knit really tightly, so more ‘normal’ knitters might successfully reach a gauge of 9 sts per 2.5cm/ 1” for a circumference of 20.5 cm/ 8” around the knuckles.)
YARN: Fingering Weight (Superfine #1)
Seen here: Lanett 100% merino superwash wool; 182m/50g; 6021 (light grey), 7762 (green), 1001 (white), 1088 (charcoal), 2001 (lemon yellow), and Knit Picks Stroll 75% superwash merino wool, 25% nylon; 231 yds/50g; in Scarlet (red) and Merlot Heather (brown). 1 ball of grey; ½ ball of red, charcoal and green; one or two yards/meters of white, brown, and yellow.
You will need either circular needles or dpns, 3 stitch markers, waste yarn, and a tapestry needle.
These mittens are worked in stranded knitting (with only 2 colors at a time). Both the thumb and mitten body are knit in the round. For a consistent gauge do not create floats over more than 3 or 4 sts at a time. I found that a backward loop cast on worked well in place of a regular M1 increase. Knitters using a black-and-white printer may wish to mark their pages while referring to the computer screen as some colors may not show up clearly when printed. (If you have never used the following embroidery stitches: duplicate stitch, chain stitch or back stitch, you may want to practice.)