This pattern was designed to commemorate a special trip I took with my husband and our neighbors in the Italian Alps.

As we made our way through the picturesque Italian mountains, we almost ran out of gas. Now this is alarming when you are in town but just imagine traveling through rugged mountains in February. Running on fumes and prayers we rose to the top of a hill, to a sign that read “Tre Croce” meaning “Three Crosses” in Italian. We took this as an answer to our prayers and continued to pray for a gas station. As we coasted down the hill a few miles, we came to an intersection and just ahead was a gas station. We rolled in there, filled up and hugged the little old lady who pumped our gas as if she had just saved our first born child.

This trip was so memorable I incorporated each memory into a different part of the mitten. The cuff is wrapped in snow capped mountains that rise into the hand, detailing the ‘Tre Croce’. On the palm of the mitten there is an elegant swirl design to commemorate the fumes we were running on and they continue up the thumb of the mitten. However these Mittens have a hidden secret. In Joshua 1:5, God tells us He will never leave us nor forsake us and sometimes, well, we need reminders. So as a hidden secret to help you remember you’re never alone, even in the Italian Alps, there is a hidden cross on the inside of the thumb.

This pattern includes color work, knitting in the round, an after thought thumb and a beautiful braided cast on. The two mittens mirror each other for an added bonus, a dangerous past time for any knitter! I pray you find these mittens to be as beautiful as these memories are for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0jBELkLysg&list=FLoxN...

Please let me know if you have any trouble with this pattern I will be happy to help! Happy knitting!