I made a video showing how to do the quill stitch in this pattern, because so many knitters are confused about how it’s done. Here’s the link to my youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzlErhw8lCE

In 2013, I won a Morehouse Farm contest (name the spider in this photo). My prize was a $25. gift certificate for anything on Margrit’s Web site. It was so hard to choose from all the fabulous critter patterns, yarn and kits. I’ve knitted some of their critter scarves in the past which were such fun projects. For the longest time, I’ve been wanting to knit the Hedgehog Mittens. At the time, this pattern was only available in kit form, so this is what I ended up choosing as my very special prize. Normally I don’t get to knit with yarn of this quality and softness, so it was a real treat when the kit arrived in the mail.

These have to be the cutest mittens I’ve ever knitted. People are correct when they say this is not a quick project. The “quill stitch” is tedious and time-consuming. However, the project is WELL worth the extra effort and time. I’m a patient knitter, and the very soft merino yarn made this a very enjoyable project.

The quill stitch is not a traditional “bobble stitch” for those of you who are trying to wing it without the Morehouse Farm pattern. The most common mistake (if you didn’t purchase the kit) is in using yarn that’s too heavy and/or needles too large. These are hedgehogs, not porcupines.

If you didn’t get your Hedgehog Mittens pattern with the Morehouse Farm KIT, you should make sure that you use yarn that is no heavier than sport weight. The pattern calls for a size “3 or 4” (US) needle. I was able to get stitch gauge only with size 3. (Pattern gives no row gauge.) I’m a tight knitter, but these are still coming out a bit loose for me. Perhaps I should have made the “Adult Small/Child’s Large” size or gone down a needle size. I’m sure they will be fine - just not tight fitting around my small wrists. The rest of my hands are normal size, though my fingers are longer than average. They actually ended up fitting me perfectly - just a tiny bit loose around my bony wrists.

The only modification I made was to do a K1, P1 rib for the first 16 rounds (palm side only) rather than stockinette stitch. This was my attempt to tighten up the wrist part a little, though it’s still a bit loose in that area. I can see from the pattern photo that these mittens are not meant to fit tight around the wrists. Oh, one more minor change I made in the decrease section (fingertips) was that I did SKPs at the opposite ends instead of all K2togethers. This gives both left leaning and right leaning decreases in the appropriate places of the hedgehog “face”.

There will be some puppet shows coming up.