Ojibwe legend tells of a village visited by plague in the dead of winter where many died, including the healer. To save the people, a young girl made a dangerous journey through snow to find medicine. Losing her moccasins in the thick snow, she left a trail of bloody footprints. She succeeded in bringing help and the village was saved. In spring, where those footprints lay flowers grew—better known today by their western name of Lady’s Slippers. (Origin stories of the lady’s slipper orchid exist among many Native American tribes, although the details change.)

These cute fingerless mitts are easy to knit following the instructions. They have a 11 stitch ‘cable and lace’ 4 row predictable repeat that keep the knitting interesting. Slightly 3-D orchids come to life framed in a cute little border cable design. They aren’t difficult to do. Just follow the directions and you will knit cute little orchids of your own.

When knitting the flower, there are some increases between the upper flower petals that may be awkward. If you want you can substitute a yo and on the following round purl into the back of the stitch, twisting it so you have no holes.

Although the pattern is one size, there are suggestions on how to customize it to better fit each person’s hand.

You will need approximately 175 yards/162 m to 205 yards/184 m of fingering yarn for the main color. You can use scraps for the foliage and orchid flowers.

If using beads, you will need 10 (2 for the flowers, and 8 for the frame around the flowers).

I hope you have as much fun as I did knitting this pattern.

You may knit the pattern using just one yarn, or do the orchid with small amounts of yarn in the same weight as your main color. There are only 5 beaded stitches per mitt: 1 for the orchid and 4 for the frame around the flower.