I originally made a pair of these gloves in an ivory wool-acrylic blend about 10 years ago (bottom photos). I’ve long wanted to make another pair in green to match the leaf motif on the glove, but I lost the pattern in a computer crash years ago. I was JUST about to try to reconstruct the pattern from my existing ivory mittts when, last week, I did one last-ditch web search and, lo and behold, I found it! I’d been searching for variations on “leaf/leaves” for the name - I never would have remembered the name “Keri!” Anyway, I was elated to find the long-missing pattern - and it’s now linked to Ravelry, to boot!

Though the original pattern calls for bulky yarn and size 10s, I used worsted weight and size 8 dpns. The mitts still fit me just fine with the same number of stitches.

I made several modifications to this pattern. (1) First, even ten years ago, I felt it needed ribbing at the wrists and the top of the mitt. (2)
Second, I didn’t like the ribbing on the palm, so I made it plain stockinette. (I see this is common among other kniters. You can see part of the ribbing is still visible on the ivory mitts, because I just followed the thumb gusset pattern, and didn’t realize what I was doing until it was too late.) (3) This time around, I also reversed the K2tog and the SKPssos on the right-hand side of the pattern chart, as I feel this makes the leaves look better (see side-by-side photo #4). I feel they should be the same as on the left-hand side leaf, not the mirror image of it, as it was on the pattern, and how I did it on the ivory mitts. And finally, (4) I wanted the leaves at the bottom of the wrist of the mitt to be complete (as written, the bottom tips of the leaves are cut off at the wrist end of the mitt, as you can see in the ivory mitt photos). I found that beginning the pattern chart on Row 7 instead of Row 1 completes the first leaf. This will result in a full 5 consecutive pairs of leaves on the new (green) mitt, while the original chart instructions, knitted as per the pattern, shows on the ivory mitt as only 4-1/2 repetitions of the leaf pattern. (Actually, the original pattern only makes 3-1/2 leaves over 4 repetitions of the chart. I guess I just like my gloves longer, as I made the first set longer too!) :)

To demonstrate the change I made to the leaf pattern, please refer to photo #4, with the ivory and green gloves side-by-side. The ivory glove followed the original pattern chart, with the decreases leaning AWAY from the center purl “vein” of the leaf on the right-hand side only. This creates a sort of cable up either side of the vein on that leaf. (Not to mention, that cable never laid quite straight for me, which always bugged me on the ivory mitts.) But, if you reverse the K2tog and the SKP on the right-hand side of the chart in rows 3, 5, and 7 - so that they are exactly the same as on the left-hand side - then the decreases lean TOWARDS the center purl “vein” (see top set of pink arrows). In my opinion, this looks better - and it matches the other side. It’s a bit harder to see the detail in the darker color, maybe because these gloves are brand-new and have not stretched out yet(?). But, you can also see it on the left-hand side of the ivory mitt. This change also makes the pattern almost completely symmetrical.

Finally wove in the ends on 9/18/17, one month after casting on. These shouldn’t normally take so long, but that’s the problem with having 3 or 4 active WIPs at once!

Overall, I LOVE this pattern - it needs just a few tweaks here and there. I think I got it just about perfect with the green pair. Too bad the pattern is less visible in the darker color. It definitely shows up much better in a lighter-colored yarn, as evidenced by the older ivory mitts.

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More technical notes

RIBBING NOTES: While I love this pattern, the ribbing instructions are not well-defined. It just says “ribbng.” IF you want to do the K2P2 ribbing all the way up the palm as the pattern is written - or even just around the top edge - you will need to start your Needle 1 with P1, K2, P2, K2, P2 in order to match up with what’s written at the thumb gusset, and knit Needle 3 as P2,K2, P2,K2,P1 (This is all for the left mitt). However, as there are 33 sts, you will have an extra K or P somewhere IF you continue the ribbing all the way around the mitt, as I did. It’s up to you to decide where to place this extra stitch. I went with K1P1 rib at the bottom, and a combination of K1P1 (front) and K2P2 (palm) at the top of the newer mitt, with just stockinette for the palm opposite the leaf chart. You can do whatever you like, but do try to plan your ribbing before you start, keeping the P2 between the leaf pattern and the thumb gusset in mind. This will save you a lot of trouble later.

One last thing: when you slip stitches for decreases, make sure to slip thrm KNITWISE! The pattern doesn’t specify this. I slipped them all purlwise on my original pair, and it never looked quite right Slipping them knitwise, it’s greatly improved! This goes for the SKP as well as the SK2togPsso.

UPDATE 2/19/2020: I’ve actually knitted a third pair of these, in purple, for Christmas 2019, and made yet another change to the decreases on the leaf pattern which, I think, created the best-looking leaf yet. Unfortunately, in the rush to gift-wrap them for Christmas, I completely forgot to photograph them before giving them away! Grrr. I’ll have to see if I can get the recipient to send me a photo or two. Fortunately, I did chart the revised pattern - I’m checking it over and will post it here soon. I just wish I had a pic!