When I began Scandiwork, and decided to name all my knitting patterns after ancestors, these mittens were among my very first designs. My Norwegian grandpa’s name was Olsen. Here in America, both men and women go by the family name Olsen. Following Norwegian tradition, my family tree is filled with Olsens and Oldatters, Hansens and Hansdatters, Sorensens and Sorendatters. I love this aspect of Scandavian naming, where you were named after your parents and lived your life honoring the values, and traditions they taught you. Since these are women’s mitts, I gave them the female variant of the family name.
Olsdatter mitts are traditional fingerless mitts with eyelet lace on the cuff and colorwork pattern with a gusset for the hand portion of the mitt and a mock cable at the top. This beautiful mitt is knit with Jamison and Smith Spindrift and is the perfect introduction to fingerling yarn and tiny needles. Spindrift softens with every wear. You will love this mitt and be able to wear it on chilly walks for from fall to spring.
Size
Oldatter Mitt is written as a women’s medium. You can tailor the mitt by moving up or down a needle size, but this mitt fits most women’s hands.
Yarn
Oldatter Mitt takes only 2 skeins of Spindrift, so it’s an economical and beautiful gift.
Needles
If you are venturing into tiny needles and fingerling weight yarn for the first time, this is the perfect project to get used to size US 0 (2mm) DPNS.
Notions
Darning needle
Gauge and Swatch
30 stitches and 32 rows = 4 inches
Skills Used
Long-tail cast on
Joining in the round
Knit
Purl
Yarnover
k2tog
Knitting in Colorwork
Making a gusset
Binding off while decreasing
Picking up and knitting stitches
Backward loop
DPN skills
Chart reading
Duplicate Stitch
