Next Steps in Fair Isle: Mittens & Hat

Class Preview

Take your Fair Isle skills to new heights! Knit a matching three-color hat and mittens set as you learn to create traditional stranded colorwork.

Getting Started

Meet knitting instructor and author Donna Druchunas and get an overview of the Caribou Snow hat and mittens you’ll be making as you learn essential Fair Isle techniques. Donna shows you how to create a two-color cast-on and how to knit while holding one color in each hand.

Knitting the Hat Brim

Get started on your hat by knitting with one color and purling with another to create corrugated ribbing. Then make a gorgeous Baltic braid by purling with both colors. Get Donna’s tips for managing your tension and keeping your yarn from getting too tangled. You can knit your hat with a circular needle, double-pointed needles or two circulars.

Two-Handed Fair Isle Knitting

Donna guides you through the Fair Isle patterning on the Caribou Snow hat. Learn how to read the pattern chart and review knitting with two colors using both hands. Donna shows how to trap your floats as you go and keep them from tangling and she shares tips for keeping your colors even.

Finishing the Hat

Finish up your hat with two kinds of decreases to shape the crown. Donna demonstrates how to switch to double-pointed needles or two circulars as your number of stitches gets smaller. When you’ve finished the crown, learn how to make a cute pom-pom to adorn your new accessory!

Mitten Cuff & Thumb Gore

The Caribou Snow mittens both complement the hat and add to your Fair Isle skills. Knit along with Donna as you create the ribbed cuff and begin the motif of the hand, then learn how to increase stitches to accommodate the thumb gore.

Finishing the Mitten Body

Set your thumb stitches aside on waste yarn and start knitting the caribou pattern in the body of the mitten. Donna demonstrates how to cast on stitches to close up the top of the thumb hole, then follow the chart to decrease the mittens to the tip.

Knitting the Thumb & Blocking

Finish up your fabulous mittens by picking up stitches for the thumb and knitting up to the final centered double decrease. Then learn how to close up any holes at the base of the thumb and use a duplicate stitch to fix any mistakes in your colorwork. Finally, block your hat and mittens to relax the stitches and give your accessories a polished finish.