Spilly Jane Knits Mittens: A Review

Today we're going to have a look at Spilly Jane Knits Mittens, written by Spilly Jane, and published by Cooperative Press. This book would make a good primer for someone who has never knitted mittens before, as it includes lots of helpful technical information and very detailed instructions, including excellent tutorials on the gusset and peasant thumb techniques, and offers lots of tips and inspiration for anyone who'd like to have some fun making arty mittens. Mittens can be treated like tiny canvasses, and one can be very whimsical when designing them without the project becoming too much of a time hog, and still have a wearable result.

Plain Blue Mitts. This is a very simple design technically speaking, and these mittens could be made with odds and ends of yarn, but the stripes make them eye-catching. "Phasing in" stripes with alternating stitches of the new colour is such a nice effect and gives stripes more sophistication.

Plain Brown Mitts. Another basic pattern, this time with a gusset thumb and classic stripes.

Nougat mittens. These are rather pretty, and well named, because the colourway does remind me of a box of chocolates.

Midtown Mittens. Love the graphic pattern on these, which was inspired by New York's subway grills. I'm not a fan of pointy-tipped mittens, which always look silly to me, but if you feel the same you can easily borrow the more oval shaping from one of the other patterns in this book.

Under the Hostas Mittens. These are totally cute and just the right pair of mittens for those days when you're in an Amélie kind of mood.

Codfish Mittens. Also cute, and with greater longevity than real fish.

Cupcake Mittens. I would ordinarily find something like this too twee for words, but these are irresistibly adorable. The pastel colourway is perfect for the theme.