Holden Cabled Mitts | Crochet Pattern Review
Day 4 of my 12 Days of Christmas projects is part 2 of Day 3. Yesterday I profiled the Holden Cabled Hat, a paid pattern by Lakeside Loops. You can find that post here. Today’s post is a pattern review of the Holden Cabled Mitts.
Holden Cabled Mitts Crochet Pattern
As mentioned yesterday, I wanted to try crocheting cables and making the Holden Hat. The designer also has matching mitts. You can find the designer’s patterns here. I simply love all the patterns that this designer has come up with – they are functional, yet modern. I love the fact that I am supporting a fellow Canadian and that the patterns are easy to follow and that I can use yarn that can easily be purchased at Michaels, for a reasonable price.
It can be challenging to find what seems to be the “perfect pattern”, only to realize that the recommended yarn is not readily available and quite often when you substitute what seems like a comparable yarn, it just doesn’t turn out the same.
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Crochet Pattern Review
The pattern contains a variety of sizes that include measurements ensuring a proper fit. Just like the other patterns I’ve made from this designer, I made the children’s sizes for my friends and myself. As with the Holden Cabled Hat, I needed to size down my hook size to a 6mm in order to get the correct gauge. I also used Loops and Threads Charisma yarn – the same yarn I used for the hat.
I’ve made one other mitten pattern before, and I don’t know what it is about mittens, but I always seem to struggle a bit. Perhaps it’s the fact that I like my mittens to fit exactly – not too big and not too tight and not too long. I tend to fuss a lot with the sizing and it takes a few attempts before I get the fit just right. For that reason, I tend to only make mittens as gifts to a few close friends whose hands are around the same size as mine.
With the Holden pattern, I had to modify the child’s size to fit me just right. I didn’t make it as long as described – but that was an easy alteration – just don’t do as many rows (I decreased by 2 rows of the cable pattern). I had to regularly check it against my hand.
There’s something about the thumb. It took me several tries to get the thumb right. My first few tries had the thumb part too tight and too small. I tried sizing up a hook for just the thumb, but that didn’t work. I also had some holes in and around the thumb. Holes in mittens kind of defeat the purpose, so I couldn’t have that.
In the end, I did my own thumb pattern – two different ways worked for me. One was to pick up 11 stitches all around and then instead of decreasing, I just kept it straight until the last round and then decreased all around for the last round. I sewed it closed with the remaining yarn.
What also worked for me was picking up 11 stitches all around and then only doing one decrease per round, for only 2 rounds ( so 2 decreases over 2 rounds) – so it was a more gradual tapering. I decreased all around on the last round and then used the yarn end to sew it closed. Once I figured out the thumb pattern, I did, indeed have the perfect mitten pattern. Lucky for me, this pattern can easily be altered.
The cabling and the stitches used for this pattern make it quite bulky – especially when using a bulkier yarn (Charisma is a category 5 yarn). This results in a thick and warm mitten which is great for cold days – especially in the car while driving or walking the dog.
I would be curious, however, to see what this pattern is like in a slightly lighter weight yarn – a worsted weight, category 4. I think with the cabling and pattern it would still produce a nice, warm mitten. Next, I may even experiment with a category 3 yarn. But I will leave this to next winter. as I think I’m done with mittens for this year.
The cabling in this mitten pattern is quite lovely. For that reason, I would suggest a plain or solid coloured yarn. For both the hat and the mittens I tried a variety of Charisma yarn – including a tweed, as well as a variegated marble yarn. I will say that the cabling pattern is not as pronounced using those types of yarns – it’s hard to see. The pattern was best showcased in a solid-coloured yarn.
Keep in mind, also that the fancier yarns (the tweeds and variegated marbles) come in a smaller skein – so you made need more than 2 skeins to make these mittens. I used 3 for one of mine. Also, the fancier yarns seem to be thicker. I had to adjust the sizing when using that yarn – I didn’t need to make the mitts as long (yet, I still ran out after 2 skeins!). Some of the solid colours seem to be a bit finer than the fancier ones, and even in comparison to other solid colours.
The cream colour that you see here almost feels like a category 4 yarn in comparison to the purple/grey variegated marble. This inconsistency in the yarn can be quite frustrating as I feel like each pair that I made needed some fine-tuning in order to come out just right.
Both the mittens and the hat are made from the top down. Despite what the pattern says for both the hat and the mitts, I like to start with a magic circle. A construction suggestion that I would make would be to weave in the starting yarn after row 4 or so. It’s hard to weave in once you’re done as you need to turn the mitten inside out to access that end. I learned that the hard way after a couple of pairs.
All in all, the Holden hat and mitten patterns are very well done and easy to follow. If you want a tried and true pattern that will work out for sure, these patterns are it. They make a lovely gift set and I hope that my friends and family enjoyed them. I definitely see more Lakeside Loops patterns in my future. In fact, the Parker socks are on my list of things to do.
