Folk School

A Pair of Mittens

Days two and three: measure the hand and allow for fulling, start each mitten at the top with a rosette, increase to the hand's width, work down to the thumb and leave an opening, finish at the cuff, work the thumbs, and full both mittens to a dense, warm cloth.

  • 2 min
  • 6 steps
  • 1 question
  • Lesson 200 of 204

In this lesson

  1. Measure
  2. The top
  3. Down to the thumb
  4. The thumb
  5. Full
  6. Try it

Measure

Measure around your hand and from fingertip to wrist. Draw the hand’s outline and add about 1 cm all round if you’ll full the mittens; nålbound fabric stretches lengthwise and narrows widthwise. Work both mittens together so they match 1. Granlund’s class asks you to bring a measuring tape 2.

The top

Finnish mittens were traditionally begun at the top. Start a rosette of about 8 stitches in thick yarn (15 or more in thin), then increase in every stitch, then every second, then every third, until the mitten reaches the hand’s width: about 45 stitches in thick yarn, up to 80 in thin. Or chain a test row around your hand and match that count 1.

Down to the thumb

Work straight down the hand. At the base of the thumb, leave about 4 cm unconnected for a woman’s mitten, and make the chain there 2 or 3 stitches longer so the mitten is widest just below the thumb 1. Hagen’s guide: to make a thumb or heel, “simply jump over a row or area” 3. Continue to the cuff and finish it there.

Quick check

About how wide is the thumb opening on a woman’s mitten?

The thumb

Pick up loops around the thumb opening and work up the thumb in rounds, then close the tip by decreasing in every stitch 1. Darn any gaps at the corners.

Nalbinding 3, To make thumb - Neulakinnas, peukalon aloitus Starting the thumb (English and Finnish). Credit: Neulakintaat · YouTube standard license · 8:37 · Source

Playback is optional. If the player is unavailable, open the video at its source.

Full

Fulling turns nålbinding into a dense, windproof cloth. Work the mittens in warm, soapy water, rubbing and squeezing, checking the size often; rinse, shape them on your hands, and dry them flat. The heavily fulled mittens from Kirvu show how dense the cloth becomes 4; compare the open stitches of the Sonkajärvi pair in lesson 1 5.

A pair of heavily fulled white nålbound mittens with dark brown diamond-shaped spots down the backs, blunt tops, and a small crocheted edge at the cuffs.
Fulled mittens from Kirvu, Finland, made before 1929. Credit: National Museum of Finland · CC BY 4.0 · Source

Try it

Before starting the mittens, full your practice ring from lesson 2 in warm water and measure how much it shrinks. That tells you whether 1 cm extra is enough for your wool.

Lesson complete

Nice work.

1day streak
0/1today's goal
–correct

Up next · 2 min

Brushes and What to Buy

Next lesson
Back to course Today
Sources for this lesson
  1. 1
    Sanna-Mari Pihlajapiha. Needles for nålbinding. Neulakintaat.fi. verifiedFinnish needles usually 8-12 cm long (old ones up to 15), about the length of a forefinger, 0.4-1 cm wide, edge 2-3 mm; juniper, lilac, rowan, and other woods. The same site explains Hansen notation, published by Egon Hansen in NESAT III in 1987 (U under, O over, / needle turns; Oslo UO/UOO F1, Mammen UOO/UUOO F2), spit splicing (fan the plies 2-3 cm, moisten, roll 10-20 seconds; superwash won't felt), and mittens started at the top with a rosette of about 8 stitches in thick yarn, increased to about 45, a thumb opening about 4 cm, and 1 cm added all round for fulling.
  2. 2
    Nålbinding Mittens (archived). Vesterheim Folk Art School (Wayback Machine). verifiedMelba Granlund, Sep 6-8, 2024, for beginners and returning students; needle $10, materials $10 for practice yarns and written mitten instructions; bring a measuring tape. Yarn: 'any thick, single-ply woolen yarns like Lamb's Pride bulky, Alafoss Lopi, or Roving yarns… Loosely plied woolen yarns such as Rauma Vams.' Museum garments studied hands-on.
  3. 3
    Ellen Hagen. Needle binding: a short guide. Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger (via National Museum of Ireland). verifiedNålbinding is red-listed as a craft in Norway; finds from a Mesolithic net at Tybrind Vig to the 10th-century Coppergate sock, the Mammen grave (970/71), and a medieval Oslo mitten; to make a heel or thumb 'simply jump over a row or area.'
  4. 4
    Neulakintaat (nålbound mittens), Kirvu. National Museum of Finland (Finna). verifiedMade by Hilma Hämäläinen before 1929, used at Kirvu, Inkilä; heavily fulled white mittens with dark diamond spots; 29 x 7-13 cm. CC BY 4.0.
  5. 5
    Neulakintaat (nålbound mittens), Sonkajärvi 1958. National Museum of Finland (Finna). verifiedMade in February 1958 in Sonkajärvi, Savo, by Riitta Stiina Turpeinen; 26 x 10-13 cm; with the needle and a starting sample. CC BY 4.0.

Previous: The Oslo Stitch