This traditional Selbu style mitten was inspired by my cat. Not uncommon, right? We all knit for our cats? Poor Baby kitty was wasting away, panting, and just plain failing. A trip to the vet uncovered heart failure - at only three years of age! She received excellent care, and is recovering beautifully, but the bills total led over $2500, plus her five daily medications. I love my cat, and I hope you love your pet enough to have some sympathy, and buy a pattern. Knit mitt tens for the cat lovers in your life. Or modify the tail, call it a dog, an knit mittens for the dog lover in your life. Either way, new kitten mittens for Holiday 2010.

Sebum knitting uses designs and motifs with specific meaning. I designed this mitten as a charm or prayer, to strengthen Baby kitty and help her to recover. They feature extra long cuffs. I modified the traditional water pattern, to turn it into a heart beat, and if you prefer shorter cuffs, this motif can be omitted. The parade of dancing kitties around the cuff should be self explanatory. The rosette of hearts on the hand back strengthen Baby’s heart, and proclaim my love for her. The life-giving properties of the hearts are strengthened by the budding branches between each heart. Tiny life-symbolizing pomegranates fill in the spaces between rosettes. The thumb repeats a cat, a heart, and a pomegranate.

I chose to work this mitten in reversed colorway, with the dark color as the background and light color as the pattern, and the chart is presented as such. Experienced knitters, feel free to swap as you like. If this is your first foray into stranded knitting, I suggest you stick with the chart. I used light blue on medium gray, one ball of each. Just be sure you have strong contrast between your colors.