Swatching. I love it. How else are you supposed to get to know your yarn? Embarking upon a full project without swatching is like getting married without dating. The first few stitches may bring thrills and excitement, but soon enough you’ll wake up next to a half-finished sweater that has betrayed you, wondering how on earth you got there.

And yet many feel that swatching is like treading water when they’re ready to swim the English Channel. Hence these Swatch Mitts, designed to give you the full swatching experience while also producing a simple, useful pair of fingerless mitts.

Since we tend to knit tighter in the round than we do when working back and forth, you’ll find instructions on how to knit these mitts both flat and in the round so that you can choose the technique that best suits your swatching needs.

You can work this pattern in any yarn that can comfortably knit up at 20 stitches / 26 rows per 4 inches (10cm) - which means most worsted-weight or Aran-weight yarns. It works beautifully in woolen-spun yarns such as Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, but it also has lovely details that are enhanced in a smoother wool such as Quince & Co. Lark.

These mitts require a very small amount of yarn to complete - on average 80 yards (73m) - making them a perfect one-skein project for any yarn you want to try, especially those low-yardage luxury yarns you can only afford in small quantities.

Have fun!