Happy New Year, readers!

To start the year off with a bang, how about this jumper?

This was a great find in the British Red Cross shop in Barking, because it’s just so, well, big. Plenty to play with for £3.50!

It’s the kind of thing I imagine one plays golf in – fairly thin cotton and so bright it hurts the eyes. The only thing it was good for really…. was to be completely cut up.

Now, there have been a lot of things floating about the blogosphere lately about cutting up felted old jumpers to make mittens, so I just had to put my own spin on it. Mittens are a great easy make to get you out of the January blues. They are even easier if you use a tightly knitted or felted jumper – or as I’m using  here, a thin cotton one – to stop it unravelling as you are working with it. It’s easier still if you download my pattern below and print it out to make your mittens. Of course, it only works if you remember to print it at the correct setting (print at 100% or uncheck “Fit to page” – there is a 10 x 10cm scale on the first page to help you tell if you’ve got this right), and of course, if your hands are roughly the same size as mine (around glove size 8). If not, don’t worry, it’s really easy to draw around your hand to make a new pattern. What are you waiting for?

Download my warm woollen mitten pattern here: CSCPattern1WoollenMittens

I used the existing ribbed cuff from the jumper sleeves to make the cuffs for my mittens. If your jumper doesn’t have cuffs (or you are doing the world a favour by cutting up a knitted vest) you can cut 18cm long sections from the ribbing at the hem instead, or alternatively just cut a 12 x 18 cm rectangle for each cuff, fold it in half lengthwise and attach as normal. NB. I am using 1cm seam allowances throughout this project. The finished cuff circumference is 16cm and they are around 5cm deep.

Since it was a thin jumper I made my mittens double layer, pinning the layers together to stop them moving. I actually cut them entirely from the sleeves in the end.

It’s IMPORTANT to remember that you need to cut one right and one left mitten. If you just place the pattern on your jumper and cut through the front and back, you’ll be fine as each piece will have a mirror image. Double check before you cut.

Next pin parts 2 (lower back) and 3 (upper back) together and overlock/serge them along the thumb seam. If you are using a regular sewing machine you’ll need to zigzag the edges before or after you sew.

Then pin the back to the front (part 1), again checking that you have one right and one left mitten, and overlock them. You might want to pin the thumb out of the way.

Attach the cuffs by turning each mitten right side out and the cuff inside out, so they are right sides together. Pin and overlock.

Ta da! Cute pink mittens.

With the leftovers (and there were a LOT), I decided on a matching snood. Snoods are right up there with the mittens as pretty much the easiest project ever as they are made from a basic rectangle shape and have only straight seams. The tricky part is sewing the seams in the right order so you can turn it right side out when you’re done (ask me how I know!).

Measuring garments I already own gave me 52cm for a comfortable circumference for the new snood. The height was really determined by how much of the jumper was left.

You have to sew the two long sides (that will make up the circumference of the finished snood) first. Don’t do it the other way around. It doesn’t work.

Then turn it the right way out.

Then you can pin B to B’ (right sides together) and sew it up as far as you can, leaving about 2-3″ open as a hole that you can use for turning.

You should be able to turn the whole thing right side out now, through the hole you left. Final step is to sew up the hole from the right side – just turn this part to the inside when you wear it.

Et voila! You can now wear your comfy matching snood and mittens for various types of winter activities – including, but not limited to, ice skating. Or you can just watch like I did.

If you download the pattern I’d appreciate some feedback in the comments section below. If you blog about it please do leave a link below so I can check out your creations! Thanks!