Trigger Mittens: The Brudder's Xmas Present

Since my brother, Danny, found out that I can knit he's been asking me to make him a pair of trigger mittens. When I told him I was knitting Xmas presents he said "Trigger mitts for me? Green and Black ones???"

Well now that you went and got all specific, I suppose so...

So I set to making trigger mittens.

I couldn't find a pattern that I liked. I found a few that were really traditional Newfoundland patterns that involved a lot of colour-work, but honestly, I'm not ready to dive into colour-work yet. I like stripes. They're nice. They're simple.

After searching for a pattern to no avail, I decided to alter an existing pattern. Since I had already made Knitty's "Cigar", I decided to stick with that basic concept. I changed the rib from k2 p2 to k1 p1, instead of two rows of thin stripes I did one thick stripe, and instead of binding off half a finger and thumb, I knit a full finger and thumb, and just made one big ol' mitten section instead of working 3 more fingers. It wasn't difficult at all when I thought about it. I just stuck to the basic stitch count, and improvised where I needed to.

Trigger mitts are traditional in Newfoundland. I think it's my brother's memories of home-knit trigger mittens from our Nan Attwood that made him want a pair. We had lots of these mittens as kids, sometimes we called them "finger mittens" too. Always nice to have that one finger free, yet you've still got the snuggly warmth of a mitten.

I made Dano a beanie to go with his mitts. Unlike my dad, Danny is young and hip enough to be able to rock a beanie without a fold. It's my own design, based after a hat that Danny used to have that I liked (I do believe I stole it from him and lost it...) Its a k3 p2 rib. I think it's quite suitable. They're knit in Green and black Paton's Canadiana