Felted Mittens

Nanna01.03.2025

Felting can seem tricky because it depends on many things – the type of yarn, the felting technique and the knitting gauge. The Knittable Mitten pattern helps you create felted mittens by guiding you through the whole process. With the mitten pattern, you can choose how much you'd like to felt your mittens so the pattern automatically takes felting into account in the stitch count.

Here are a few tips to get you started with your felted mittens.

Knitting gauge and felting

Making a swatch is the easiest way to get to know your yarn – a small swatch will do, since Knittable gauge from swatch tool will help you calculate your knitting gauge. When it comes to felting, the looser the gauge, the more the knitted item will felt. You can even test the felting qualities of your yarn with the swatch first by washing it in the machine, just remember to calculate the gauge before felting.

Yarn type and quality

All non-superwash wool yarns felt, and the same goes for alpaca, merino and mohair. Different yarns felt differently, and the result also depends on the knitting gauge, where loose knitting felts more than tight knitting. If you choose "a little" felting in the mitten pattern, the mittens will become fluffy with still-visible stitches, and be thicker and warmer than regular mittens. Choose "a lot" of felting, and the texture will become more uniform with almost no visible stitches, and the mittens will be water and wind resistant.

Technique

The mittens can be felted by hand or by using a washing machine. Felting by hand offers more control in terms of form and size, whereas felting in a washing machine can vary depending on the machine and the programmes used. In most cases this is harmless since the mittens can be stretched while still wet if they come out too small, or felted again (even at a higher temperature) if they are still too big. In general, higher temperature, the use of wool soap/laundry detergent, or washing with other garments are all factors that increase felting. If washing with other clothes, make sure the clothes do not produce lint.