Roman Road Mitts

These mitts are a visual representation of the ancient Roman Empire, with the lozenges in the band representing the hills upon which Rome was built, with all the cable roads moving away from and leading back to it. The seed stitch calls to mind the cobblestones still visible in the roads. My test knitter loved working this pattern, saying it “was truly a pleasure to knit - just challenging enough to keep you on your toes and very satisfying to see the various patterns.” It has some interesting techniques to achieve it’s unique design. The lozenge cabled band is work flat, and seamed underneath the wrist so that the seam is hidden. Stitches are picked up along the edge of the seamed band to work the rest of the mitt in the round. Unlike the common gusset which adds stitches to achieve the widening of the gusset, the number of gusset stitches are reserved all at once at the beginning, and thus the cable along the outside of the palm and thumb is maintained with “cobblestone” count constant in the gusset. The increases are done inside the inner hand cable, making the beautiful curve of that cable “road.” I’m pretty sure you’ll love these mitts, both creating them and wearing them!