Web-Letter, Issue 61 – La Gran 456 Mittens Every October at Classic Elite Yarns, we celebrate Mohair Month. Our La Gran mohair, an airy worsted-weight, launched CEY as a wholesale yarn company. In the beginning, La Gran was spun in a mohair mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, the city where the CEY offices are still located. Through transitions in the spinning business—La Gran is now spun overseas—and ever-changing trends in the knitting world, La Gran continues to be one of CEY's most popular yarns. To celebrate its ever-lasting appeal, this week we offer a classic mitten pattern—a perfect way to sample a great, classic yarn.
The Story: The La Gran mitten is a pleasure to knit and it’s on and off the needles in a jiffy. It calls for 2 strands of La Gran held together and is knitted at a relatively tight gauge for extra warmth and durability. The mitten is reversible—the thumb is positioned along the side to fit the right or left hand. Make three mittens and you’ll always have a spare. A ribbed cuff is snug around the wrist, but there’s no reason not to work the entire mitten in stockinette stitch if you prefer. Knit your mittens in a solid color—sombre or bright--or add stripes, checks, or embroidery—whatever suits your fancy. The Yarn: La Gran — 76½% mohair, 17½% wool, 6% nylon The fuzzy component of La Gran is brushed mohair—100% mohair—that’s spun around a core made from wool and nylon. Mohair fiber is lustrous and dyes beautifully. See the proof of this in La Gran’s 46 colors. Mohair will keep you warm even when your mittens get wet shoveling snow or packing snow balls. Here is some more information on mohair. The Stitches: The La Gran mitten pattern provides instructions for knitting flat with seams or in the round requiring no finishing. The cuff is a simple rib and the hand and thumb are worked in stockinette stitch. The simplicity of the design makes it easy to personalize your own pair of mittens. At the office we had fun making our own additions to this pattern. Pattie Morris knitted one pair with thick stripes of blue and gray, another in yellow with two little stripes of purple and pink just above the wrist, and a lovely blue pair  knitted flat with a stripe that runs diagonally around the mitten. Andi Clark decorated her red, white, and black mittens with one-row stripes through the wrist ribbing and larger two-row stripes through the hand. Cecily Glowk MacDonald’s brown-and-pink pair skips the ribbing at the wrist and uses stockinette stitch in a tighter gauge to form the cuff. The two-row stripes of brown and pink end just before the hand and thumb shaping begins. We’ve had such fun knitting the La Gran mitten that some of us have decided to give mittens as gifts for the holidays!	more photos The Pattern: Here is the free downloadable La Gran 456 Mitten pattern.
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