I already wrote it four years ago – busy toddler hands are not fond of mittens – too restricting. Back then I solved that issue by adding a cap to the mitten, but I made 1 mistake: I knit the fingers separately, resulting in a lot of fumbling every time the mittens needed to go on.

Fastforward to today: new toddler, new mittens, and a mother who has learned from her mistakes. Mittens with a cap, and no more separate fingers. 

Add a layer of Barbapapa (since for some reason that cartoon has a very calming effect on our youngest), and you have an instant hit.

What do you need?

• 1 skein Phildar Super baby (70% acryl, 30% wol, 25gr/107m) in a Barbapapa colour of choice
• Lefotver black yarn of same weight
• Leftover white yarn of same weight 
• Double pointed needles: 5 of 2,5mm and 5 of 3mm
• Tapestry needle to weave in the ends, duplicate the eyes, and sew on the nose and mouth

Gauge

10×10 cm: 30 stitches and 40 rows

Abbreviations

• Sts: stitches
• Pm: place marker
• M1: increase 1 stitch by using the left-hand needle to pick up the bar between the stitches from front to back and using the right-hand needle to knit the bar through the back loop (video: https://www.garnstudio.com/video.php?id=9&lang=nl)
• Rlinc (right-leaning increase): with the right-hand needle, pick up the right leg of of the stitch UNDER the next stitch that you want to knit. Put the picked up stitch on your left-hand needle, and knit (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsWBx7jiIlI – around 4:30)
• Llinc (left-leaning increase): with the left-hand needle, pick up the left leg of the stitch 2 rows UNDER the last stitch you knit. Knit this stitch through back loop (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsWBx7jiIlI – around 5:15)
• Ssk (slip slip knit): slip 2 stitches as if to knit, then slide the left-hand needle into the front part of both stitches and knit them together 
• K2tog: knit 2 together

Instructions

Mitten

Cast on 40 stitches with needle size 2,5. Divide across 4 dpns and join in the round. 
Knit in 2×2 rib until work measures 6cm (about 26 rows).
Switch to needle size 3.
Knit 20 sts, pm, m1, pm, knit 20 sts.
*Knit until marker, slip marker, Llinc, knit to marker, Rlinc, slip marker, knit until end of row. Knit 3 rounds* Repeat the part between * * 3 more times (16 rows).
Knit until 1 st before marker. Slip last st, put aside 9 sts for the thumb, join in the round by lifting the slipped st over the next st, and knit until the end of the row
Knit until work measures 5,5cm from top edge of ribbed cuff
Switch to dpn size 2,5 and knit 6 rounds in rib 2×2
Cast off using a stretchy bind-off (around 2:15)

Thumb

Divide the 9 sts that you put aside for the thumb on 3 3mm dpns
Pick up a st between the mitten part and the thumb part, knit 9 sts, pick up another st between the thumb and the mitten part, and pick up another st on the “seam” of the mitten, so you have 12 sts.
Join in the round and knit 6 rounds or until the thumb measures 2cm.
The next 3 rounds, knit 2 sts together, until you are left with 3 sts.
Break yarn and pull through the remaining 3 sts to close the thumb.

Cap

On the mitten part, with needle size 3, pick up 20 sts somewhere between the start of the thumb and the start of the ribbing by picking up the right leg of each st. Make sure to do this low enough so the cap will cover the whole hand, but don’t do it below the part where the thumb starts.
Cast on another 20 sts using a backward loop cast-on.
Divide your sts over 4 dpns and join in the round
Knit the 20 sts that you pickup up, and knit the sts that you cast on in 2×2 rib. 
Repeat 5 more rows. 
Knit all sts until cap measures 5 cm.
*Knit 1 st, ssk, knit until 3 sts before the end of the upper part, k2tog, knit the last st of the upper part. Repeat same steps for the lower part*.
Repeat everything between * * until you have 8 sts left .
Cast off using Kitchener stitch.

Cord

Take the coat from the happy receiver and measure the distance from sleeve end to sleeve end.
Cast on 5 sts, and knit in I-cord (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfkFRa9tjns) until your cord is about 70% of the lenght you measured. For my 2-year old that came down to a cord of about 60-70 cm.
Cast off.
Attach cord to mittens (in the middle of the bottom of the cuff).

Eyes, mouth and nose

Use duplicate stitch following the chart below to make the eyes. 

Determine where the nose should come and embroider using a backstitch. Do the same for the mouth. 

Finished!