Pattern Review: Sydänmaa Cabled Mittens

Cables! The quintessential knitting technique! Of course, I had to try them (and much sooner than anyone would recommend to a beginning knitter). I had a ball of Cascade 220 worsted in a lovely teal color, so I figured mittens would be a good idea. I came across this pattern, called Sydänmaa (link here), which I quite liked:

Don't fear the Finnish title: the pattern is available in English. For the curious, "Sydänmaa" means "heartland" in Finnish. I did try to learn the language a few years back at the behest of a friend, but languages just don't come easily to me. Unless we're talking the language of crafts! Speaking of, I took to a borrowed pair of double pointed needles to try Sydänmaa myself.

The results! These mittens were clearly made for someone with much longer fingers than mine. I cut out an entire pattern repeat and they still fit fine. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of how long the wrist sections are, either, but that's a personal stylistic choice rather than one of fit.

The charts were easy to read even for a beginner, and the shaping of the thumb fit my hand nicely once I corrected for length. I liked the style of the cables as well, though those could be changed fairly easily if you wanted to try something different on the backs.

Overall, apart from the length issue, it was a good pattern. Clear instructions made for a fine result that was easy to adjust to my hand. To conclude:

Thumbs up for Sydänmaa!