The Da Xiong Mao mittens pattern ( free pattern )

The Da Xiong Mao mittens are a fair isle knitting pattern that can be easily called : “the Giant Panda mittens”….cause thats whats the Chinese words actually say. I like to tell you how i came to the idea of creating these mittens and what i try to accomplish with it.

Most of the time i more like animals than humans. I guess it has something to do with the love and happiness a pet or animal can give you. Of course not all animals are sweet and fun as i really don’t like reptiles and exotic things like spiders or snakes. But i think the beauty of it lies in the fact a pet or animal give back the things you give and they don’t judge you by who or what you are. A pet can give you the feeling you’re not alone or give you the hug you need when dark clouds are gathering above your head. And not only pets have this behaviour, all animals are like this even if it’s to each other.

Through the years i have taken some opportunity’s to watch wildlife wherever i could on the globe. Like whale watching in Iceland, a monkey reservate in Indonesia and many other things. Something fascinates me too see animals in their natural environment and see the true beauty of our world in it. Of course everything the human created to time is a miracle, but have you ever seen the complicity and miracles our nature keeps with all its life in it. And i guess we still haven’t discovered all about it.

Even more it hurts me to watch mankind destroy these things. And we are all guilty of it. We all use plastic and we all have thrown something away along the side of the road. But these are small things. There is also killing elephants for their teeth, killing whales for their body and i could go on and on with lots of examples. But sometimes we forget these things and don’t realize there will come a time lots of species will only be found in a book rather than in real life. And this was something i realized when i visited last summer a new Panda reservate build here in the Netherlands in a zoo. As a country we adopted two giant young panda’s from the reservate in China to give them a safe environment and to maintain and try to let them breed. As the Giant panda is one of the species which numbers are going down and down they are already a protected species.

When i thought about this i immediately came to the idea to create something which could help this problem. I thought the panda would be a good theme to use as it is also the worldwide logo for the nature fund WWF. For us Dutchies we know it as de Wereld Natuur Fonds. This organisation is working and fighting for the ideals i described above.

So i started designing the knitting pattern for the mittens with a panda theme and it actually floated right out of my mind through my hands on the paper. The front sides of both mittens shows two panda’s who will meet each other and the backside holds a paw mark of a panda. The thumb holds a bamboo leaf.

The mitten pattern has a written instruction with photo examples to guide you. You have to work the charts to make them. All is explained in the pattern. However, you need some basic knitting experience to make them and you need to know how to work with two colors of yarn in a fair isle technique. I didn’t explain a full tutorial about this as media like YouTube is full of instruction video’s for it. I always think some images gives a better idea them a thousands words.

The mittens require two balls of sock yarn, 50 grams with 210 meters length. I used Scheepjes Invicta Extra.

Although the mitten pattern is a one-size pattern, i included some information to make them larger or smaller. Just read the pattern. All is tested and measured.

The pattern is written in English.

Finally, the pattern itself. I provide it for free. But….normally i would have put a price on it. Instead of asking a fee for it i would suggest you make a small donation to the WWF. If you have wanted to purchase the pattern it would also have cost you something, so it would be a nice suggestion that instead op paying me, you would now donate it. You can donate a gift here :

For the Dutch people you can donate here :

For all other countries a donation can be done here :

If you find donating through the WWF too much trouble or you don’t want to, you also could support me as a designer by giving me a coffee. Every gift i will get through this post (i can see through which link i received a gift) i also will collect and donate to the WWF.

Of course i don’t force anyone to give something or do something i wish. I can’t look in your wallet or judge about life circumstances. So i trust you can make this decision for yourself before you download the pattern for free.

Now here is the pattern :

Da Xiong Mao mittens pattern

I also put the charts all together if you like to print them on a larger scale :

panda mitten charts without pattern

At last i can only thank you for using or making something out of this pattern. Support me on this journey and love the things i do. If you have made a donation in which way so ever i thank you with all my heart.

Please take note that the pattern holds copyright. Please respect the rules and terms that are written down in the pattern. If you make something with the pattern, please use #daxionmaomittens on social media when you post your pics of it. And please feel free to add your project to Ravelry to the pattern page.