I started these mittens with 48 stitches around on No. 3 needles for the ribbing, then switched to No. 4 needles. The Condon's yarn I got last year is fairly coarse, so these will be a good outer layer. The yarn came as singles on balance cones which I plied using my spinning wheel, then wound into skeins, then washed to remove excess spinning oil and set the twist. The pattern is adapted from the Adult Mittens in Suzanne William's Scotch Wool Shop book, which calls for 5-ply or Double Knitting yarn.
They fit my "ladies large" hand with plenty of room to spare, and easily go over the red mittens in the blog for layering.