Mittens!

[knittingbanshee]

I love mittens. And gloves, and all variations. But I don't like knitting them. All that jiggery-pockery to join the fingers, just when you think you are done. All that fiddling and guesswork to figure out how many stitches you need, and where to start the thumb gusset, and all that. And let's not mention the bloody gaps between the fingers.

So I looked for somethin else. And I found Nona's pattern on how to make gloves from the fingers down! I read through her pattern for full gloves, and transformed it into a pattern for short-finger mittens, which I've been wanting to knit for myself for a really long time... I didn't use I-cord fingers because, with the weight of yarn I was using, I-cord wide enough for my fingers meant picking up stitches along a very long gap between the edges. But the theory is the same.

So, here is what I did...

Materials

I used one of the Sock Club yarns that I got last month, in lovely fiery colours. I started on 3.5mm needles, but that meant having to tweak and tighten every knitted row, so in the end I settled for 2.5mm, which worked like a treat.

I work both fingers and glove with the magic loop technique on one circular needle. I usually do two-at-once when I do gloves and socks, but because I was working these from a skein, I didn't even try. Which lead to the wonderful "oh, great, now I have to remember exactly everything I did" feeling when I remembered I would have to knit a second glove...

Photos

Pattern

Fingers

I used cable cast on for the fingers because it gives a really strong, firm edge. If you like your fingers to roll down as you wear them, you can use another cast on method.

Make 2 each of the fingers:

• Pinky finger: Cast on 14 stitches and knit 5 rows.
• Ring finger: Cast on 16 stitches and knit 5 rows.
• Middle finger: Cast on 18 stitches and knit 5 rows.
• Index finger: Cast on 18 stitches and knit 5 rows.
• Thumb finger: Cast on 18 stitches and knit 7 rows.

Make sure you know which finger is which. I like Nona's trick of skewering them on a spare needle/stitch holder in order.

Joining the fingers

First, join the index, middle and ring fingers.

Place 9 index finger stitches, 9 middle finger stitches, and 8 ring finger stitches onto one side of the needle. We'll call this needle #1 (26st)

Place the remaining 9 ring finger stitches, 9 middle finger stitches, and 9 index finger stitches onto the other side of the needle. We'll call this needle #2 (26st)

Trick: if you place the tail ends of the index and middle finger between those two fingers, you can simply tie them together when you're tidying up at the end. You can do the same with the tail ends of the ring finger and the pinky that will be added later.

Knitting in the round, join the 3 fingers and close the gaps as follows:

• Round 1: The idea here is to knit the last stich of each finger with the first of the next.
  • Needle #1:
    • k8, k2tog,
      k7, k2tog,
      k7 (24 st)
  • Needle #2:
    • k7, k2tog,
      k7, k2tog,
      k8 (24 st)
• Round 2: The idea here is to cross the stitch formed by k2tog on the previous round, so that the one on needle #1 becomes part of the stitches on needle #2 and viceversa.
  • Needle #1:
    • k8, slip stitch onto safety pin (hold the pin behind the needles and bring the yarn underneath it when continuing),
      k7, slip stitch onto safety pin,
      k7
  • Needle #2:
    • k7, pick stitch from the matching safety pin and knit it, slip stitch onto safety pin,
      k7, pick stitch from the matching safety pin and knit it, slip stitch onto safety pin,k8
• Round 3: The idea here is to complete the crossing of stitches initiated in Round 2
  • Needle #1:
    • k8, pick stitch from the matching safety pin and knit it,
      k7, pick stitch from the matching safety pin and knit it,
      k7
  • Needle #2: k24;

At this stage, you should have 24 stitches on each needle. Now, let's join the pinky.

• Round 4: The idea here is to add the pinky in the middle of the round.
  • Needle #1:
    • k7, k2tog,
      k6, ssk,
      k6, leave the last stitch unknitted.
      Add 7 stitches from the pinky, knitting the unknitted stitch with the first of this seven, k6. (28 st)
  • Needle #2:
    • Slip the rest of the stitches from the pinky.
      k6, k2tog,
      k6, k2tog,
      k6, ssk,
      k7 (28st)
• Round 5: Again, we'll cross the stitches formed by k2tog in the previous round from needle #1 to needle #2
  • Needle #1: k21, place next stitch on safety pin, k6
  • Needle #2: k6, pick up stitch from safety pin, knit it, place next stitch on safety pin, k21
• Round 6: Complete the crossing
  • Needle #1: k21, pick up stitch from safety pin, knit it, k6
  • Needle #2: k28

Hand

At this stage, you should have 28 stitches on each needle.

Knit 15 rows.

Thumb

At this point we ned to differentiate right from left glove, since the thumb does not go on the side of the glove, but slightly towards the palm.

Joining the Thumb to the Right Glove

I find it easier to slip the thumb onto another circular needle, 9 stitches on each side, prior to addingit to the glove.

• Round 1:
  • Needle #1: k28
  • Needle #2: k24, place a marker, leave one unknitted stitch on needle #2 and slip the other three to needle #1.
    Knit the stitch after the marker together with the first stitch of the thumb. k8.
• Round 2
  • Needle #1: k8, k2tog, place marker, k28
  • Needle #2: k23, slip marker, slip the next stitch onto safety pin, k8
• Round 3
  • Needle #1: k8, slip the stitch from the safety pin onto the left needle and knit it, slip the next stitch onto a safety pin, slip marker, k28.
  • Needle #2: k23 (to marker), slip marker, slip the sticth from the safety pin onto the left needle and knit it, k8

Joining the Thumb to the Left Glove

I find it easier to slip the thumb onto another circular needle, 9 stitches on each side, prior to addingit to the glove.

• Round 1
  • Needle #1: k28
  • Needle #2:
    • k29,
      k3 from the other needle, place a marker,
      slip another stich from needle #1, k2tog with the first one of the thumb, k8
• Round 2
  • Needle #1: k8, k2tog, place marker, k24
  • Needle #2: k31, slip marker, slip the next stitch onto safety pin, k8
• Round 3
  • Needle #1: k8, slip the stitch from the safety pin onto the left needle and knit it, slip the next stitch onto a safety pin, slip marker, k23.
  • Needle #2: k31 (to marker), slip marker, slip the sticth from the safety pin onto the left needle and knit it, k8

Shaping the Thumb Gusset

This is the same for both gloves

There should be 18st between the 2 markers, which will be decreased away, two at a time.

• Round 4
  • Needle #1: knit to two stitches before marker, k2tog, slip marker, knit to end
  • Needle #2: Knit to marker, slip marker, ssk, knit to end
• Rounds 5 and 6
  • Needle #1: Knit all stitches
  • Needle #2: Knit all stitches

Repeat these last 3 rounds until these are only 2 stitches between the markers.

• Next Round (54 stitches total when complete)
  • Needle #1: k2tog removing marker, knit to end
  • Needle #2: Knit to 1 stitch before marker, ssk removing marker
• Next Round: Knit all stitches
• Next Round: Decrease 2 stitches evenly distributed across the round (52 total stitches). I did ssk at the end of needle one and k2tog at the beginning of needle 2.

Cuff

1x1 ribbing, 17 rows.

Casting off

Cast off using an elastic cast of such as Russian cast-off or Shetland lace cast off