About Those Mitts

The set made with my birthday yarn is done. I am now officially coordinated, Yay!



The headband pattern is a freebie available here, but I haven't written up a proper pattern for the mitts.

So here is a really sketchy, and yet verbose, description of what I did:

First off, the ball band did not describe the yarn weight or give a suggested gauge. (on Ravelry it is described as Sport, and I would agree). The band did say to use Size 6 needles, so I automatically dropped to Size 4, which gave me a gauge of 6 sts per inch in stockinette. I used double points, but Magic Loop or 2 circs would do as well. How much yarn? Well I got both the mitts and headband out of a 250 yd skein with a fair bit left over

Cast on 32 sts and join to work in the round.

Work 20 rounds in k2, p2 rib.

At this point, stop and slip the little tube onto the top of your hand to make sure it fits closely yet stretches enough around the knuckles to be comfortable. If it is too tight for comfort, change to larger needles and keep going. If (not likely) it is too loose, start the whole thing over on smaller needles; because if it is too loose around the widest part of your hand it will be way to loose around your wrist.

Pick a knit rib to be the one that will grow into the thumb gusset. I picked one that was toward the center of one of my needles. Work up to that rib, place a marker, k1, M1, k1, place a second marker, finish the round.

Work the thumb gusset:
Rnds 1 & 2: work even in pattern (meaning knit the knit stitches including all stitches between the markers, and purl the purl stitches)
Rnd 3: work in pattern to the first marker and slip it. K1, M1, knit to one stitch before the second marker, M1, k1, slip the marker and complete round in pattern.

Repeat Rnds 1-3 until there are 17 sts between the markers.

Work 5 more rounds even in pattern (or to the length you want to the thumb opening).

Next round: work in pattern to the first marker, remove marker, k1, put the next 15 sts on waste yarn, k1, remove marker, finish round in pattern.

Work 8 more rounds in pattern (or as many as you like) and bind off in rib.

Put the 15 reserved stitches onto 3 dpns, join yarn and knit 4 rounds. Bind off.

Curse hole that appears where thumb meets body, and darn closed with yarn tail. Weave in other loose ends.

Rinse and repeat/make a second mitt just like the first.

A note on increases: you can M1 any way you like. I like a raised/lifted invisible increase of the kind Cat Bordhi calls LLinc and LRinc. If you aren't familar with these, she has a very good video here. Oddly, the title frames call it a lesson on paired decreases, but it really is on increases. Trust me.