Mitten Tutorial - Step 6

Step 6

Last instructions were to knit 16 rows of stockinette stitch for the body of the mitten.

Next you will begin decreasing for the mitten tip.


Decrease for mitten top:

1. (k6, k2tog) 4x – 28 sts
2. Knit
3. (k5, k2tog) 4x – 24 sts
4. Knit
5. (k4, k2tog) 4x – 20 sts
6. Knit
7. (k3, k2tog) 4x – 16 sts
8. Knit
9. (k2, k2tog) 4x – 12 sts
10. Purl 2tog across – 6 sts, break yarn, gather up.




This is the almost finished mitten that just needs seaming up.

And that's all for the LEFT mitten.

The RIGHT mitten is about the same, the only difference is the shaping of the thumb gusset.

For those of you who want to jump ahead, here are the instructions for the RIGHT mitten - no pics, yet. I'll be back with those pics as soon as I get to that point in my knitting.

Right Mitten:

Cast on 32 sts and rib for 22 rows

Knit 4 rows in St st Increasing by 1 on first row. 33 sts

Begin Right Thumb Gusset:

Row1: K29, PM, M1, Knit to end of round – 34 sts

Row 2: Purl to marker, M1, slip marker, p to end of row.

Rows 3-11: Repeat last 2 rows 4 times more.

Keep increasing every row until 44 total stitches.

Next Row: Purl 28 sts, (remove marker) turn and work the next 13 sts for thumb as in left mitten.

Mitten Body & Mitten Tip: Same as in left mitten.

Mitten Tutorial - Step 5

Hope no one abandoned their mittens!

Step 4 (continued):

After you knit your 12 thumb rows your mitten should look like the pictured below.


Step 5:

Next Row: K3, k2tog across row 8 (12)sts,
turn purl back.
Then knit 2tog across – 4 (6)sts.
Break yarn leaving a 1 yard length, gather up thumb tip and seam up thumb.



Picture below is the thumb already sewn up.


Now I'll show you how I avoid a hole at the "crotch" of the thumb.
With the wrong side facing you go thru the left stitch purl bump and

then go thru the right stitch purl bump.

After you've done that, purl to the end of the row (going to the left)


On the right side knit 15 sts and pick up one stitch at the "crotch".
and knit to the end of the row.

Don't forget to mark this row.

You now have 32 sts on the needle and you are ready to knit the body of the mitten.

Knit for 16 rows for body of mitten.

Mitten Tutorial - Step 4

Is everyone still with me?
I thought I'd give you a few days to complete step 3.

Step 4:

After you have 44 total stitches your mitten should look like this


And you just finished a knit row.


Next Purl Row - Purl 29 sts and turn. Don't purl past the marker.


This is what it looks like after you turn


Now you are ready to knit the thumb.

Thumb: Edited July 4th - changed # of rows to 12

Knit 13 sts, marking this row as row 1 and knit 12 total rows on these 13 sts.


This is the beginning of the thumb part with a marker.


Any questions?

Mitten Tutorial - Step 3

Now we will begin the left thumb gusset

Row 1: Knit 4, M1 (make one), PM (place a marker), knit to end of row.

Above picture shows how I M1 (make 1). I lift the stitch with the left needle and knit into the back of it so as not to leave a hole.

Knitting in the front and back of the stitch to increase does not work - it does not leave a smooth increase line and does not look quite as nice.


Above picture is the first row knit to the end with the marker in position.
You can see I have 5 sts at the right because I M1 and 29 sts on the left.

Row 2: Purl to marker, slip marker and m1.

To make one on the purl side, lift the stitch as above and


come in from behind to purl this stitch. We don't knit it because we do not want any purl bumps on the right side. It's a wee bit tricky but there are only a few more rows of this type of increase.

Rows 3-11: Repeat last 2 rows 4 times more.
Keep increasing every row until 44 (50) total stitches

You should end up with 15 sts on the right side of the marker and 29 sts on the left side.



Let me know if you get stuck anywhere and I'll see if I can better explain.
Or if I miscalculated the row counts.
Mostly it is the number of stitches at the end that matter.

Mitten Tutorial - Step 2

Step 2 is easy, but first I have to clarify some questions.

We will be using the same size needles for knitting the whole mitten.

I also forgot to mention that due to the shaping of this gusset we will be making a left and a right mitten.

We are working on the LEFT mitten for now.

So on to Step 2

Knit 4 rows in Stockinette stitch, but INCREASE by 1 st in the first row.
you will now have 33 sts on the needle.

Update for "kittie" noreply-comment@blogger.com"

Kittie asks about my preferred method of increasing. I don't have a preferred method - I use whatever one works with the pattern.
In this instance for increasing by one, I knit 16 sts and then lifted the stitch from the bottom of the next stitch and knit into that and then knit the top stitch.
Here is an example on Maggie's Rags Site.

Thanks for asking this question Kittie!


I increased in the center. This is the section that one may knit more rows if they like longer mittens but since these are for children we will keep it at 4 rows.

See I told you Step 2 was easy!

Tomorrow Step 3.

Mitten Tutorial - Step 1

Are you ready? Well here goes - my very first mitten tutorial!

We'll be working on just the small size for now - I'll add the next size up on the actual pattern.

Step 1

Cast on 32 sts and knit in rib of your choice for 3 1/4"



I like 2x2 rib, so I used that - does not matter what you choose.
3 1/4" for me worked out to about 22 rows.

Tomorrow I'll post the next step.

Can't think of a name for this pattern - they're nameless right now!

Mitten Time

Okay, so I'm on a roll of mitten knitting!

Pairs 13, 14 & 15

The lovely blue yarn is Ironstone Multi 95% Wool 5% Polyester
These are worked on double points in the round.

Pairs 16, 17 & 18

Same Ironstone yarn here but these are knit on 2 needles.

Mitten Tutorial

I'll be posting a step by step little tutorial on how to knit these mittens with the "Indian thumb gusset " on 2 needles.

What you need is worsted wt yarn - light or medium wt worsted will work.
I think a little over 100 yds will work as I was able to squeeze out 3 pairs from one ball of Ironstone.

My gauge was 5 sts to 1 inch - use whatever needles give you that gauge.
Yes you should knit up a swatch, unless you already know your gauge with worsteds. I do ;)

I'll post step 1 tomorrow and after I'm done with all the steps I'll be posting the pattern over on my pattern blog.

And for those of you who hate to seam and would rather make your mittens in the round - stay tuned for that pattern.

Mitten Factory

Here is another pair of "hoot-less" mittens. I followed the pattern of Give-A-Hoot mittens omitting the cabled parts.


Close up of what the Finnish knitters call "Indian Thumb Gusset"




I did not really care for the 34 sts width of these. A little too wide even for my wide hands. I assume when you work the cabled part it would draw in the hand for a tighter fit.




Soooo.............

Inspired by Give-A-Hoot mittens I came up with these "Life Line" mittens.
I cut down the pattern to 32 sts wrist and body.
About 2-3 oz of worsted wt yarn and based on 32 sts for a snugger fit.
I'm calling them Life Line Mittens because the thumb gusset curves along the life line on your palm.

Recipe/Mods for Life Line Mittens

Inspired by Give-A-Hoot Mittens

About 2.5 – 3 oz of worsted wt yarn and needles to give you a gauge of 4 – 4 ½ sts per inch.

CO 32 sts, join in round and knit ribbing of our choice for 3.5”

Knit 4 rows in stockinette stitch.

Left Thumb Gusset
Rnd 1: K3, kfb next st, PM (place marker) K to end of row (33sts)
Rnds 2-9: Knit to 1 stitch before marker, kfb of that stitch, slip marker and knit to end of round.
You should end of with 41 total stitches.

Next row; Knit 13, place next 11 sts on a holder, cast on 2 sts on right hand needle and knit to end of round. (32 sts)

Knit until top of mitten just clears your little finger. This was about 5” from the base of my palm or from the beginning of the stockinette part. I have short fingers, so you might want to knit more rows for longer fingers.


Mitten Top
1. (K2tog, K6) 4x – 28 sts
2. Knit this row and every even row.
3. (K2tog, K5) 4x – 24 sts
5. (K2tog, K4) 4x – 20 sts
7: (K2tog, K3) 4x – 16 sts
9: (K2 tog, K2) 4x – 12 sts
10: K2 tog across, break yarn, gather up

Thumb
From holder, pick up and knit 11 sts for thumb, 1 st in the corners and 2 sts at the base of thumb. (15 sts)
*On next round decrease at the corners so there are 13 sts total for thumb.
Divide on 3 needles and knit even about 2”.
Last row; knit 2 together across, break yarn and gather up.


Right Thumb Gusset
Rnd 1: K11, PM, kfb next st, K to end of row (33sts)
Rnds 2-9: Knit to marker, slip marker, kfb of next stitch, knit to end of round.
You should end of with 41 total stitches.

Next row; Place next 11 sts on a holder, cast on 2 sts on right hand needle and knit to end of round. (32 sts)
Knit body same as left hand mitten.



What's Next?
Having met puzzled out the new thumb gusset on one strand mittens, I've moved on to modifying my favorite 2 strand mitten pattern.

Red Rocks Mittens

#9 needles and 2 strands of knitting worsted
Thumb hole might be too large, I won't know yet until I work it.

Stay tuned!

Half Hexagons

I decided to "fill in the gaps" and make some half hexies for the sides.
I Googled around and looked at Ravelry hexagons, but could not find any thing that would work.



No Pictures available - somehow they disappeared from Flickr
Only one available is on Ravelry


http://www.ravelry.com/projects/KnittingNonni/hexagon-how-to

This is how I made up the half hexie.

R1: 8 dc in a ring (however way you want to make the ring, I did a magic loop) Break yarn. DO NOT TURN

R2: Ch4, (2dc cluster in next DC, ch1) repeat 5x, ch1, dc in last dc. Break yarn do not turn.

R3: Ch3, dc in ch1 space, (ch1, 3dc’s in next ch 1 space) 5x, ch1, dc in ch1 space, dc in last dc. Break yarn.

R4: TURN hex motif to wrong side and start this row with a sc, ch2, (sc, ch3) 5x, ch2, sc in last stitch, TURN

R5: Ch4, 3dc in ch2 space, (3dc in next ch3 space, 3dc, ch2, 3dc in next ch 3 space) 2x, 3dc in next ch3 space, 3 dc in last ch2 space, dc in last dc.

Hopefully I typed this out right, but if in doubt you should look at the pictures.
Since I did not take a pic of the last row on the 2nd attempt, I do not have a model to go by. It fit so well I did not want to take if off the blanket ;)

So there might be an error on the last row - let me know :)

Which ever way you choose to make your half hexies fit is probably ok as long as they look good on your blanket!