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!