Saturday, February 03, 2007

Green Mitten Round-Up

I keep meaning to post patterns on the blogola but writing out my patterns never appeals to me...EVER.

I know that this one is probably full of oddities - drop me a line if you see anything too glaringly confusing and I'll do my best to clarify. This pattern makes an nice loose mitt suitable for a long adult woman's hand. I'm 5'9" and have looong feet and hands - all of my mitts and socks patterns are a little bigger than the average bear so feel free to make modifications as needed. You'll notice that I don't include gauge - I don't usually pay attention to gauge but I do measure my work against my hand to see if I'm getting close to the needed size. It's really just a fun and easy mitten pattern so have fun with it



Green Cabled Cuff Mitts a.k.a Kermit

3.5 mm dbl pointed needles (4 or 5, depending on your preference)
100 grams of light worsted weight yarn (you’ll have lots left over)

Simple cable rib (multiples of 7 and 7 rows)
Rows 1-3 Knit 4 Purl 3 all the way around
Row 4 slip 2 stitches to the front of work on cable needle, knit the next 2 stitches, then the 2 from the cable needle, P3 all the way around
Rows 5-7 Knit 4 Purl 3 all the way around


CO 49 st. and begin cable rib round.

Instead of lining up my stitches on all needles and then beginning the rib, I find it easier to start my first row on 1 needle and then move the stitches over to the other 2-3 needles and then joining the round. I find it easier to get my stitches straight using this method and never have a problem with the “dreaded Mobius stitches” a.k.a DMS (knitting in the round that has that twist, instead of lying flat)

Continue cable rib until you have 3 repeats and then begin mitt hand

Knit 6 stocking stitch rows and begin thumb increases. The first row will be: K10, K2Tog, P1, K3, P1, K32 (48 stitches)

You will then have:
K11, P1, K3, P1, K32
Repeat this row 2 more times
Next row: K11, P1, M1, K3, M1, P1, K32
Repeat these rows (1 Increase row followed by 2 plain rows) until you have K11, P1, K13, P1, K32

Slip the 13 stitches for thumb onto a waste piece of yarn and co 3 stitches to join mitten top into a round. Continue to knit in round until you have completed 28 rounds. Begin to taper the top of the mitten. The first step is to make sure that your stitches are balanced between front and back. If you’re a new knitter, try the following step. More experienced knitters can just jump ahead

I find the best way to ensure that your mitten is correctly lain out (yes, when you’re a new mitten knitter, sometimes your mitts can be a little crooked – be patient and practice. It’ll work out), lay your mitt flat. You should have your thumb, folded in half, to one side and the remaining stitches should be balanced between the front and back. If you find that you have more stitches on one of your sides, you’ve caught it before you’ve started knitting and can easily remedy the situation. It sure beats noticing much later and having to frog your work. Rip it, rip it…yuck!

K1, K2Tog, knit18, SSK, K1 – K1, K2Tog, K18, SSK, K1

Next row- K all around
Next row – K1, K2Tog, knit17, SSK, K1 – K1, K2Tog, K17, SSK, K1

Repeat these rows until you have completed 5 or 6 decreases, depending on how tapered you would like your mitten. Knit one more round and close top of mitten. You can use a Kitchener graft but I prefer to slip my stitches onto waste yarn (1 piece for each side) and carefully flip the mitten inside out. You can easily (and neatly) knit the top together to close.

Now, you can begin the thumb. Place stitches for thumb onto needles and PU 4 stitches on mitten body. Knit 17 or 28 rounds, depending on how long you need your thumb to be. Then begin decrease rows - SSK all around, K1. Next row – SSK all around and cut yarn – leave about 10”. Take this thread and with a darning needle, gather the remaining thumb stitches, flip mitten inside out and secure yarn ends.

Let me know if you have any questions 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Frankie calls them "Kermittens".....

Bumbershootska said...

and I call him 'silly' so I suppose we're even ;)