After you knit the cuff and after you increase to accomodate your hand, you can knit a couple rounds in your pattern and then begin increasing for a normal thumb gusset. I set up markers near the beginning of the palm row for a right mitten as: knit 1, place marker, make 1 stitch, knit 1, make 1, place marker (reverse that at the end of the palm row for a left mitten - shown in first photo).
I increase two stitches every other round until I have enough thumb stitches between the markers to accomodate my thumb:
(circumference of thumb + 1/2 inch) X number of stitches per inch in gauge swatch for stockinette stitch
For me this was (2.5 + .5) inches X 7 stitches per inch = 21 stitches.So when I had 21 stitches between the markers (photo 2), it was time to place the thumb stitches on a spare piece of yarn (photo 3). So knit the stitches before the marker, thread the stitches between the markers onto the yarn needle, cast on one stitch using the e wrap cast on, then continue knitting the remaining stitches on the row. Now continue knitting the palm and back of hand in your pattern. It should look like the photo below.
Keep knitting until the mitten is just past your pinky (Cassie's green mitten is almost there) and then start decreasing at the beginning and end of both the palm side and the back of hand side: knit 1, SSK, knit to 3 remaining, knit 2 together, knit 1. You can decrease every round or every other round or whatever it takes to get you to the tip of your fingers with anywhere between 8-15 stitches left (8 if worsted weight, 15 if chunky yarn). Cut the yarn, thread through remaining stitches, and fasten. Thumbs tomorrow.
4 comments:
The mittens were much easier than I expected. Cabling wasn't too bad and knitting on double pointed needles went smoothly after the first few rows.
I think the most challenging thing about making the mittens was making sure that I had the proper number of stitches on both the palm and the back of the mitten. I have only ever made mittens with a pattern and have never used cabling on them so I have not had to think about where to start decreasing etc. It was all decided for me. It was really interesting to have to be conscious of which side I was on rather than just blindly following a written pattern.
These mittens didn't seem to hard to me. I liked that once you got going you could start seeing your progress and vision the ending product. I liked these mittens so much that I think I'm going to do mittens for my final project. The hardest part, I think, about the mittens was adding stitches in that different cast on. Decreasing was easy to me because we had to do it in our hats but casting on after already having most your mitten done was challenging. Overall, though this project was great and I have a feeling I'm going to make a lot more mittens!
Ashley Koepp
Startingmy mittnes were frusterating. I started over a few times, but finally got it. Although my mittens weren't quite what i was looking for, now i know my mistakes and im looking forward to knitting more mittens!! It's fun!
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