how to knit a mitten, part 3: after the thumb gusset

Continue knitting in stockinette (knit around) for 22 rounds.

Now it's time for the top decreases. For the 40-stitch mitten, you will be decreasing in 5 segments. Arrange your stitches on your needles so each needle holds a multiple of 8. I hold my stitches on 3 needles, and work with the fourth, so my stitches are arranged 16-8-16.

Decrease as follows:
round 1: *k6, k2tog* around (35 sts)

round 2: knit
round 3: k5, k2 tog (30 sts)
round 4: knit
round 5: k4, k2 tog (25 sts)
round 6: knit
round 7: k3, k2 tog (20 sts)
round 8: knit
round 9: k2, k2 tog (15 sts)
round 10: k1, k2 tog (10 sts)
round 11: k2 tog (5 sts)


You will notice that once you've decreased to half your original number of stitches, you stop doing a plain row between decrease rows. This gives you a nicely rounded mitten tip.

Break yarn, leaving an end of 8-12 inches. Thread onto sewing-up needle. Working from right to left, transfer remaining 5 stitches onto sewing-up needle and pull yarn through.

Pull yarn through all 5 stitches again.

Now, snug up the top as tight as you can, distributing stitches evenly to avoid any wonky edges.

Plunge the sewing-up needles through the exact center of these tighened stitches.

Push it out through the side of the mitten.

Pull the needle and the yarn all the way through. Now, to avoid an unattractive pointy top, give that yarn a quick tug. You should end up with a nicely rounded top:

before (above) and after (below)

Go to Part 4: The Thumb

how to knit a mitten, part 2: beginning of hand and thumb gusset

Now that you have finished your cuff, it is time to start working in stockinette. On this very first round, increase 4 stitches, evenly spaced. You have 36 stitches on your needles; that means you'll increase every 9 stitches. I like to keep the increases away from the beginning of the round, so I knit 5, then increase 1, then *knit 9, increase 1* 3 more times, then knit the 4 remaining stitches.

Knit 5 rounds plain.

Now it's time to start the thumb gusset. Some patterns have the thumb pop straight out of the mitten; that's a design that does not fit my hand at all, so I always make a thumb with a gusset. You will need two markers. You can use little squishy plastic or rubber rings (my preference), safety pins, or even a contrasting strand of yarn.

Knit 3, place marker, increase 1, knit 2, increase 1, place marker, knit to end of round.

I do my increases as follows: pick up the bar between 2 stitches, lift it onto the lefthand needle, and twist it to avoid a hole, then knit. You can get very elegant and make left-leaning increases on one side and right-leaning increases on the other side if you wish. Check out a book such as The Vogue Knitting Book or The Knitter's Companion for information on making these paired decreases, or check YouTube for videos.

Knit 1 round plain.

Continue working as established:
round 1: knit to the marker, slip it, increase1 stitch right after that marker, knit over to the second marker, and increase1 stitch right before it.
round 2: knit
On one row you'll be increasing one stitch on each edge of the thumb gusset; on the next row, you just knit all the stitches.

Repeat these two rounds, ending with a plain round, until you have 14 stitches between the markers.


Now it's time to put the thumb stitches aside until later. You will need a sewing-up needle and a length of the same weight yarn in a contrasting color -- 12 inches or so is plenty. Knit the 3 stitches to the first marker. Remove that marker. Thread your contrasting yarn onto the sewing-up needle. Now, pass the sewing-up needle from right to left through all 14 thumb stitches (remove the second marker now). Remove the stitches from the knitting needle, making sure you don't pull the holder yarn all the way through:

(Remember -- you can click on any picture to make it bigger so you can see the details.)

I often tie the ends of the holder yarn together to make sure it stays put unless I've used a very long piece Many people like to use those little metal stitch holders that look like big safety pins, or kilt pins. I find that, because they are rigid, they stretch out the corner stitches and cause trouble later. I can't stop you, of course -- but really, you'll get better results if you avoid those things for thumbs.

Now, cast on 2 stitches using the old backward loop cast-on (probably the first one you learned).

Be careful not to leave a big loop when you join these two stitches to the old stitches:

You're back to a total of 40 stitches now, and you are ready to knit the rest of the hand.

Go to Part 3: After the Thumb Gusset

how to knit a mitten, part 1: the cuff

This tutorial is based on the largest size in this pattern, the one that works the hand over 40 stitches. You can apply all the same techniques to the smaller sizes; just use the stitch count for the thumb, the row counts, and the numbers for the decreases from the pattern.

We know you know how to start!! Find your worsted weight yarn and the needles that get gauge for you. Why didn't we say which needle size to use? Because gauge varies widely, depending on the hands of the knitter. Pat and I are both pretty good knitters. But if we're using the same exact yarn, from the same exact ball, she'll use a size 7 (4.5 m) and I'll use a size 5 (3.75 mm) to get the same gauge. If you use this pattern but are getting a looser gauge, (1) mittens will be too airy, and that's not good for keeping warm, and (2) they will fit Sasquatch. Knitting tighter will make a slightly smaller mitten, but that's not so bad.

Digression over.

Cast on 36 stitches using your favorite stretchy cast-on: long-tail, German twisted, long-tail in rib. . .check your favorite knitting book for these, or search YouTube. Join the stitches into a ring, being careful not to twist, and work in k1 p1 or k2 p2 ribbing for 20 rounds. (If you are afraid of twisting, or if you always get a twist -- work the first 2 or 3 rows back and forth and then join to work in the round. You can sew that tiny seam with the end left over from casting on.)

Why do I put that contrasting stripe at the beginning of the cuff? That's something I started doing one time when I had a lot of navy blue yarn to use up, and I decided to use it up by knitting mittens until it was gone. I realized that one navy blue mitten looks very like all the other navy blue mittens. In case two or more pairs from that batch ended up in the same family or classroom, I wanted to make it easy for kids to match up and make sure they took their own pair home (and that no one else who had lost a mitten snitched one of theirs). And I think it jazzes up a plain pair of mittens. I love the look of doing just the cast-on row in the contrast color, but that makes weaving in the ends kind of a challenge, so I knit another row or two. I start counting my 20 rows of ribbing after that stripe. That way I know I'm always going to count to 20, no matter how many rows I used for the racing stripe, and it's easy to make the cuff of the second mitten the same as the first.

Go to Part 2: Beginning of Hand and Thumb Gusset

We're knitting mittens

Pat and I both knit a lot for various causes that speak to us. One of our longest-running interests has been afghans for Afghans; in fact, there's been a link in the sidebar since the day we started this blog. Right now, A4A is in a position to accept mittens. We know some people find the idea of knitting mittens intimidating, so we're offering this tutorial to walk you through. Because it's very detailed, it's quite long, so we have broken it down into several blog posts to make it easy to find the part you need. Words and knitting by Elizabeth; magnificent photos by Pat.

Tools and materials: You will need 100 g worsted weight yarn (that is more than enough); double-pointed needles to give you gauge; two stitch markers; waste yarn in a contrasting color; and a sewing-up needle.

Gauge: ~5 sts/inch

The mitten pattern we'll be following is my own, and it lives over at the A4A blog, right here. I never set out to write a pattern. But I had downloaded one from the Internet -- probably 10 years ago now -- that was so riddled with errors that any new knitter who tried it would have given up. In the end I wrote my own mitten pattern. This pattern is written using row counts, not measurements, so no matter what weight yarn you use, you end up with a mitten that is in proportion to a normal human hand. (I often use the smallest or middle size with Lopi or Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride Bulky to make an adult-sized mitten.) Please note that the largest size in that pattern has a slightly different increase at the tip than the other sizes, so read through and follow the directions for the size you've chosen.

I usually make the largest size (which is actually more for a woman's large hand than small, despite what the pattern says -- I've changed my mind since I first wrote it) because I've found that most people tend to knit more for the little kids. Little kids are cuter, and the mittens are so much faster to make -- but big kids are cold too, and if a pair of mittens makes it possible to stay in school longer, or keeps them just a little bit more comfortable, I am glad to contribute.  In a quick random sampling of kids I know, this size was a little too big for the tall 13-year-old girl but a bit tight for the (also tall) 14- and 15-year-old boys.

For afghans for Afghans, wool (or other animal fiber) is required. We strongly urge you to use wool anyway -- it's just plain warmer. Sometimes, if knitting for U.S. groups, or if your sister-in-law apparently boils her laundry, acrylics or blends may be a better bet. Use the best quality you can afford, of course, for two reasons: it's more pleasant to knit with, and it makes a nicer gift.

go to Part 1: The Cuff

We interrupt this program

Well, the whole project is supposed to be fun. In the interest of depressurizing, we have agreed to give ourselves the month of October off. The category was "wild card," so it's not as if we're dodging an unpleasant assignment, after all. That gives me time to finish the September socks and knit some more mittens, and Pat time to work on some things for Afghans for Afghans. (I'll still make those socks I showed you the yarn for; they just won't be done by Halloween.)

While I've been busy not finishing socks, I, too, have been knitting other stuff -- mailed 3 pairs of mittens to A4A last week, and have 2 pairs finished and 2 pairs in progress right now. Here's ocular proof -- stripes by Pat, green by me:

We've also decided to knit a couple of hats apiece (and some other friends are joining us) for this group. We're not far from New York, so are well acquainted with how cold and damp it can be outside during the winter.

And there's Christmas knitting, and unfinished projects, and more A4A, and both of us are aiming to complete sweaters for ourselves this year. . .

September Socks...they gonna be late!

OK, I have a number of fairly good excuses but my socks are going to be late.  I will finish them this week but they got delayed by a number of trips out of town as well as Spider Solitaire...yes, Solitaire.  My husband introduced me to this game and now I like to play a few hands before I start knitting.  I like to play until I win a hand, that can take awhile!
Pat

September, November

It's October 1. I have 1.3 socks from the September pair completed. I saw this coming, but I'm still disappointed that I didn't crack the whip and get them done.

Looking at our schedule, I realize that we managed to skip (how?) October. And a search of my emails doesn't indicate that we assigned a category once we'd discovered that omission. Pat? Is that correct? Hoping so, because if I can knit plain socks this month I can end up with September and October done by Halloween.

Here are the yarns I pulled to consider for the October sock:

It was very difficult to choose just one, but I managed. I resisted the call of the Mountain Colors Bearfoot (the berry colors) and Claudia's Handpaints (blue and caramel, in the middle). I reassigned the gray; it will be a cowl or gloves. The October yarn winner is the one at the top, going from about the 12 o'clock position to the 2 o'clock position. It's an Autumn House Farm yarn, and the colorway is Galway Moss. This particular yarn doesn't seem to be on their web site anymore, so I've written for information. I'll provide a close-up picture later today, when the sun comes out.

I'm also flirting with the idea of joining in on Kirsten Kapur's mystery sock project. Just to make life a little more impossible. If you're interested, details are available on her blog and you can join a Ravelry group for a knit-along.

for amber waves of grain

by Elizabeth*-


It's beautiful yarn -- when the sun strikes it just right, my brain immediately leaps to "O beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain. . ." It's a lace pattern I really enjoy, and will use again. But -- the yarn and the pattern are not a good match. I will continue, because I think they'll look good when done (predicting a finish after, not by, September 30), but in future will remember that Socks That Rock medium weight is much happier with a simple rib.

There's a chance, as well, that I may be suffering from sock fatigue. In the last two weeks alone, I've finished one hat (colors are deeper and richer in person; will try another photo later when it's cloudy):


cast on another (no picture yet), started a feather-and-fan scarf in sock yarn:



designed and test knit the next 10-inch block for a monthly series I'm publishing on the Stash Knitdown group on Ravelry (secret until October 1), made a pair of mittens, started another, and almost finished my hat for Knitters' Day Out (a good thing, since KDO is imminent).

Oh, and prepared a class on 3 styles of garter stitch afghan blocks for Knitter's Day Out.

So, yes, I've been knitting, but the socks are not speaking to me. . . I feel so guilty all of a sudden that I think I'll run downstairs and give them some attention.

* I added my name, because if you're reading in a blog reader, the author name shows; if you're not, there's no way to tell whether Pat or I is the one who's speaking. So, blogreader people, you will now know twice! But at least other readers won't have to guess. (I wouldn't want anyone to think Pat was quite so unfocused as the writer in this post!)

September Socks

Look at this pretty yarn!!

I'm really looking forward to knitting with this soft yarn.  We're knitting lace in September...which I don't really enjoy but with this yarn it should a pleasure.

July's Socks

I finally finished my A4A socks for July.  They were easy and I have no excuse for not finishing them sooner.  I've completely missed August knitting, I'll try to make up for that this fall.

Does the Adirondack chair look welcoming?  If so come by sometime and sit and knit with me!

I did finish a corkscrew tassel hat for Knitters Day Out.  They ask that everyone donate a hat to keep kids warm.

I also finished a garter stitch scarf made in company colors for a co-worker.

Rocky Road

Is it really September already? The topic for September is lace -- not my favorite, so I've found a stitch pattern that's kind of tailored. At least as lace goes. You will see it soon. Although it's a color I never wear and rarely respond to, I fell hopelessly in love with this skein of Socks that Rock. Worn on my feet it shouldn't be too bad:


The rich, deep golds just feel like September.

Yarn posed for its portrait in the amazing boulder field at Hickory Run State Park in Pennsylvania:

This picture shows just a small piece of the whole thing.

I scare myself

Both pairs are finished -- ends woven in and everything!! The red socks were finished 2 weeks ago; the blue socks were finished this morning at 10 a.m. I had 14 hours left! That's early.

Glamour shots and yarn details after their bath, but here's the proof:

quick update

I am rounding the heel on sock #2 of the red pair. . . next picture should show them finished!

--Elizabeth

a sock of a different color

August is our first Wild Card month. That means, except for the ground-level requirement to knit a pair of socks, there are no specific guidelines. I knew what I wanted to make -- but I could only find one of the two skeins of yarn that pair required. In the course of my wild search, however, I unearthed these:


The blue, green, and white sock (much prettier in person; I'll get a better picture) was put aside in fall 2008 to make room for Christmas. It was and still is one of my favorites -- it's pure Maine winter. The brick red sock (color on that one is exactly right) -- well, this is embarrassing, but I don't even remember this sock! I think it was sometime in 2009.

For my wild card "pair," I will finish blue sock #1 (red sock #1 was finished last night) and knit the second sock of each pair. That actually requires a little more than a pair's worth of knitting, but August has a bit of sitting-around time built in, so I am optimistic.

And, in the interest of making life difficult, two nights ago I cast on a new pair of mittens.

August 1

The first day of the month clearly has good energy for me!! I finished my fifth pair for the current afghans for Afghans campaign on Sunday, August 1:


This pair was also made holding two strands of sock yarn together -- as friends and relatives know, I have way too much sock yarn, and this uses it up faster. It also makes a soft, cushy sock. Both yarns were green/blue mixes; the darker one is a vintage Opal (ca 1999); the lighter one is a Meilenweit tweed.

I don't need to ask for a bending of the rules this time, because I finished a qualifying pair in July, but these are still headed out to California today to get into a box for the long ride to Afghanistan.

August's assignment is "wild card." I'll post mine later -- the sun is wrong for pictures right now.

--Elizabeth

Socks in July

Elizabeth, I have to confess that I haven't done ANY knitting at all in the month of July.  OK, I may have done some half-hearted knitting on a garter stitch scarf but other than that nada...I will make an effort to get two pairs of socks done beginning to end in August.  I promise.

I could make some lame excuses but let's face it, I was in England.  I had the time of my life.  It's just lovely there and I didn't see anyone knitting...I didn't have time to knit, it was a steady pace of tour, pub, sleep, tour, pub, sleep, repeat...

one more for A4A

I mailed a fourth pair today for afghans for Afghans' current campaign to collect socks for women. It's a wonderful feeling to do something for a woman over there -- life there is hard!! In addition to all the restrictions imposed by just being female, there's the constant worry over your kids -- worry about things such as whether they'll live to grow up. Can't imagine!! I have been so lucky.

Here's a pair of socks that will provide at least a small measure of comfort this winter:


The stripes make them more interesting, it's true, but what they're really saying is "There wasn't enough of this lovely brown yarn to make an adult-sized pair of socks."

Soccer weekend ahead, so there's some chance I'll finish the blue pair that's currently missing the whole second sock.

July for A4A

Pat and I both knit for Afghans for Afghans every time a campaign comes along. (If you want to see what other people are knitting, take a look over here.) When we started this year-long sock blogging project, we threw a few wild card months into the schedule, and also agreed that if there was a chance to knit socks for A4A, that would trump previous plans for the month. Ann Rubin does an amazing job of working out the logistics of getting things to Afghanistan, despite the challenges of war, corruption, expense, and who knows what else. . . and she doesn't always have a whole lot of lead time. A sudden chance arose to send socks for women this month, so that's what we're knitting.

I've been on vacation, spending a lot of time in the passenger seat while we drove hundreds of miles -- not to mention a weekend at a folk festival, which is prime time for knitting as long as it doesn't rain too hard. I finished these three pairs:


Technically, only the lighter blue pair, with the light stripes, qualifies, because it was started in July. The darker blue pair was started in June, finished July 1, and the multicolored pair on the left was started in June and finished July 2.

All are worsted weight, knit on 40 stitches. The two solid blue pairs with stripes are made of Bartlett yarn; the pair on the left (my favorite) is made from 2 strands of Kroy sock yarn held together. Kroy is a little heavier than most sock yarns I use (166 yards, about 152 meters, per 50 g) and it made a wonderful, squishy, bouncy fabric. I used one self-striping yarn held with one tweedy yarn in similar colors; it did very interesting things! I'm already looking for the next pair of sock yarns to try; meanwhile I've cast on for another Bartlett pair. These go so fast, and time is short; I hope to get two more pairs out to A4A in time for this collection.

I believe this is the earliest in the month I've ever completed our assignment.

The three pairs in the picture, plus Pat's blue socks from June, go in the mail today.

solstice socks

Here they are!! They sure look to me like the summer solstice:

I loved working with both of these yarns. In fact, I used only a bit of the yellow, and I'm already deciding what pattern to use the rest for; the richest, most jubilant yellow I've seen (dyed by The Periwinkle Sheep). The orange, from Sunshine Yarns, is 100% wool. I was worried about how well the heels would hold up, so I knit the heel flap using a smaller needle, then continued heel stitch under the heel, for the entire extent of the gusset. I will report back; it was 102 degrees earlier this week (metric folks, that's 39) so I will not be wearing wool socks for a bit! The picture above shows them in their post-blocking loveliness -- it's amazing how a nice bath and gentle stretch evens out the crooked stitches.

The picture below shows them, pre-blocking, on the shore of the lake where they were finished. This picture is a little closer to the true color.

As I said before, this pair was done on time; I sent a cell phone picture to Pat if anyone wishes to check. But we were computer-free for nearly two weeks, so it was not possible to post. Much as I love to spend time on email and blogs, I highly recommend going without for a short time! Very restful.

--Elizabeth

solstice socks update

Picture tomorrow or Thursday, but we're just back from a computer-free vacation and I wanted to check in. I did finish the solstice socks on time, and sent Pat a picture via cell phone as proof they were done. Tomorrow to wash, block, and do the photo shoot. . .right now it's 2 a.m. and I still feel like I'm in the car.

June Socks

It's such a shock to realize that June is coming to a close...I don't know what I've done with this month.  Our June socks were suppose to say "Summer" and mine do, in a round about way.  I knit this pair of socks for A4A as I just don't wear socks in the summer...summer to me means sandals and easy living.  These are knit from Norwegian sport weight yarn, they were fast and easy...just like my summer!

At first I photographed these socks flat, on sock blockers, laying on an old stump but they seemed pretty lifeless to me.

So I pulled out my tripod and shoot them on my feet, while I sat on the steps...I am not a sock model!

but I got more confident as the shoot went on and now I feel that if any of you need a sock model...give me a shout, I'll work for yarn!

Good day, sunshine

Both yarns I'm using are semisolids. In places, the orange is quite light. In places, the yellow becomes almost orange. When those places coincide, the edges of the sun motif become blurred. I was going to say this makes the motifs more subtle than I'd like, but somehow "subtle" does not seem appropriate for this particular color combination!



I've decided to go with these two yarns anyway, because I love both of them.

I'm already looking forward to making another pair, in blue, using the moon motif. And then I'm going to use that incredibly vibrant yellow and make an extraordinary pair of yellow socks.

Did you ever have to finally decide?

For June, I am making Karin Maag-Tanchak's solstice socks, as I mentioned earlier. I wanted to use her own beautiful yellow for the suns around the top, but I'm wondering if I'll be able to. Somewhere I have a skein of deep tangerine yarn that would provide the perfect foil, but it's not going to come out until I'm halfway through the second sock. I did see a skein that's perfect in a local shop -- but since I have three other choices here in my hands, I bravely resisted. Here are my choices:

The orange at the top is too red, and I wanted a more solid color. The two orange skeins at the left are too pale. That choice was easy.

Here is the chosen orange next to Karin's yellow. I'm not sure the contrast will be adequate to show off the motif.


And here is the orange with the paler yellow, which would definitely provide enough contrast:



Clearly, some swatching is in order. Tonight's plan is to wind the orange and both yellows and knit two small samples. That will settle the question. It's one week into June and defintely time to get started. I'd like to get back into the habit of finishing the socks of the month a few days early rather than one day late.

the purple socks in all their splendor

The camera finally reemerged. I have no idea where it's been, or what it does when it goes on these adventures. . .


yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy, Visual Purple
pattern: Brainylady's basic cabled socks

This photo clearly is intended as documentation only; I will try to get a better composition at some point, because this one is rumpled and off center and not very satisfying. The socks, however, were very satisfying indeed. I'll make this pattern again. The next pair will be red; the yarn is wound and waiting. Vacation knitting, perhaps?

May SOM Finished

You all may not know this about me but I'd much rather take photos than try to write something in a blog...it's hard for me to come up with stuff to say and creating a witty title, well that boat has sailed.

Anyhow, here are my May socks in all their splendor, made of Fleece Artist Sea Wool (70% Merino, 30% Seacell) in colorway Sorbetto.  I knit these socks toe-up, using my standard sock recipe.  The cable up the sides is the same one Elizabeth used, after I saw her socks I just wanted to do it, it's so cute...nice and round with just enough chunky-ness not to over power a pair of socks. 

I must admit, with my favorite model away in far flung lands, I had to use some ingenuity in my photography.  I set my camera on the tripod which was down very low; at feet level so to speak (so low I had to remove the center column which I'd never done before), I then set my reflector against a stone frog that volunteered to help (surprising as stone frogs can be quiet recalcitrant), I used the timer release (set on 10 seconds, which was just barely enough time), then I would push the button, run over to the rock wall and sit down and then slip off my crocs and compose my feet.  You would have laughed watching me struggle, feet modeling is not as easy as it looks!

Here comes the sun

The topic for June is summer. I have wanted to make these solstice socks, by Karin Maag-Tanchak, since the first time I saw them, way back before Ravelry (yes, my child, there was a time before Ravelry) when Karin posted the link on either KnitU or the knitlist. Of course, I'll be tweaking things a little. . . because it's the summer solstice, I'm using orange as my main color. And I'm making both socks the same, using just the sun pattern at the top. I'm still debating which of several oranges (how the heck did I come to have a choice of oranges?) to use, but the yellow for the suns is Karin's own handdyed yarn (Periwinkle Sheep is her company name). With so much stockinette, and summer travel season soon to commence, I know these will be done on time.

Note: I've put out an APB on the camera, but for now, text only.

--E.

the one-day rule

I seem to have fallen prey to the same syndrome that dogged me in college -- please, Professor, may I have a 1-day extension? Second sock is one toe from being finished. I call that close enough, and it is still officially the May sock! Picture tomorrow,* and intro to my June yarn and pattern. (The theme for June is "summer" -- plenty of room for interpretation!)

*if, that is, the camera consents to reveal itself. . .

E.