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which_chickThe no-heat until November thing is going well. I have two more days of cold but then it will warm up a little and November will be in sight. Let's Do This Thing!
I've been knitting mitts. Like mittens only shorter, mittens if they were cut off straight at the middle knuckle. They have a thumb part but it does not cover the whole thumb. These are A THING in the world of knitting. I'm making them because my hands are cold in my house and because mittens (the proper, whole-hand covering kind) don't work well for dexterity. Mitts... you can type. You can hold a mug of warm beverage. You can knit. So yeah. Mitts.
Because I am not a pattern knitter, I kind of looked at a lot of pictures of mitts and I got some yarn and needles that seemed reasonable and I went forth. Mitts were made. Mitts were worn. Mental notes about mitt design were taken. Revised mitts were knitted, etc. It's a process thing and I enjoy it.
Would it be faster to get a pattern and, like, follow it? Yes. Would the results be more... predictable? Yes. Is that the sort of thing I enjoy doing? No. Over here inventing my own wheel even though like six million patterns for wheels exist already and are free to download.
Here are the mitts, top to bottom are earliest to latest versions.
Mitts the first (handspun brown sheep with from-mom skein of yarn held alongside) are nice but not... structured enough. Yarn is lacking in twist and body (I was learning to spin when I made it and so it is a bit limp) and I was kind of figuring out what I wanted to do on the mitt front at the same time. They are fraternal but nicely fall colored and very soft and warm. Unfortunately, since mitts are a "wear" item, they are pilling badly because, again, yarn not suited to the task. *sigh*
Mitts the second (leftover sock yarns) are nice in terms of fit but not warm enough for cold weather wear. I do like the jewel tones of them and the smaller gauge makes for a much better and more detailed fit... but warm is kind of the point, here, and they're not super warm. They're still fraternal, partly because these are two different yarns that knit up differently. (The other one is a blue and green variegated yarn.)
Mitts the third (handspun grey sheep with fingering red wool from aunt's estate held alongside for color). These are less-fraternal because the better twist in the yarn makes for more stitch definition and easier counting. They incorporate the design changes that I wanted after making/having/wearing mitts for a while (closer fit, longer ribbed wrist cuff, tighter finger cuff, 1x1 ribbing on thumb for snug fit and no rolling). I still think I could do better on the decreases after the thumb gusset, but all in all these are pretty good and should hold up to long term wear in the out of doors as well as indoor wear during no-heat October.
If you would like to make some mitts and for some reason do not want a real pattern, here's what I did...
Find a gauge with some yarn and needles that make you happy. Knit in the round enough stitches in 2x2 ribbing to fit around the wide part of your hand quite snugly (so that the mitt will go on over your hand), then make it as long as you want your mitts to cover your wrist-ish area. My ribbing is 2 3/4" (7.5cm) long. Once you like the ribbing, do regular knitting except keep a single purl stitch at the end/beginning of the rounds so that you can increase evenly and stuff. (Or you could count or use stitch markers or some shit but I find a purl stitch pretty mindless and a great way to keep track of this.) Knit and try-on. I found adding paired lifted increases about every three or four rows a good way to grow width from wrist ribbing to hand/thumb. However, your hands are probably different from mine. Try on as you go and do what seems reasonable. I like to increase thusly.... Lifted increase, regular knit stitch, purl centerline marker, regular knit stitch, lifted increase. If you have some other increase you like, well, do that one instead. Knit along until you get to the... bottom of the thumb-joining-to-hand (NOT the bottom of the thumb joint, the lowest part between thumb and rest-of-hand, kind of between the thumb and index finger. This is higher than you think it should be but it makes for a better fit.) Put some sts on waste yarn "for later" and cast on an equivalent number of replacement sts using like the half-hitch cast on. I set aside 7 sts, but your gauge might be different. You want to set aside 1/2 of the circumference of your thumb, give or take a st. or two. Knit on, and when you come 'round again just regular knit your half hitch cast on sts. Do a round or two even then take out ... about half of the increases that you did when proceeding from wrist size to palm size. I took out two per row (I had a total of 8 added sts in 4 paired increases) every other row. As you get above the fist knuckles for your fingers, go back to 2x2 ribbing. Do that for... as long as you like? Maybe to middle of the middle knuckle on your index finger, that's a length that works for me. Shorter wasn't enough coverage, longer would be too much. But you Goldilocks it for you, that's the beauty of this not-a-pattern set of directives. You do you. I used a stretchy bind off for extra finger mobility and I would suggest that for anyone following along at home. Then go back and pick up stitches around the thumb area equal to the number of them on your waste yarn. This should (math is hard) make an even number. Then add your waste yarn sts too and knit in 1x1 ribbing until you have enough thumb coverage to make you happy. Bind off. Weave in ends. Be warm-handed. :) Recipe makes 1 mitt. If you have two hands you will probably want two mitts, so do recipe again.
For dinner last night I made butternut squash gnocchi, which is maybe a thing? Dunno. Baked, leftover butternut squash, squashed with a fork. Add flour until it holds together. Roll out into a snake. Cut snake into bite sized pieces. Plop snake pieces into boiling salted water. Make topping: pressed garlic cooked in butter and evoo until the bite is gone. When snake pieces float, cook another minute or two, then remove with a slotted spoon and put in bowl. Top with topping and a fair amount of grated parm. Om nom nom.
I've been knitting mitts. Like mittens only shorter, mittens if they were cut off straight at the middle knuckle. They have a thumb part but it does not cover the whole thumb. These are A THING in the world of knitting. I'm making them because my hands are cold in my house and because mittens (the proper, whole-hand covering kind) don't work well for dexterity. Mitts... you can type. You can hold a mug of warm beverage. You can knit. So yeah. Mitts.
Because I am not a pattern knitter, I kind of looked at a lot of pictures of mitts and I got some yarn and needles that seemed reasonable and I went forth. Mitts were made. Mitts were worn. Mental notes about mitt design were taken. Revised mitts were knitted, etc. It's a process thing and I enjoy it.
Would it be faster to get a pattern and, like, follow it? Yes. Would the results be more... predictable? Yes. Is that the sort of thing I enjoy doing? No. Over here inventing my own wheel even though like six million patterns for wheels exist already and are free to download.
Here are the mitts, top to bottom are earliest to latest versions.
Mitts the first (handspun brown sheep with from-mom skein of yarn held alongside) are nice but not... structured enough. Yarn is lacking in twist and body (I was learning to spin when I made it and so it is a bit limp) and I was kind of figuring out what I wanted to do on the mitt front at the same time. They are fraternal but nicely fall colored and very soft and warm. Unfortunately, since mitts are a "wear" item, they are pilling badly because, again, yarn not suited to the task. *sigh*
Mitts the second (leftover sock yarns) are nice in terms of fit but not warm enough for cold weather wear. I do like the jewel tones of them and the smaller gauge makes for a much better and more detailed fit... but warm is kind of the point, here, and they're not super warm. They're still fraternal, partly because these are two different yarns that knit up differently. (The other one is a blue and green variegated yarn.)
Mitts the third (handspun grey sheep with fingering red wool from aunt's estate held alongside for color). These are less-fraternal because the better twist in the yarn makes for more stitch definition and easier counting. They incorporate the design changes that I wanted after making/having/wearing mitts for a while (closer fit, longer ribbed wrist cuff, tighter finger cuff, 1x1 ribbing on thumb for snug fit and no rolling). I still think I could do better on the decreases after the thumb gusset, but all in all these are pretty good and should hold up to long term wear in the out of doors as well as indoor wear during no-heat October.
If you would like to make some mitts and for some reason do not want a real pattern, here's what I did...
Find a gauge with some yarn and needles that make you happy. Knit in the round enough stitches in 2x2 ribbing to fit around the wide part of your hand quite snugly (so that the mitt will go on over your hand), then make it as long as you want your mitts to cover your wrist-ish area. My ribbing is 2 3/4" (7.5cm) long. Once you like the ribbing, do regular knitting except keep a single purl stitch at the end/beginning of the rounds so that you can increase evenly and stuff. (Or you could count or use stitch markers or some shit but I find a purl stitch pretty mindless and a great way to keep track of this.) Knit and try-on. I found adding paired lifted increases about every three or four rows a good way to grow width from wrist ribbing to hand/thumb. However, your hands are probably different from mine. Try on as you go and do what seems reasonable. I like to increase thusly.... Lifted increase, regular knit stitch, purl centerline marker, regular knit stitch, lifted increase. If you have some other increase you like, well, do that one instead. Knit along until you get to the... bottom of the thumb-joining-to-hand (NOT the bottom of the thumb joint, the lowest part between thumb and rest-of-hand, kind of between the thumb and index finger. This is higher than you think it should be but it makes for a better fit.) Put some sts on waste yarn "for later" and cast on an equivalent number of replacement sts using like the half-hitch cast on. I set aside 7 sts, but your gauge might be different. You want to set aside 1/2 of the circumference of your thumb, give or take a st. or two. Knit on, and when you come 'round again just regular knit your half hitch cast on sts. Do a round or two even then take out ... about half of the increases that you did when proceeding from wrist size to palm size. I took out two per row (I had a total of 8 added sts in 4 paired increases) every other row. As you get above the fist knuckles for your fingers, go back to 2x2 ribbing. Do that for... as long as you like? Maybe to middle of the middle knuckle on your index finger, that's a length that works for me. Shorter wasn't enough coverage, longer would be too much. But you Goldilocks it for you, that's the beauty of this not-a-pattern set of directives. You do you. I used a stretchy bind off for extra finger mobility and I would suggest that for anyone following along at home. Then go back and pick up stitches around the thumb area equal to the number of them on your waste yarn. This should (math is hard) make an even number. Then add your waste yarn sts too and knit in 1x1 ribbing until you have enough thumb coverage to make you happy. Bind off. Weave in ends. Be warm-handed. :) Recipe makes 1 mitt. If you have two hands you will probably want two mitts, so do recipe again.
For dinner last night I made butternut squash gnocchi, which is maybe a thing? Dunno. Baked, leftover butternut squash, squashed with a fork. Add flour until it holds together. Roll out into a snake. Cut snake into bite sized pieces. Plop snake pieces into boiling salted water. Make topping: pressed garlic cooked in butter and evoo until the bite is gone. When snake pieces float, cook another minute or two, then remove with a slotted spoon and put in bowl. Top with topping and a fair amount of grated parm. Om nom nom.
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Date: 2022-10-31 11:09 am (UTC)I made some mitts last month, for poor cold-fingered partner. They are mirrored left-right, but the method for making them was pretty convenient. They are all ribbed, for a more flexible fit. Each rib element is 2 purled 3 knit. To make the thumb, you turn a rib to the side with increases, so there are more ribs spawning from the thumb-rib, going up the palm of each mitt. They look great and wear well. I'll see if I can find them and take a picture for a post.