Tag Archive | fingerless mitts

Just Try It: A FO

Let’s get back to a bit of knitting, shall we? Over my Christmas break I pulled a skein of Magpie Fibers Swanky DK out of my stash and it became a neck tube! I wanted something snug enough that I could feel the cashmere softness against my skin and long enough to snuggle down into when it’s cold. I haven’t gotten to wear it yet but I think it will be wonderfully cozy.

The pattern is Just Try It and I did the slimmest version, which I think they call the “guy version”. It’s so simple and knitting ribbing with a cashmere blend was so much my jam that I wanted to knit until the yarn was gone. Instead, I stopped when the cowl was about 10″ tall and decided to make fingerless mitts with the rest of the skein.

I scoured Ravelry to find a good ribbed pattern for sport weight yarn, since I wanted the mitts to match the neck tube, and I couldn’t find one that looked like I what I wanted. So I decided to improvise my own pattern! I took my favorite fingerless mitt pattern, the 75 Yard Malabrigo Mitts, and cast on fewer stitches with smaller needles and did the same ribbing pattern as in the cowl. The thumb I did the same as the original mitts since I couldn’t figure out how to make it ribbed, and I love how it turned out, growing out of one of the stockinette sections. I made them snug and short, perfect for wearing while I’m doing things like typing or knitting, and they’re officially my favorite new mitts.

These took 95 yards and I had enough left over that I could have made the cuff a bit longer, but I’m pleased with them. You can see the pattern notes here if you’re interested.

Superpower!

Apr27

No, I haven’t gone to see Endgame yet–I’m waiting until the theaters aren’t going to be ridiculously crowded. But I decided that my superpower (or one of them) is keeping people warm. One of my favorite people at work asked for a shawl, saying that her office is always cold and she’s perpetually freezing. (Yes, she’ll pay me for it, and fairly too.) I ordered the perfect yarn for the perfect pattern, but it’s dyed to order so it’ll take a little while to arrive. In the meantime, I decided she needed some fingerless mitts to at least help keep her hands warm.

Her color preferences are pretty much opposite mine, so I didn’t have a lot of yarn in my stash that seemed right, but I had half a skein of Knit Picks Chroma Fingering in an orange/teal mix that would work well enough. I chose my favorite pattern, the 75 Yard Malabrigo Mitts, with some mods for fingering weight, and cast on Thursday night. It’s such a fast pattern that I bound off the second mitt this morning!

This pattern allows for a lot of thumb/finger movement, especially since I keep the top portion short enough that it doesn’t constrict the fingers. They’re just the perfect tiny mitts for handwarmers! What’s your favorite quick gift pattern?

Quick donation project

Mar28

It’s not Friday but I do have a couple of finished projects to share. The daughter of a friend of mine is going through her second bout with leukemia, and they’re doing a silent auction fundraiser. Of course I wanted to donate, and since we’re in the land of the Kansas City Royals and baseball season is just kicking off, I went with Royals colors for a hat and mitt set.

The yarn is more of the Lion Brand Jeans yarn, this time in Brand New, Faded, and Vintage. The hat is based off the Seaman’s Cap, but I made it a little taller. And I’m wondering about the brim: it’s my first hat with an intentional brim, where there’s a knit row to turn it up. Do you guys ever stitch the brim in place turned up, or just leave it loose?

The mitts are the 75 Yard Malabrigo Mitts, which is my favorite mitt pattern ever. They’re so fast; I made these in just a couple of hours. I’m pleased with how they came out, now I just hope someone bids some money for them!

Cast on and bind off!

Feb12

After finishing my Wave shawl over the weekend, I did cast on something new last night. And then I finished that something last night! I’d had some leftover Dream in Color Classy hanging around, and I decided they needed to become some fingerless gloves. Thanks to the really long Grammy show, I completed both mitts in about three hours.

Pattern is 75 Yard Malabrigo Fingerless Mitts and it’s one of my favorites. You might remember I used it to make some red ones for a coworker recently. Now I just need to figure out who the blue ones are for, because I haven’t a clue so far!

And here’s a photo of Jack on the window seat just because he’s cute.

Striped Convertible Mitts

Jan8

It’s no secret that I like knitting. I’m a process knitter, which means I knit because I like the process of knitting, not necessarily because I want the end result. So when a friend asked me if I’d make her some mittens, I agreed right away. I’d be knitting anyway, why not make something a friend would enjoy wearing?

It turns out she’d bought the kit for these Line by Line Mittens to Gloves from Knit Picks, complete with five colors of Knit Picks Swish, because she wanted to learn to knit. Then she tried, and discovered she didn’t love it, and it made her hands and elbows hurt. But she still had this kit sitting there, staring at her and mocking her. (I’m imagining that last bit; that’s what it would be doing to me, anyway.) And she still wanted the mitts. They didn’t look complicated to me, even though I’d have to learn how to do the convertible top. She insisted there was no hurry, but when I finished the husband’s socks (which were supposed to be Christmas gifts but oops were not) I was happy to do something new and different, and I cast on the first mitt over the weekend.

They knit up quickly, though it didn’t take long for me to realize I’d forgotten the downside to stripes: ends. Lots and lots of ends to weave in. I texted her a progress photo after the first one was done, joking that I’d let her weave in the ends, and cast on for the second mitt.

With the basic mitts done, it was time to figure out the convertible tops. I took a break long enough to weave in a crap-ton of ends (yes, she would have happily done it herself, but I needed the break, and it was satisfying to see the neat and tidy mitts). Then I counted down the rows to where I was supposed to pick up 24 stitches. But I’d never picked up stitches in the middle before; I’d always picked up from an edge. So that took a few tries before I found a method that worked and looked acceptable. Not sure if it’s the “right” way, but eh, who cares about that, right? Getting the stitches all set up for that convertible top was kind of a hassle, to be honest, but once I got the first couple of rows done, it was smooth sailing, and by the middle of the Golden Globes last night, I had a complete mitten!

I’ll do the last mitten top tonight so that I can give her the mittens tomorrow, and then I’ll give the pattern back and never knit it again. I didn’t really care for how it was written. The thumb gusset was set up on both sides of the beginning-of-round marker, so I was fiddling with color changes and increases within a few stitches. I prefer it when the gusset is closer to the middle of the round, especially if there are color changes. Still, these are awfully cute, and it does feel good to do something nice for someone else sometimes!

Knitting, but not Socks

Dec31

After my Christmas sock-knitting frenzy, I’ve needed a break. The other night, I wanted to binge on the last three episodes of Big Little Lies, and I wanted some knitting to go with it. But I didn’t want to work on socks. I’ve made a lot of socks, I like to make socks, and I’ll keep making socks. But I needed something else. So I poked through my stash and pulled out two skeins I’ve had for over two years. I love the yarn but was never able to find the perfect pattern for it. It was time to decide on a pattern, perfect or not. After perusing Ravelry for a while, I finally settled on the Urchin Cowl and cast on. I modified it slightly so I wouldn’t have to purl as much, so mine doesn’t look much like the example It knit up quickly and I finished it the next night, and I’m quite pleased with it.

The original was designed so you can wear it over the shoulders as well, and I suppose mine could be, but I prefer it as a big, fluffy cowl.

I used two skeins of Plymouth Yarn Wilde, an acrylic/alpaca/wool blend that’s lightweight and airy but still warm and snuggly. I’m so glad I finally bit the bullet and cast it on.

That was so satisfying that this morning I pulled more yarn from my stash and cast on for a pair of fingerless mitts. I chose Cozy Thermal Mitts and paired it with my silver Cascade Yarns Spuntaneous Worsted. Since I’m fighting a cold and there was a Harry Potter marathon on TV today, I was able to get them all done, and they’re perfect.

Okay, not quite perfect: they’re a bit big for me, but still wearable and perfectly warm and cozy. They were so fast and easy to make, and I love that the palms are stockinette. And they really are the same size; the right one just looks bigger because I finished it first and wore it while I made the left one!

Now I have two days left in my holiday weekend and a skein and a half of the Spuntaneous left. Think I can get an infinity scarf done in that amount of time?

New Gloves, Blue Gloves

Oct21

The problem with having a lot of WIPs is that it takes longer to have a FO. I’ve been knitting, maybe not obsessively, all week, and didn’t finish a single project. I did cast on a new one. Counter-productive, I know. I made a hat and glove set as a donation for a silent auction fundraiser, and one of the fundraiser coordinators liked the gloves enough that she asked me to make a pair for her, so that’s mostly what I’ve been working on.

They’re Aran weight on size 8 needles so they’re going pretty quickly. We have a band competition an hour and a half away today, so with any luck, I’ll finish the second glove today!

Matching Mitts

Apr13

I finished the second pair of fingerless gloves yesterday; got all the ends woven in and everything. And the best part is: I have two pairs of matching mitts! I’m the worst at making two things the same size. I lose count of rows, or I go by measurement and maybe one ends up a row shorter or longer. Even with these, the two pairs don’t match. One pair is longer than the other. No idea how that happened; I really did think they’d all come out the same. BUT, at least each person will have two gloves that match.The 5″ DPNs were marvelous, too. Much more comfortable than the metal, and I was able to put the stitches on 4 needles instead of 3, which seemed to help a lot with laddering. And the thumbs! I can’t imagine trying to do thumbs on the 7″ needles. I’m definitely glad I got the shorter needles. But this is one more reason I shy away from socks: I’d end up with non-matching socks!

How do you guys make sure your pairs come out the exact same size?

Forever Royal

Apr11

Busy day means quick post this morning. Thanks to a friend wearing some fingerless gloves I gave her, I now have some orders for KC Royals-themed items! I need to make two pairs of gloves and four ear warmers in a week. No problem, right? Right! I got the yarn yesterday and got to work. Sat outside with the hubby and the puppies for much of the day. It was just a bit cool, but perfect with a hoodie. This nifty pail came with my Easter flowers. It had a glass vase inside which of course I removed so I could use it as an unusual yarn bowl. I love the handle! I needed to refresh my memory on the stretchy bind-off, but soon this glove was set aside and I started glove #2. I got through the thumb gusset before quitting for the night. I know, I need to do the thumb on the first one still. I’m going to pick up some 5″ DPNs while I’m out today which should make the thumbs much easier. Currently I’m using 7″ metal DPNs and they’re all right, but I think the right tools will make the knitting that much easier.

Gotta dash! Happy Monday, friends!

This is why I’m not a knitted glove specialist

Dec20

Six months. That’s how long it took me to make this one pair of fingerless gloves. That’s ridiculous. And it might also explain all the problems I had. See, I started these in early July and the first one went quickly and smoothly, like it always does. And then I got bored with the project and put it away, like I always do. A few days ago, I decided to finish them. I pulled out the bag and realized I had actually started the second glove (wonder of wonders); I had about two inches already knitted. No problem, I thought. I pulled the pattern up on my iPad and got to work.It wasn’t until I had all the thumb stitches on waste yarn that I thought to hold it up against the completed glove. I’m glad I did: the second glove was significantly bigger. What the heck had I done? Thank goodness for Ravelry. Because I was using slightly bigger yarn than the pattern called for, I’d modified row counts the first time around. The good news was that I’d made note of my modifications. The bad news was that I had to rip back all the way before the thumb gusset.

I got that done, saved all my tiny stitches, and knit the gusset again, and this time when I measured against the first glove, they matched. Whew! I sped through the next 12 rows, had maybe 4 left, and checked size again…only to discover I’d gone wrong again. I have no idea how I managed it, but again I had too many rows on the second glove. Again I had to rip back, but at least it was only around 6 rows. I finally got the second glove finished and I think they match top to bottom. But a couple of little things don’t match up, like the seed stitch panels on the sides. And I think one thumb might be one row longer than the other.But I’m still quite tickled with them. I like how they’re fraternal twins, not identical. I love the seed stitch portions and the snug fit. And I especially love the lovely little dark green buttons I found to sew onto the sides.I think this is why I continue to knit gloves. Despite all the problems (you have to make two things that match exactly!!) they’re so delightful when they’re done. It’s like childbirth in that way. The end result is so charming that it makes you forget all the pain you endured to get there.

Details, for those who care: The yarn is a mystery yarn that I believe is a DK weight. I used this Seeded Mitts pattern and I do like it. Any problems I had were due to my own inability to count. (Yes, I have a digital row counter. Yes, I used it.) I’ve Raveled them here if you’d like to see my modifications. I’d like to knit them again, but a bit shorter and with the seed stitch panel all the way up the side.

Now, with these silly things done, I’m down to only five WIPs! That’s exciting. I wonder how long it will last…