Lysanne’s Fingerless Mitts

A couple of months ago I was in Montreal to attend a live show of the podcast “Welcome to Nightvale” and arranged to stay overnight with a friend whose acquaintance I had made in a rather roundabout way. Let us just say that an online MMORPG, an aged mother’s broken shoulder, and serendipity all played parts in bringing us together. We discovered a few more coincidences along the way, such as the boyfriend of the friend I had traveled with to Montreal being a good friend of hers as well. So, considering all that, I felt I could ask her to put me up that night as I didn’t feel like renting an expensive hotel room and didn’t know whom else to ask.

It was an absolutely delightful visit. Her cats were enthralled with my knitting, her husband made up a futon for me (so I didn’t have to sleep on the couch) and fed me an excessive breakfast the next morning. She took the day off work and we spent the morning exploring neat shops nearby, one of which is Espace Tricot on Monkland. I’d heard about this fabled yarn store, but this was my first visit. I found some nice skeins in the bargain bin and also bought a cake of Freia Ombré Fingering. My friend was also looking at sock yarn, although she doesn’t knit, and purchased a skein of Hedgehog Fibres Sock which she then handed to me and said, “Make me a pair of socks.” Well, I did that and had close to 40 gms leftover. So, I decided to make a pair of fingerless mitts to gift her as insurance against needing a place to stay in Montreal again. At first I tried to modify the pattern from the socks (Tea. Earl Gray. Hot), but it wasn’t working to my satisfaction. So I started over again and this is what I came up with.

I used a simple smocking stitch for the cuffs and knit two of them separately on dpns (because you have to switch stitches from one needle to another every other smocking round) before placing them both on one circular needle to continue. There are a left and a right with the thumb on each offset onto the palm of the hand, a very simple gusset, and more smocking for the fingers bindoff and an even simpler BO for the thumb; and there is a cable and lace panel for the back of the hand.

Not having charting software, I decided I would write up the pattern in a modular way, listing all the things I did and letting the knitter figure it out for herself. I also used 2.5 mm needles and a fine sock yarn, so these are definitely for a small hand. As the cuff is a multiple of four stitches, one could enlarge it by adding that many, and then having more stockinette on either side of the hand panel. I will leave all that up to the intelligence of the knitter and just give very basic instructions for the modules as I made them.

CUFF:

With size 2.5 mm dpns, CO 48 stitches. I used an Estonian long-tail cast-on because it goes better with k1p1 ribbing, which the smocking stitch basically is. Join in round (without twisting) and place marker for BOR.
Rds 1-3: k1p1 ribbing
Rd 4: *Insert RH needle between 3rd and 4th stitch on LH needle, pull yarn through, place loop on needle tip, then k2tog (new loop and first stitch of group of three), p, k, p.* Repeat to end of round.
Rds 5-7: k1p1 ribbing
Rd 8: k1,* p1, Insert RH needle between 3rd and 4th stitch on LH needle, pull yarn through, place loop on needle tip, then k2tog, p, k.* This includes the first stitch of the next round. Your BOR marker will remind you where you are and that you should put that last k stitch back on the LH needle.
Repeat these last 8 rds twice more, then repeat Rds 1-3 once more. This should give you a 2" cuff. If you are planning to make two mitts at once, knit an identical second cuff, and then place them both on a 2.5 mm circular needle so that you can continue with the hand.

I found it easier to knit the mitts with the palms up (i.e. they begin the round) so that I could coordinate my gussets more easily. As there are 48 stitches total, I began the RIGHT mitt with a purl and then started the gusset as follows:

Rd 1: after first purl stitch, place marker, m1, place marker, knit 23, begin back of hand panel (see below). As the purl stitch that starts the round is actually part of the back-of-hand panel, I will not repeat it in the instructions. You begin with the first SM.
Rd 2: slip markers, k to back of hand panel, continue in pattern.
Odd Rds 3-15: slip marker, m1R, k to marker, m1L, slip marker, k23, continue in pattern.
All even rds: slip markers, k to back of hand panel, continue in pattern.
At the end of Round 16, there should be 15 stitches between the SM. At this point, stop increasing and continue knitting straight until the hand is long enough for you to consider closing off for the thumb. When that happens (I had cabled 6 times on the back of the hand), put the stitches between the markers on waste yarn and join in the round, continuing until the hand is as long as you want it to be before the edge border.

LEFT mitt is very similar to the right. Remember that there is one purl stitch from the back of the hand pattern on the palm side.

Rd 1: k23, place marker, m1, place marker, p1 (and continue with of back-of-hand panel)
Rd 2: k23, k to 2nd marker, continue with pattern
Rd 3: k23, SM, m1R, k to marker, m1L, SM, continue with pattern
Repeat Rds 2 and 3 as per the Right mitt (i.e. until it’s long enough; this will be simpler if you’re making two at once) before putting the 15 thumb stitches on waste yarn.

(IN THE EVENT you don't want that misplaced purl stitch to worry about, you could arrange your stitches so you have 25 on the back of hand needle and make your thumb gusset right at the edge of the second needle [provided you are using a circular needle and not dpns]. It’s your choice. Just remember that the hand panel is 25 stitches wide.)

HAND PANEL:

The back of the hand has a simple lace and cable pattern that I devised myself. It is too fussy to write out instructions for all of it together, as the cables and lace do not coordinate. There is also that purl stitch beginning or ending the panel which is either on the end of the last needle or the beginning of the next, depending on which hand you are knitting. So I shall write instructions for the first few rounds and let the intelligent knitter figure out the rest. (C4L and C4R are 4-stitch cables, where the 2 right stitches cross in front of the left in the first instance, and then cross behind in the second. It doesn’t really matter which ones you do where, just as long as they are symmetrical.) (CDD is a central-double-decrease: slip 2 together knitwise, k, psso)

Rd 1: p2, C4L, p2, ktbl, yo, ssk, yo, cdd, yo, k2tog, yo, ktbl, p2, C4R, p2
Rd 2: p2, k4, p2, ktbl, k7, ktbl, p2, k4, p2
Rd 3: p2, k4, p2, ktbl, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, ktbl, p2, k4, p2
Rd 4: p2, k4, p2, ktbl, k7, ktbl, p2, k4, p2
Rd 5: p2, k4, p2, ktbl, yo, ssk, yo, cdd, yo, k2tog, yo, ktbl, p2, k4, p2
Rd 6: p2, C4L, p2, ktbl, k7,  ktbl, p2, C4R, p2
Rd 7: p2, k4, p2, ktbl, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, ktbl, p2, k4, p2
Rd 8: p2, k4, p2, ktbl, k7, ktbl, p2, k4, p2

By now you get the idea what’s going on. The 4-stitch cables are running along the sides, twisting in opposite directions every fifth round. The 7-stitch lace panel alternates with plain knits separating the rounds with the yos.

EDGE:

When the mitts are as long as you want them (mine are not that long as my friend works with computers and needs finger mobility), make a smocked edge starting with Round 4 of the cuff pattern. After 11 rounds, BO as follows: k1, p1, slip first stitch over second, yo, k1, slip first stitch plus yo loop over second. Continue in this fashion, binding off single purls and knits with their yo loops until the end. Pull up last loop, cut yarn, leaving tail to weave in.

THUMB:

Pick up thumb stitches from waste yarn and arrange somehow on your needle(s). Pick up and knit 3 stitches from the hand, closing the gap (18 sts), working 3 rounds of stockinette. Work one round of k1p1 ribbing. Bind off as for the hand.

Weave in ends, block, and presto! Beautiful fingerless mitts that only required a little bit of hair being torn out.