I Gotta Hand it To Ya

If "idle hands are the devil's playthings" (or so the expression goes) than certainly knitter's hands are God's army corp of engineers. And mine have been knitting up a storm making fingerless gloves. You'd think with all the yarn-tossing and needle-twisting, they'd warm up a bit, but they're always freezing cold! Now, the nice thing is that a pair of fingerless mitts takes about 3 hours - or two evening. So being one of the army corp of engineers, I have figured out a pattern/formula that's really easy. I promise you, you don't even have to be in the apple core of ingenues to get this one.

Ready?

Measure the circumference of your hand around your palm. Palm = A. I am going to put my numbers in red - Palm= 7 for me

Pick a yarn. DK weight yarn works best. You'll need about 150 - 160 yards. Use something that's about 5 or 6 stitches per inch on a size 5 or 6 needle. Get a gauge...Then TAKE SPI x A = Stitches to Cast On   Let's call that "B" . So if stitches per inch is 5 and palm is 7, that would be 35. Now your hand might be 7.5 and your gauge might be 5.5 - that's why lots of gloves cast on 40 or 41. But once you have B - there are only two other numbers, B/2 and B/2+10.

Here we go:

Cast on B 35, Work in K1 P1 Rib for 2.5 inches or however long you want the cuff to be. At the wrist, work two rows of ST ST. Next row: Knit to half of cast on or (B/2) 17 and place marker (PM) then M1 k2 M1 and Knit to end. Work three rows in ST ST. Next row - knit to marker, M1 K4 M1 knit to end. Work three row. Knit to marker, M1 K6 M1 knit to end. (sound familiar) Work three rows. Knit to marker, M1 K8 M1, knit to end. Work 3 rows. Knit to marker, M1 K10 M1 knit to end. Work in ST ST to reach base of thumb ( you should be there) -end with purl row. On next knit row, Knit to (B/2+10 )27 - stop and turn work. Cast on two stitches on left needle, purl those stitches, next 12 on needle and cast on 2 more. Turn and knit those 16 stitches back and forth until you are a little more than half way up the thumb. Bind off loosely. Seam up the thumb. Now, holding the opening away from you (Right side facing), attach yarn and pick up four stitches across base of thumb, knit to end. When you come back to base of thumb, make those four picked up stitches into 2. Now just keep ST ST until the mitt is as long as you want it to be up your knuckles. When you're about three rows from where you want to end, count your stitches and decrease 3 or 4 stitches evenly across the top. Wrap it around your hand to gauge the width. Sew the seam and you're done.

Now, give yourself a BIG HAND!!!!

PS. Make two - unless you're Captain Hook.

{if you do give it a try, send me pix to post!}

Comments

[rhoda]

this is very cool! I will have to save it and try it out one of these days. :) who knew it was so simple!

[Jennifer]

Awesome! I'll have to try it!

[KeanaLee]

thank you for the helpful info, I am hanging on to this post.