Anne's bulky fingerless mittens

When I knit a piece, I like to know that I am making it for someone. Someone special who I know will appreciate a handmade something. I had these mittens in mind for sometime. One of my very best friends is a florist, and I knew these would come in handy when she was working during the cold winter season.

We have similar interests in craftiness, my friend Anne and I. It is easy to explain ideas to her about things I want to make and she encourages and offers advice. We have also known each other for almost 20 years, have been through many stages of life together and for that I am grateful.

These are a quick, easy to make project, great for holiday giving, especially for someone who works with their hands! Here is the pattern in small (7 1/2 inches around palm), medium (8 1/2 inches around palm) and large sizes (9 1/2 inches around palm). Pattern is written with directions for small mittens, with medium and large sizes in parentheses.

Gauge: 3sts per inch

What you need: chunky or bulky yarn, a set of size 9 dpn's or needles that fit your gauge, one set of size 8 dpn's (or one needle size smaller from the needles you got gauge with), a stitch marker, yarn needle to weave in ends

With smaller dpn's, CO 22 (24, 26) sts
Join in the round being careful not to twist stitches
k1p1 for the cuff for 2.5 inches

Change to larger dpn's - knit 4 rounds in stst

Start thumb gusset (for left or right mitten):
row 1: At start of round for thumb gusset, k1, p1, k1, p1, knit to end of round.
row 2: Repeat round 1
row 3: k1, p1, k1 make 1, p1 knit to end
row 4: knit all the knit sts and purl all the purl sts (the extra stitch from m1 will be knitted)
row 5: k1, p1, k1, m1, k1, p1, knit to end of round
row 6: repeat round 4
row7: k1, p1, k1, m1, k2, p1, knit to end of round
row 8: repeat round 4
Repeat round 7 and 8, making an increase between the two purl sts until there are 6 (7, 8) sts between the two purl sts.

Next round: k2, slip next 6 (7, 8) sts on to stitch holder or waste yarn. Cast on one stitch using backward loop method.

Knit stst in round for 4 (5, 6) rounds.
Start k1p1 ribbing for 2 inches. Bind off.

Thumb:
With larger dpn's pick up and knit your sts on stitch holder.
Pick up 3 (4, 5) sts at base of thumb and divide among your dpn's. Knit 5 (6, 7) rounds before binding off.

Weave in ends


Enjoy!

Mittens

This mild winter gave us a 50 degree day!! so I was able to pry these mittens off of the kids' hands to take a photo of them. They were so excited when I finished knitting these and love that they have the freedom of their fingers in the cold weather. This project has been on my knitting queue for some time and I'm glad that they were worth the wait! In fact, after making these, I had a request for a pair from the hubs and can't wait to make a pair for myself too. There are great patterns for convertible mittens here, here and here, which helped me figure out how to make them. However, I did use a basic "family mittens" pattern that I usually use to make mittens and figured out that I could sew the "hoods" or tops on to the side of the mitten. Other basic mitten patterns would work just as well. Other free mitten patterns I have used are here and here. I was able to customize the size, which is easy to do with mittens once you've made one or two pairs. I found this easier to do than what some of the other patterns call for, knitting them on the mitten as you make the hood. I found that a bit confusing and found it to be quicker to knit the top separately.  

I used Cascade 220 Quatro, way less than one skein for each pair of mittens, and size 3 US needles. They are a bit big for my three year old, but fit my five year old perfectly.