Holey Moley!

A few years back I tried knitting up a fingerless mitts pattern in a fancy schmancy new knitting magazine. I won’t say which magazine or which pattern because the troubles I had with the ‘gauntlets’ were mostly of my own making.

Well, first I tried converting them to knit in the round with limited success. I wasn’t able to work out how to reverse the purl side of the lace pattern so I just replaced it by repeating the picot edge yarn overs and k2togs every 4 rows. I didn’t realise I was supposed to fold back the hem to get the picot edging, but then the photo of the ‘gauntlets’ wasn’t particularly clear so I couldn’t see that the hem of mine looked any different anyway. I liked the texture it made, a bumpy, holey lattice.

Pretty soon it became rather obvious that these gauntlets were more like oven gloves in size. I had the correct gauge, so I can only conclude that the model was a giant and the props she languidly draped herself over had been made large-scale to hide the fact.

So I frogged and started again, making up a pattern as I went. Soon I had some cute little fingerless mitts that I loved, and wore every winter while driving my heating-challenged car.

Unfortunately, I’m good at mislaying gloves. A few days ago I gave up on my wistful hope these fingerless mitts would turn up again, bag slung over one, er, thumb and tell me thrilling tales of their adventures before accompanying me out on drives again. I dug up my pattern and started a new pair.

Then came the inevitable ripping and rewriting as I was seized by the idea that if I just tweaked a bit here and there I could improve the pattern and offer it up free to the knitterly world. A few hours later I had a pair of mitts. Next I realised I had to offer a medium size, since my hands are a touch smaller than the average person. That led to some maths. And to some test knitting.

(I haven’t yet finished test knitting the medium sized version yet, but once I have I will make corrections – if there are any – and delete this paragraph.)

They’re a fast project, done in a few hours, and are great for using up leftovers, that single ball that someone gave you or you bought simply because it was pretty. The k2tog rounds alternate with ssk rounds to minimise twisting, but I still got a little bit of twist in the cuff – just enough to be interesting.

Holey Moley Fingerless Mitts
by Chocolatetrudi

Yarn: 1 50g ball Patons Fireside or any similar 8ply/thicker dk weight
Needles: 4mm dpns, Sizes: wrist measurement sm 16cm/6.25inches (med 19/7.5”)

Cuff:
Cast on 24 (32) stitches, arrange on dpns 12/6/6 (16/8/8)
Rounds 1-3: knit, in the round
Round 4: *yo, k2tog* rep to end of round
Rounds 5-7: knit
Round 8: *yo, ssk* rep to end of round
Repeat rounds 1-8 2 times
Knit 3 rounds

Gusset:
Rnd 1: (left) k 10 (14), m1, k1, m1, k1, *yo, k2tog* rep 6 (8) times
(right) *yo, k2tog* rep 6 (8) times, k1, m1, k1, m1, k 10 (14)
Rnd 2: knit
Rnd 3: (left) k 10 (14), m1, k3, m1, k 13 (17)
(right) k 13 (17), m1, k3, m1, k 10 (14)
Rnd 4: knit
Rnd 5: (left) k 10 (14), m1, k5, m1, k1, *yo, ssk* rep 6 (8) times
(right) *yo, ssk* rep 6 (8) times, k1, m1, k5, m1, k 10 (14)
Rnd 6: knit
Rnd 7: (left) k 10 (14), m1, k7, m1, k 13 (17)
(right) k 13 (17), m1, k7, m1, k 10 (14)
Rnd 8: knit
Rnd 9: (left) k 10 (14), m1, k9, m1, k1, *yo, k2tog* rep 6 (8) times
(right) *yo, k2tog* rep 6 (8) times, k1, m1, k9, m1, k 10 (14)
Rnd 10: knit
Rnd 11: (left) k 10 (14), m1, k11, m1, k 13 (17)
(right) k 13 (17), m1, k11, m1, k 10 (14)
Rnd 12: knit
Rnd 13: (left) k 10 (14), m1, k13, m1, k1, *yo, ssk* rep 6 (8) times
(right) *yo, ssk* rep 6 (8) times, k1, m1, k13, m1, k 10 (14)
Rnd 14: knit
Rnd 15: (left) k 10 (14), m1, k15, m1, k 13 (17)
(right) k 13 (17), m1, k15, m1, k 10 (14)
Rnd 16: knit
Rnd 17: (left) k 10 (14), m1, k17, m1, k1, *yo, k2tog* rep 6 (8) times
(right) *yo, k2tog* rep 6 (8) times, k1, m1, k17, m1, k 10 (14)
Rnd 18: knit
Rnd 19: (left) k 10 (14), m1, k19, m1, k 13 (17)
(right) k 13 (17), m1, k19, m1, k 10 (14)
Rnd 20: knit

Finishing:
Rnd 1: (left) k 11 (15), cast off 19 st, k2, *yo, ssk * rep 6 (8) times
(right) *yo, ssk * rep 6 (8) times, k2, cast off 19 st, k 11 (15)
Rnd 2: (left) k 11 (15), pick up 1 st in first cast off st of prev row, k 14 (18)
(right) k 14 (18), pick up 1 st, in first cast off st of prev row k 11 (15)
Knit 2 rnds
Cast off, sew in ends.

One thought on “Holey Moley!

  1. What a great pattern and your hands look very cool: that is cosy and comfy!!!

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