Darryl with a "Y"

A friend asked me to make fingerless mitts for herself and her man, after I made some for a mutual friend of ours. Here is a simple pattern for ribbed fingerless mitts which is written for man-sized hands, but I will also have instructions for women's in brackets.

Darryl with a "Y"

You will need:

2.75mm circular needles (2.5mm for women's)

Approximately 50gm fingering weight yarn. (For these I used a long-deleted Shepherd brand 4-ply crepe, for his partner's I'm using Haven by Naturally - much, much softer than the crepe)

2 small safety pins to use as stitch holders

A stitch marker for thumb gusset increases.

The Pattern:

Cast on 64 sts and join for working in the round (32 sts per needle).

Work in K2, P2 rib for 3 inches.

For the next 2 inches, knit in K1, P1 rib.

Next round: KFB, P1, *K1, P1 rib to end.

Next round: KFB, KFB, P1, *K1, P1 rib to end.

Next round: KFB, K1, KFB, PM, *K1, P1 rib to end.

Next round: KFB, K3, KFB, PM, *K1, P1 rib to end.

Next round: KFB, K5, KFB, PM, *K1, P1 rib to end.

Continue increasing 2 sts per round in this manner until you have 27 extra sts before the marker.

Next round: K 27 and put half (ok, not an even number) 13 sts on one safety pin, and 14 on the other. forget about those sts for the meantime, and continue to K1, P1 rib for another 5 rounds. Make sure you snug those sts up in the beginning of the rounds so as to help close up any gaps between the thumb and the hand of the mitt.

Change back to K2, P2 ribbing for the final 2.5 inches (2 inches for women's), cast off (or bind off, whichever takes your fancy) knitwise.

Put those thumb gusset sts back onto your needles. On the needle with 13 sts, pick up an extra 2 sts from the hand section, and on the needle with 14 sts, pick up one extra stitch. Knit one round plain.

Next round: K2tog, K1, *P2, K2 to last 3 sts, P2tog, P1.

Continue in K2, P2 rib for 6 more rounds, cast off knitwise.

Work in your ends, using the end that you joined on at the thumb to close up any hole between the thumb and hand sections. Do it all over again for the 2nd mitt.

As per usual, use the pattern for whatever, but please link back to my blog and credit me as the designer. If anything is unclear or doesn't quite seem right, let me know and I'll fix it up.

Helena

I don't know what it is, but I seem to be in a blue phase at the moment. I'm dyeing all sorts of colours, but blue must be my 'it' colour for knitting.

Here's my latest creation. It nearly wasn't a creation at all; I'd started making another Sapphire & Steel Cowl for my mum for Mother's Day but it turned into something a bit different. Feather and Fan pattern is so versatile and so pretty!

As with all my free patterns, use them for whatever you will, but please link back to my blog for the pattern and credit me as the designer. Also, if something doesn't seem right or doesn't quite make sense, let me know and I'll endeavour to fix/clarify.

Helena

You will need:

Approximately 50gm fingering weight yarn – a semisolid or striped yarn would work nicely.
2.75mm circular needles
3.25mm circular needles

Cast on 156 sts on 2.75mm circs and join for working in the round (78 sts per needle). Work in K3, P3 rib for 4 inches.
Knit one round.
Change to 3.25mm circs. Purl one row. From this point on you will knit flat - backwards and forwards, no longer in the round.

Stitch pattern:

Work in seed stitch or garter stitch for the first and last 6 sts of every row.

Row 1: Seed stitch first 6 sts, knit to last 6 sts, seed stitch last 6 sts.
Row 2: Seed stitch first 6 sts, purl to last 6 sts, seed stitch last 6 sts.
Row 3: Seed stitch first 6 sts, *(k2tog) 3 times, (yo, k1) 6 times, (k2tog) 3 times. Repeat from * to last 6 stitches, seed stitch last 6 sts.
Row 4: Seed stitch first 6 sts, knit to last 6 sts, seed stitch last 6 sts.

Repeat these 4 rows a total of 10 times.

Next 4 rows work either in seed stitch or garter stitch, whichever is your preference. I’ve done seed stitch for mine, but either would work equally well.

Bind off knitwise.

Work in ends, and block the feather and fan portion to within an inch of its’ life. I blocked the outer edges hard, less so near the ribbing, you want the ribbing to be stretchy.

Wear with pride!