Tuesday, October 6, 2009

On the Needles

I'm really working hard on Christmas gifts at the moment, and have decided that warm and cosy fingerless mittens are the way to go this year!

Right now, I'm finishing up a pair for my brother, (who never reads this, so I'm safe!) in the colours of his favourite English football team: Newcastle United.


As he's quite a tall guy, I changed my normal pattern a bit. I found that ribbing the mittens all the way from wrist to fingers looked a bit strange when stretched over big hands, so I simply did the cuff in rib stitch, and then stocking stitched the rest.

A very easy pattern for these 'Man Mitts':

I used two colours (A: black, B: grey), and size 9 needles

Cast on 36 stitches
Rows 1-4: Use colour A, rib stitch (knit 2, purl 2, repeat)
Rows 5-6: Use B, rib stitch
Rows 7-8: Use A, rib stitch
Rows 9-12: Use B, rib stitch
Rows 13-14: Use A, rib stitch
Rows 15-16: Use B, rib stitch (B can be cut as it won't be used again)
Rows 17-18: Use A, rib stitch
Rows 19-40: Use A, stocking stitch (knit one row, purl the next row, repeat)
Cast off!

How easy? So really, you just make a big patterned rectangle, and then take the two sides together and sew it up with mattress stitch (leaving room just above the last stripe of B for the thumb).

Enjoy!
xo

3 comments:

Victoria said...

Good idea, and they look lovely - I have also been looking for a pair of long fingerless mittens lately!

Judy said...

Can I be on your Christmas list? I'm petite. You won't need much yarn. ;-)

Chelsea Talks Smack said...

looks great! i want to learn to knit!