sophy's knits, notes, etc.

while in Philadelphia, i visited my cousins, Kimberly and Kristina, and met their best friend, Somali. seeing the three together, bickering like only best friends and sisters can, made me think of the mischief my sister, our cousin Thea, and i used to get into when we were younger...

well, i happened to wear my endpaper mitts during my visit and the three girls really admired it, so i wanted to quickly make each of them a pair. and as you well know, in my case, quick means simple. and, because i didn't have a pattern with me, i naturally based these on the construction of Eunny Jang's endpaper mitts: there are "purl" seams on each side and the thumb gusset increases are done along one seam. as you'll see, these are very easy to modify for bigger sizes and longer length.

i actually didn't want to post this until i finished the other two, but, as it turns out, i don't have dk weight yarn for any of the colors the girls requested; so here are my mitts:

kimberly's fingerless mitts.

abbreviations

m   marker
m1l   increase 1 st, left slanted
m1r   increase 1 st, right slanted
pm   place marker
sm   slip marker

wrist

using any DK weight yarn and size 4 (3.5 mm) dpns, co 36 (40, 44) sts. divide the sts between 4 dpns, and join for knitting in the round. (pm to mark beginning of the rnd.)

Note: my cousins are 10 and 13 years old. with 36 sts, these mitts are fairly small; they actually fit me comfortably and snugly. the other sizes are just recommendations, really this pattern works with any number of stitches; it doesn't even have to be multiples of 4.

Rnd 1: k17 (19, 21), pm, p1, pm, k17 (19, 21), p1.

repeat Rnd 1 29 more times, for a total of 30 rnds. This makes the wrist of the mitts about 4 inches long. If you want longer mitts, you can add more rnds.

thumb gusset

Rnd 1 (inc): k to m, m1l, sm, p1, sm, m1r, k to last st, p1.
Rnd 2: k to m, sm, p1, sm, k to last st, p1.

Repeat these two rnds 5 (6, 7) times.

Next rnd: k17 (19, 21), pm, place next 11 (13, 15) sts on waste yarn (removing markers as you come to them), co 1 st (using backward loop), pm, k17 (19, 21), p1.

hand

Rnd 1: k17 (19, 21), pm, p1, pm, k17 (19, 21), p1.

Repeat Rnd 1 10 (12, 14) times. bo all sts. I bo k sts kwise and p sts pwise.

thumb, option 1

divide the sts on waste yarn among 3 dpns. attach yarn.

Rnd 1: beginning at the bottom of the purl seam st (that was cast on with backward loop), pick up 1 st pwise, pick up 1 st kwise, k5 (6, 7), p1, k5 (6, 7), pick up 1 st kwise, pick up 1 st pwise (this is the other side of the purl seam st that was cast on with backward loop). 15 (17, 19) sts total.

Rnd 2: sl 1 pwise, pm for beginning of rnd, k6 (7, 8), p1, k6 (7, 8), p2tog. 14 (16, 18) sts.

Rnd 3-6: k6 (7, 8), p1, k6 (7, 8), p1.

Rnd 7: BO all sts; k sts kwise and p sts pwise.

note: when knitting a couple more of these, i decided i didn't really like how i picked up stitches for the thumb... read this post to see how i picked up stitches differently.

finishing

weave in ends. block as needed. wear everywhere.

trying on the first side after i finished it.

i think they're great for wearing underneath your winter gloves or mitts. if you're on the east coast, the extra layer will keep you warmer.

Updated 05 January 2009: now you can see Somali's and Kristina's finished mitts!