Inbetween Mitts

To keep your hands warm why not knit yourself a pair of these colorful fingerless gloves. These mitts are perfect for the time between two seasons: in autumn or spring you can fold them down to have more freedom of fingers and in winter the upper ribbing covers most of your fingers and keeps them warm. That's why I called them inbetween mitts.

I also knitted them while I was living in a bit of an "inbetween" state. I was set to move back to my home country, but I had to fulfil a contract and therefore to stay on for two more months.

As many of my patterns these fingerless gloves have an unusal construction. They are knitted in one piece, partly knitted flat and partly knitted in the round. They are great to show off you colorful and variegated sock yarn.

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

German / Deutsch: Eine deutsche Version dieser Anleitung wurde von Bernadette von Törtchens Blog erstellt. Vielen lieben Dank. Details dazu in diesem Blogpost.

The pattern is written in a way that you can adapt it to most hand sizes. As an example, I have given the counts that I have used. These examples are written in purple.

Materials

• about 40 grams of fingering weight yarn
• 3mm needles (I used a set of dpns for parts 1, 4 and 5, and a circular needle for parts 2 and 3) and a third needle for the three-needle BO
• scrap yarn for the provisional CO(s)
• a crochet hook for provisional CO
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Techniques

• Provisional CO: My favorite method for a provision CO is the crochet provisional CO - it is shown in this Youtube video by New Stitch a Day.
• Three-Needle Bind Off: https://youtu.be/Ph93jWSzTa0
• Picking up stitches from the side and knitting them (pick up and knit): https://youtu.be/oUPhLYkC0Fw , https://youtu.be/4XtGL8vJf-g or https://youtu.be/htAHtNnuE7Q
• Short Rows in the Round (and t+ky) I learned short rows in the round with this helpful video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCgycxLce94; however, I ended up doing the pick-ups differently.
  - "Wrapping" of the Stitches
  Basically, when you're on the RS, you do wrap the working yarn around the next stitch (from front to back) and then turn your work, i.e. the "normal" wrap and turn (w+t).
  When you are on the WS you slip the last stitch, turn your work with the yarn in front, wrap the yarn around the RIGHT needle and knit the slipped stitch. That creates a sort of double-stitch - one half of it has to be knitted together with the stitch in front when you're picking up the stitches. In the pattern, throughout the pattern I will call this stitch, t+ky (short for "turn and knit w/yarn-over").
  - Picking-up
  When encountering a w+t, I turned the wrapped stitch on the needle, picked up the wrap from the front and knitted the stitch and the wrap together through the back of the loop.
  When reaching the stitch BEFORE the “double-stitch”, I turned this stitch and knitted it together with the yo through the back of the loop. 
• Grafting in garter stitch: A technique to get an invisible (knitted) seam - this technique is shown in this YouTube Video by knittinghelp.com.
• Knitted Cast-On: http://youtu.be/-nJKC2xT0Q4   
• Picking up stitches from a gap or ditch: After both three needle bind-offs there is one left over stitch which tends to have a distance to the stitches next to it. To avoid holes, I usually pick up one stitch from the gap and decrease over the new stitch in the following row (see also this YouTube video where it is shown on the example of a thumb gusset). In my experience (or the way I knit :) it's even better to pick up two stitches and knit decreases over them in the following two rows.

Gauge, Size and Possible Adjustments

The pattern is written in a way that it can be adapted to most hand sizes. However, in order to make the thumb fit, the gauge should roughly be as follows:

12 garter stitch ridges (i.e. 24 rows) gave 5 cm in height, and 13 stitches in garter stitch 5 cm in width. If your gauge is way off, you'd need to adjust the number of stitches for the thumb.

The finished piece (as knitted by me) measures 25 cm in length, and about 20 cm in circumference at the widest point. The lower ribbing (cuff) measures 9 cm, and the upper edge about 7.5 cm.

If you want to have the upper and lower ribbing longer or shorter. you can do this by adjusting the number of stitches you cast on in the beginning of part 1 and part 3.

General Construction

Each glove is knitted in five parts - see picture on the right.
Part 1 – the cuff – is knitted flat, in garter stitch only, with a few short rows for shaping. Part 2 – the lower triangle of the part that covers the palm is knitted in the round, also with short rows to achieve the triangular shape.  Part 3 – the upper ribbing and the rest of the part covering the palm – is knitted flat. Part 4 – the lower part of the thumb – is knitted in the round; and finally part 5 – the thumb ribbing – is knitted flat again.
The glove is knitted in one piece, i.e. you do not have to cut the yarn while knitting it and there are only two ends to weave in in the end.

Instructions 

Part 1: Cuff

pCO 25 and knit first row with working yarn

Row 1 (WS): sl1, k to end

Row 2 (RS): k all

Row 3 (WS): sl1, k to end

Repeat row 2 and 3 three more times

Row 10 (RS, WS): k14, w+t, k to end

Now repeat the following sequence until the cuff fits around your wrist:

Knit rows 2 and 3 five times, then knit row 10 once. Make sure to end on a WS row. (After a few rows, your piece should look similar to picture 1.) 

I continued this until there were 42 ridges at the narrower edge - then the cuff fitted around my wrist.

Move stitches from provisional CO to a third needle, hold togehter with current stitches and do a 3 needle BO until there is only one stitch left.

Part 2: Palm, lower part

Turn the mitt right sides out (i.e. so that the seam from the three-needle BO is on the inside). Starting from the stitch that is still on your needle pick up and knit stitches from the upper edge of the cuff. Join in round. Your piece should now look similar to the one in picture 2.

I picked up 42 sts from the edge and 2 sts around the stitch that was left over from three-needle BO, so in total I had 45 sts.

Now the mitt is worked in the round, but with a some short rows (worked back and forth) for shaping. The first stitch of your round is the stitch that is left over from your three-needle BO.

Count your stitches and - while knitting round 1 -  place one stitch marker at the beginning of the round. (end-of-round-marker, or EM for short), place another marker after half the number of your stitches (half-of-round-marker, or HM for short).

Since I had an uneven number of stitches (45 sts), I placed the marker between the 22nd and 23rd stitch and pretended I had an even number of stitches. 

Round 1: k all

Round 2: k to 3 sts before HM, mk1, k6, mk1, k to 2 before EM, w+t

   p to 2 before EM, t+ky, 

   k to end

Round 3: k all

Round 4: k to 6 sts before HM, mk1, k12, mk1, k to 4 before EM, w+t

   p to 4 before EM, t+ky

   k to 6 before EM, w+t

   p to 6 before EM, t+ky, 

   k to end

Round 5: k all

Round 6: k to 3 sts before HM, mk1, k6, mk1, k to 6 before EM, w+t

   p to 6 before EM, t+ky,

   k to 8 before EM, w+t

   p to 8 before EM, t+ky,

   k to end

Round 7: k all

Round 8: k to 6 sts before HM, mk1, k12, mk1, k to 10 before EM, w+t

  p to 10 before EM, t+ky,

  k to 12 before EM, w+t,

  p to 12 before EM, t+ky,

  k to 14 before EM, w+t,

  p to 14 before EM, t+ky,

  k to end

Round 9: k all

Round 10: k to 2 before the last w+t, w+t,

  p to 2 before last t+ky, t+ky,

  k to 2 before last w+t, w+t

  p to 2 before last t+ky, t+ky

  k to end

Repeat rounds 9 and 10 until there are only 6 or less stitches between the turns, i.e. until the shortest short row consists only of 6 stitches or fewer.

Since I had a total of 53 stitches in the round (I started with 45 and increase 4 x 2 stitches), I had to repeat both rows once more to have 7 stitches left between the last 2 turns. 

Part 3: Palm, upper part

From now on the gloves is knitted in rows, either from the outside or inside of the glove.

Row 1: (RS) k to HM, CO20 with knitted cast on (these 20 new stitches will be the upper ribbing and the end of the upper ribbing will be the new "end")

Row 2: (WS) k19, ssk, ssk, p end, pick up 1 stitch from gap to lower edge of knitted CO, then pick up 20 stitches from the lower edge of knitted CO - your piece should now look similar to the one in picture 3.

Row 3: (RS) k19, ssk, ssk, k2, w+t, (WS) p2, k to end

  (RS) k19, ssk, k2, w+t, (WS) p2, k to end

  (RS) k19, ssk, k to end

Row 4: (WS)  k19, ssk, ssk, p2, w+t, (RS) k to end, turn,

  (WS) k19, ssk, p2, w+t, (RS) k to end, turn

  (WS) k19, ssk,  p to last 20 stitches, k20

Row 5: (RS) k19, ssk,  k2, w+t, (WS) p2, k to end

  (RS) k19, ssk, k2, w+t, (WS) p2, k to end

  (RS) k19, ssk, k to end

Repeat rows 4 and 5 until there are 56 or fewer stitches on your needles (the 56 are: 2x20 sts garter stitch (upper edge) and 16 sts stockinette thumb gusset). Make sure to end after a row you knitted from the inside (i.e. with purl stitches between the upper edge (RS)). If you have 56 or less stitches and have just finished a row 4, do an alternative version of row 4 without any short rows and without any decreases (i.e. Row 5b: (RS) k20, p to last 20 sts, k20).

Try your mitts on. if the upper edge does not fit around your fingers, you can add to the upper edge garter stitch ribbing by knitting a few garter stitch ridges as follows:
Row 1: k20 turn (do not wrap)
Row 2: k20

Hold right sides of the upper edge together and do a three-needle BO of the upper 20 stitches (see picture 4. Secure the stitch that's left over from the three-needle BO and turn the upper part back right sides out.

Part 4: Thumb, lower part

Starting with the stitch that's left over from three-needle BO start the thumb. There are about 16 sts left. Pick up 1 or 2 stitches from the gap between the leftover stitch and the rest of the stitches, knit the 16 stitches, and pick up 1 or 2 stitches from the gap on the other side. Over the next four rounds, knit stockinette stitch while decreasing over the stitches you picked up over the gap - until there are 16 stitches left (or the number of stitches you're aiming for).

If there were 16 stockinette stitches left after part 3 was finished:

Round 1: k2, ssk, k to 3 sts before end, k2tog, k1

Round 2: k1, ssk, k to 3 sts before end, k2tog, k1

Knit about 2 more rounds of stockinette stitch.

Part 5: Thumb, ribbing

This bit is really very fiddly - if you don't like doing this, you can alternatively just knit a few rows of k1p1-ribbing and then bind off loosely. But I wanted a "garter stitch" ribbing to finish the thumb, so I did it as follows.

With scrap yarn do a provisional CO of 7 stitches on a new needle. Hold this needle close to the thumb stitches of your glove and (as RS) knit these 7 new stitches. As WS, sl1, k5, and do an ssk with the last of the new stitches and the first of the original thumb stitches on your needle. Then turn your work, slip the first stitch (the ssk from the last row) and k to end (RS). As WS, again sl1, k5, and do an ssk with the last of the new stitches and the next of the original thumb stitches (see photo 5). Repeat until all the original thumb stitches have been used.

Move the stitches from the provisional CO to a new needle and graft both sides in garter stitch (see photo 6). 

Currently my favorite combination - Inbetween Mitts and my Ojos de Bruja scarf

This blogpost was featured at the Linky Ladies Community Link Party No. 91 and at the Knitting Love monthly link party #19. Thank you!