When moving recently, a friend cleaned out her yarn stash and sent me a couple skeins of sport weight Briggs and Little. She didn't really like knitting with it and knew it was my very favourite yarn to work with.
I got a brown skein and a grey skein, and knew right away that the brown skein would be knit up into new mitts for myself. The first mitts I knit up for myself were worked in a leftover bit of hand spun merino that I loved, but there just wasn't enough yarn to give me the length I wanted. They worked for a while, but this working class chick wanted longer mitts, ones that I could tuck up under the cuffs of my wool gown and wear all day in January and not mind the cold. These new mitts will be long!
Basing my knitting pattern loosely on stocking patterns, I also took the plunge (with a gentle push from Colleen Humphries) and did a backwards loop cast on and a wrap and turn process to knitting the cuff. Now that I have finally jumped in with both feet, I won't go back...so much quicker and easier than purling alternate rows!
My pattern:
Cast on 85 stitches over three needles (25, 25, and 35 on the third needle which will work the seam) (2.25 dpn) using a backwards loop cast. Knit the first row back on itself and join. Knit the second row, wrap and turn. Knit. Wrap and turn. Continue until you have a cuff of 6-8 rows or about a fat half inch.
Knit in the round, in the centre of the last needle, work the 'seam' by alternating rows of plain knit with a "purl, knit, purl" row to form a fancy twisted stitch that appears in extant stockings as a 'seam'.
After about a half inch or so of knitting in the pattern, decrease. On the last needle (the one with the 'seam') knit to three stitches of the seam, knit 2tgthr, knit one, 'seam', knit one, knit 2tgthr through back loops. Knit in pattern for three rows. Decrease four times, then knit in pattern for three inches.
Begin decrease again using same method. Work in this fashion until wrist measurement is achieved.
To increase for the hand, on either side of the seam line pick up to stiches through back loops as often as as every purl row. Once the full hand circumference is achieved, opposite the seam line, set 16 stitches aside on a giant safety pin or stitch keeper to pick up later for the thumb. Once the stitches have been set aside, continue knitting in the round. Continue to knit in pattern until the desired hand length is achieved.
On the needle that is between the seam line and the thumb stitches, work back and forth to create the point, leaving the remaining stitches on the other needles. Once the point is created, pick up stitches along the sides of the point to begin knitting the final cuff.
Knit one full round, wrap and turn. Knit one full round going in the reverse direction, wrap and turn. Continue this for 6-8 rows as per the starting cuff. Bind off.
Pick up stitches for thumb and knit in the round for desired length. Bind off.
*You can add purl stitches to the back of the hand for decoration or leave plain. You could also add stitches later in a contrasting colour that mimics the knit stitches.
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| new mitts in a good brown yarn |
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mitts from the Colonial Williamsburg collection, OBJECT NUMBER2018-255,1&2 |
