crocheting mittens

[fatoldladyinpjs]

Okay, I'm a beginning crocheter. Just finished my first pair of mittens. One thumb a bit bigger than the other, but fixable. My question is about the holes for single crocheting. Maybe I'm not getting this. The single crochet in mittens comes out more like a mesh and isn't solid. Are these mittens all that warm, especially in northern climates like mine? Granted, I did use a larger hook J for practice. Do these holes get better with smaller size hooks? What hooks would you recommend? Am I supposed to use a smaller hook to do the cuff? Is there another stitch other than single crochet that would make these mittens less holey?

[Jan in CA]

I used to crochet and I believe that is normal. You can try a smaller hook, but like knitting if you go too small the fabric may be too dense. IMO I think crochet is better for Warmer weather items.

[GrumpyGramma]

I've crocheted for years but I never crocheted mittens. I never thought that crocheted mittens would be warm enough and we have mild winters. As Jan said, using a smaller hook will give you denser fabric but at some point it just becomes too stiff or too hard to work with the smaller hook. If you really like the look of crocheted mittens, you could knit liners for them. Hmmmm, maybe that's not really what you had in mind?

I have crocheted sock and sweaters, both of which are fine depending on the yarn and pattern, but decided knitting them just works out better IMHO.

[DogCatMom]

Do you have a link to the pattern, or a photo of the mittens themselves?

DogCatMom

[fatoldladyinpjs]

I did mine from a Youtube tutorial. They turned out really nice. But I think you're all right about the holes. I tried doubling yarn, but that's just too hard to work with two strands of worsted. Knitting mittens seems like a good plan to me or wearing those mini gloves underneath.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpC-aqltEog&feature=plcp

[Antares]

You might try some swatches using smaller hooks and see what you think. There are also combinations of crochet stitches that might work better, too (like a sc in first st, dc in next st across for one row and on next row, dc in the sc and sc in the dc). Different combinations of stitches will give you different results, of course. You might also try using the slip stitch throughout. It's shorter than the sc, so I would imagine it would be less holey.

And I assume you've looked at crocheted mittens on Rav, right?

[fatoldladyinpjs]

Well, I've done a lot of googling and this is what I've come up with. This stitch ends up nice and thick, no holes. It's exactly what I wanted for our cold Wisconsin winters. Thought I would share it with you for those who want warm mittens without holes. This is a crochet Thermal stitch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu2GzJHCgwE&feature=plcp