Mittens??

Dangles · 11-29-2007, 06:14 PM

Hello my fellow knitters...

I'd like to attempt my first pair of mittens... *bites nails* Looking at an adult small size. Could any one of you wonderful people enlighten me on a pattern and what is the best needles to attack it with?

Thanks and

to you all.

knitpearlz · 11-29-2007, 11:27 PM

Hello Dangles,
I'm knitting my first pair also. I like wooden needles the best as a beginner because there is less slippage. I recommend the wooden or bamboo double point needles. The mittens I believe are only intimidating because of the thumb gusset, I did not understand it for a while. I met a lady over at the sewing store that showed me a little bit. If you have never worked with double points there are some two needle mitten patterns on the web. here is a link for a place- http://www.knittingpatterncentral.co...ens_gloves.php

cftwo · 11-30-2007, 03:35 PM

I have an old leaflet at home (I first knit these 2-needle mittens when I was a beginner knitter some 25 years ago) with some basic 2-needle mittens. I'm sure the patterns are out of print, so I'd be happy to send you a copy of the pattern if you want to send me a PM with your address. I used straight metal needles on these when I started - but I like wooden ones so much now that I'd buy those instead.

brittyknits · 11-30-2007, 03:53 PM

This is a great, great, basic pattern from 1953. It has the 4-needles version first, but never fear, if you scroll down a bit, there is a 2-needles version. I have a few battered, torn copies (all totalling up to 1 good one

) because all of my older female relatives used is constantly-- as do I, now.
http://www.freevintageknitting.com/pdf/615.pdf

There are other patterns from this booklet, here:
http://www.freevintageknitting.com/mittens.html
I would just suggest using the PDF versions, as the html ones are harder to read and not as well organized.

chocogirl · 12-03-2007, 04:39 AM

I've been looking at tons of patterns to learn how to make my first ever pair of mittens....BUT they all look so darn confusing and difficult to understand....darn it!!!!!

Can someone help? Are there any site that shows step-by-step for mittens 101?

brittyknits · 12-03-2007, 03:22 PM

Hi Chocogirl,

Here are some pointers for knitting mittens-- and the confusion is not so much in the pattern as it is in the way some directions are written (badly

).

If you can knit and purl and increase and decrease, you're all set to go. Most patterns start from the bottom, and I think that's the easiest way to go. I'm going to explain this according to the pattern I put up as a link, a couple of posts above on this thread.

So you're ribbing for a couple of inches to form the cuff. Then you are starting the hand AND at the same time, usually beginning the thumb gore, too. (Sometimes the gore is called a gusset.) To do that, you increase by 2 stitches, and for several rows, you continue to increase by 2 more, and each time you will have more stitches in-between the 2 new ones, so that kind of a triangle is being formed. Again-- this is as you are continuing to come up the hand. Once the gore is big enough, you put those stitches on a holder and then continue up the hand, until you have about an inch left to the top of the hand. Then you are gradually decreasing to form the top of the mitten and then finish off.
Then you go back to your thumb gore and put those saved stitches on a needle and knit them until, like the top of the mitten, you have just a little left to go, and then you gradually decrease to form the top of the thumb and then finish off.
If you've knit in the round, you're pretty much done, except to tie up loose ends. If not, then you sew up the seams and that's it. Oh, except then you need to do it all over again so that you have 2

.

One hint about knitting mittens-- when you pick up those held gore stitches to do the thumb, you also pick up a couple of extra from the hand to pull everything together. Except it never works completely

. Patterns never seem to tell you that and so you have a little hole at the base of the thumb. So what you do is either when you're done, go back and tidy it up with some yarn on a sewing/darning needle, or when you pick up the couple of extra stitches from the hand, pick up a couple of extra to tighten it all up and then immediately knit them together to come up with the number of stitches you were supposed to pick up.

And if you do decide to knit a pair, of course people on this site will be happy to help if you run into trouble!

chocogirl · 12-04-2007, 02:51 AM

Thanks so much for your explanation to my question. I really appreciate it very much.

For sure I will attempt to knit my first ever pair of mittens....and will definitely need all the help that I can.

Thanks again....you guys are awesome in here. =)

brittyknits · 12-04-2007, 05:14 AM

That's great!-- I think you'll find it a bit easier than it seems, once you're actually making them. And mittens are small, so you're not involved in an endless project! I do highly recommend that pattern link I posted, above. Just straight forward mitts. If you do decide to use that one, I would print it out so that you can circle the numbers applicable to the size you make-- it'll be easier to follow. Because the pattern is so old, the yarns they refer to no longer exist, but a sport weight should do it. And the needles sizes were very much by company at that point, so I would do a swatch a figure out which size works to get that gauge (6 sts to the inch-- don't worry about the rows; you just knit to the length you need in this pattern so that won't affect what you're doing at all). Let us all know how you're doing!

chocogirl · 12-08-2007, 05:20 AM

YAY...I'm so proud of myself....I'd just finished my first EVER mitten...well...I still have to continue making the other mitten to make it a pair. It fits perfectly, for sure the 2nd mitten will be much better.

I'm loving these DPNs....next up: SOCKS!

Thanks so much for your help brittyknits, really appreciate! Looking forward to seeking your help in the future....hehehehe =)

brittyknits · 12-08-2007, 01:53 PM

Flattery will get you everywhere

. . .of course I'd be happy to help in the future-- but seriously-- given how the first mitten went, I'm not so sure you'll need it. CONGRATULATIONS!!! Isn't it amazing and wonderful when something seems so beyond reach and then, voila, you did it, and you have a real, live, functioning, and in this case, well-fitted mitten! Yeah-- for some reason (I was too young when I began using them to remember why) dpns scare people to death. But once you get used to them, they really are perfect and IMHO much faster than magic loop for small tube-things.