All Fingers and Thumbs

Sometimes small discussions on social media can lead to interesting ideas ... some time ago, under an Instagram-post by @berniblumentopf (Bernadette from Törtchens Blog) we talked about fingered gloves. E.g. that I had never tried to knit them and that it wouldn't be a preferred project for me anyway, since I don't like pieces where you have to cut yarn a few times in the middle of a project and consequently have to weave in more than two ends ... that got me thinking whether it would be possible to knit fingered gloves without cutting yarn - and it felt like a challenge :)
In the afternoon I started - beginning at the pinkie edge of the hand and knitting sideways, occasionally binding off and casting on stitches. The whole thing worked surprisingly well and I had to frog back fewer times than expected.
I was rather pleased with the result - a knitted fingered glove with only two ends to weave in. So here's the pattern!
Thanks for the idea, Bernadette!

This is a pattern for one size only, but there are explanations on how to adapt it to other sizes.

Dansk / Danish: A danish translation (by Marianne Holmen) can be found here.

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





Materials

• about 50 grams of fingering weight yarn, I used sock yarn bought at Aldi's for the green-blue ones (sorry, I don't know the colorway), and Colinette Jitterbug, colorway Jamboree for the pink-blue-orange-etc ones (here's the link to the yarn's Ravelry page)
• a 3mm circular knitting needle - with the cord long enough for Magic loop technique
• a third knitting needle for the 3-needle BO
• a crochet hook to help when picking up stitches from the gap
• 1 removable stitch marker - to mark the outside
• 2 stitch markers
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Techniques

• Judy's Magic Cast-On is a technique that gives you live stitches on both sides of your needle - it is generally used for toe-up socks (e.g. in this pattern), but it can be used for other purposes as well. Here's a written description (from Knitty) and here's a YouTube-video by Cat Bordhi and another YouTube-video by Very Pink Knits.
• Short rows with wrap and turn (w+t) - as shown in this YouTube video by Very Pink Knits.
• Three-Needle Bind-Off: https://youtu.be/Ph93jWSzTa0 - in this pattern the abbreviation 3NBO for this
• Figure-8 Cast-On: a technique to get a CO on two needles when you only have one string to work with. It's not as neat the the magic CO, but it was the best that I could find that works in the middle of a row. See this YouTube video by PostStitch. As opposed to the video, when knitting the stitches first, I made sure to have twisted stitches on both sides. I found that it made the new CO less visible - in the pattern the abbreviation f8CO will be used for this.
• 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). 

Size and Gauge  
The gloves that I knitted measured: 22 cm in length (from top of middle finger to wrist), 17 cm in circumference at the wrist, 6 cm circumference at the fingers (except pinkie, where it is 5 cm)
I'd say that this is a ladies medium size.
After blocking, I had the following gauge: 23 sts = 10 cm in width, 12 ridges (24 rows) = 5 cm in height.


Some Ideas for Adapting to Other Sizes
For longer mitts, cast on more stitches, with my gauge about 2 stitches per centimeter. If you want your mitts a bit wider at the wrists, substitute some of the short rows (when knitting the thumb) for full length rows.
I'd advise you to try the gloves on while you're knitting them. If for example your fingers are more slender than mine, you could knit ridge 4 of ring, middle and index finger without the short rows, i.e. only knit them "k all" back and forth.


Construction
Back and forth, knitted flat in a U-shape from your wrist over the tops of your fingers and back.
You will be knitting similar to a magic loop method, except that at one end, you turn around and switch from knitting on the outside of your piece to the inside.
You start with a magic CO at the pinkie edge of the hand, then you knit back and forth (over the top of the pinkie) in a U-shape and finish this finger by a short 3 needle bind off at the top.
The ring finger is then started by a new cast on using the figure-8 CO - and ended with another 3-needle bind-off. Some shaping of the hand is done by short rows.
The same (figure 8 CO and 3 needle BO) is done for middle finger and index finger - however, the bind off at the index finger is a bit longer.
You will notice that the cast on of one finger is not always the same length than its (later) bind off - this is done on purpose to fit the shape of my hands.
The thumb also starts with a figure-8-CO, but it is done almost entirely in short rows to achieve the right shape.
Finally the the glove is finished with a 3-needle bind-off



Instructions

The row numbers contain the name of the finger (eg. Rp = row for pinkie) and start again after each finger.


Pinkie

Do a magic CO of 2x50, i.e. you have 50 stitches on both needles (see picture 1)
Turn back to front and upside down - so that you look at the garter ridge - twist working yarn and tail to secure the last stitch (see picture 2).

Rp1a (outside, OS): ktbl to 50 (now you have to change needles - the point where you have to change needles will be called "half" from now on and marked with a slash ("/")) / k to end
Rp1b (inside, IS): k15, place marker, k to 1 bef half, kfb / kfb, k to 15 bef end, place marker k to end
Mark the outside with a removable stitch marker.

Pictures 1 to 3

Rp2a (OS): k all
Rp2b (IS): k all

Rp3a: (OS) k to 6 bef half, w+t,
    (IS) k to m, w+t,
    (OS) k to half / k to m, w+t,
    (IS) k to 6 bef half, w+t,
    (OS) k to end
Rp3b (IS): k all
Now your piece should look similar to picture 3.

Rp4a (OS): k to 2 bef half, ssk / ssk, k to end
Rp4b (IS): k to half / hold outsides together and do a 3NBO of 12 stitches (see picture 4), put the remaining stitch on the front needle (see picture 5), and turn back right sides out, slip the first stitch (ie. left over from the 3NBO), make sure to draw this stitch tight (see picture 6), k to end

Pictures 4 to 6

Ring Finger

Rr1a (OS): k to half / you now have 1 st more on the front side than on the back side (the left-over stitch of the 3NBO, plus there is quite a gap to the next stitch (see picture 7), pickup 1 st (see picture 8), k to end
Rr1b (IS): k to half, do a f8CO of 2x16 stitches (i.e there are 16 stitches on each needle, see picture 9) / k16,  k to end
I made sure that my newly CO stitches were really tight. Plus, when knitting the stitches of the f8CO, I knitted them in a way that they were twisted after knitting - as you can see on picture 10, they lie on the needle so that I had to knit them through the front loop (as in a normal knit stitch to achieve that.

Pictures 7 to 9

Pictures 10 and 11

Rr2a (OS): k to half / ktbl16, pick up 1 (see picture 12 to 14), k to end
As you can see on picture 12 there is quite a big gap between the stitches of the f8CO and the following stitches. I picked up one by inserting a crochet hook into the bar below the bar below the bar below (picture 13) and draw the loop through - then I'd put that loop on th left hand needle (see picture 14) and knit this - so I had picked up a stitch two rows below :)
Rr2b (IS): k to 18 bef half, ssk, k to 1 bef half, kfb / kfb, k to end

Pictures 12 to 14

Rr3a (OS): k to 6 bef half, w+t,
    (IS) k to m, w+t
    (OS) k to half / k to m, w+t,
    (IS) k to 6 bef half, w+t,
    (OS) k to end
Rr3b (IS): k all

Rr4a (OS): k to half / k to m, w+t,
    (IS) k to half, k to m, w+t,
    (OS) k to end
Rr4b (IS): k to 2 bef half, ssk / ssk, k to end

Rr5a (OS): k all
Rp5b (IS): k to half / hold outsides together and do a 3NBO of 15 stitches, put the remaining stitch on the front needle, and turn back right sides out, slip the first stitch (ie. left over from the 3NBO), make sure to draw this stitch tight, k to end - this is done in the same way than the last row of the pinkie.


Middle Finger

Rm1a (OS): k to half / you now have 1 st more on the front side than on the back side (the left-over stitch of the 3NBO, plus there is quite a gap to the next stitch, pickup 1 st, k to end
Rm1b (IS): k to half, f8CO2x16 / k16,  k to end

Rm2a (OS): k to half / ktbl16, pick up 1, k to end
Rm2b (IS): k to 18 bef half, ssk, k to 1 bef half, kfb / kfb, k to end

Rm3a (OS): k to 6 bef half, w+t,
    (IS) k to m, w+t
    (OS) k to half / k to m, w+t,
    (IS) k to 6 bef half, w+t,
    (OS) k to end
Rm3b (IS): k all

Rm4a (OS): k to half / k to m, w+t,
    (IS) k to half, k to m, w+t,
    (OS) k to end
Rm4b (IS): k to 2 bef half, ssk / ssk, k to end

Rm5a (OS): k all
Rm5b (IS): k to half / hold outsides together and do a 3NBO of 16 stitches, put the remaining stitch on the front needle, and turn back right sides out, slip the first stitch (ie. left over from the 3NBO), make sure to draw this stitch tight, k to end

Index Finger

Ri1a (OS): k to half / you now have 1 st more on the front side than on the back side (the left-over stitch of the 3NBO, plus there is quite a gap to the next stitch, pickup 1 st, k to end
Ri1b (IS): k to half, f8CO2x16 / k16,  k to end

Ri2a (OS): k to half / ktbl16, pick up 1, k to end
Ri2b (IS): k to 18 bef half, ssk, k to 1 bef half, kfb / kfb, k to end

Ri3a (OS): k to 6 bef half, w+t,
    (IS) k to m, w+t,
    (OS) k to half / k to m, w+t,
    (IS) k to 6 bef half, w+t,
    (OS) k to end
Ri3b (IS): k all

Ri4a (OS): k to half / k to m, w+t,
    (IS) k to half, k to m, w+t,
    (OS) k to end
Ri4b (IS): k to 2 bef half, ssk / ssk, k to end

Ri5a (OS): k all
Ri5b (IS): k to half / hold outsides together and do a 3NBO of 27 stitches, put the remaining stitch on the front needle, and turn back right sides out, slip the first stitch (ie. left over from the 3NBO), make sure to draw this stitch tight, k to end


Thumb

Rt1a (OS): k to half / you now have 1 st more on the front side than on the back side (the left-over stitch of the 3NBO, plus there is quite a gap to the next stitch, pickup 1 st, k to end
Rt1b: (IS) k to half, f8CO2x13 / k13,  k7, w+t,
    (OS): k to half / ktbl13, pickup 1, k7, w+t,
    (IS): k6, ssk, k to 1 bef half, kfb / kfb, k22, w+t,
    (OS): k to half / k24, w+t
    (IS): k to half / k27, w+t
    (OS): k to half / k27, w+t
    (IS): k to half / k29, w+t
    (OS): k to 2 bef half, ssk / ssk, k27, w+t
    (IS): k to half / k18, w+t
    (OS): k to half / k18, w+t
    (IS): k to 1 bef half, ssk / ssk, k to end

Rt2a: k all
Rt2b: k all

Put the outsides together and do a 3NBO of all stitches.
Turn the glove right sides out. Finished :)

Weave in ends.
Make two.