Mixed Wave Mitts

Knit yourself an attractive accessory to keep your hands warm this winter. The Mixed Wave Mitts have an intriguing graphical design - while knitted all in garter stitch.

These fingerless gloves have the same basic construction as the Short Wave Mitts that I published a while ago, i.e. a shaped thumb part that is knitted first, followed by a rectanguar main part build from short row sections interspersed with garter stitch rows of a different colour.

I wondered what it would look like, if the short row sections (that added up so nicely to a rectangle) were knitted in a different order – I thought that it might make the mitts more „organic“ … and it worked.

Dansk / Danish: This pattern is also available in Danish (translation by Marianne Holmen) at strikkeglad.dk or as a PDF. Thanks! Mange tak!






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



General Idea

The pattern for Short Wave Mitts  depends on stacking sections of short rows in a very strict (nearly mathematical) order – B5 , B4, B3, B2, B1, F1, F2, F3, F4, F5 – as shown in the drawing.
Here, the sections called B1-B5 are backwards leaning sections and F1-F5 are forwards leaning ones.

Together with two full length garter stitch rows of a different colour the end result will look like this – i.e. a rectangular piece of knitting or the Short Wave Mitts (published a while ago).

However, when changing the order of the sections in a different order they should still add up to a rectangular shape.

So, how does it look if the sections are knitted in a different order,
e.g. B1, F5, B2, F4, B3, F3, B4, F2, B5, F1

 or B4, F1, B2, F4, B5 F3, B1, F5, B3, F2.

Materials

~20 grams of fingering weight yarn in main colour (MC)
~10 grams of  fingering weight yarn in contrast colour 1 (CC1)
~10 grams of fingering weight yarn in contrast colour 2 (CC2)
scrap yarn or stitch holder
4 dpns 3mm
2 dpns 2.5mm
tapestry needle


Non-Standard Abbreviations
Basically, the abbreviations used here are standard knitting abbreviation, e.g. as used by knitty or other magazines (here's a link to their abbreviation list) - except the following:

• w+t: wrap and turn - a method to short rows - see this YouTube video for reference.

Instructions

Part 1 - Thumb Panel

With 3 mm needles CO9 in MC
Row 1 (normal row): sl1 (purlwise) knit to end
Knit row 1 a total of 34 times
Row 35 (increase row): sl1 (purlwise) kfb knit to the last two stitches kfb k
Rows 36 - 44  = Row 1
Row 45 = Row 35 (increase row)
Rows 46 – 54 = Row 1
Rows 55 = Row 35 (increase row)
Rows 56 – Row 61 = Row 1 (you have now 15 sts on your needle)
Row 62: sl1 (purlwise) k5 pm k3 pm k6
Row 63: sl1 k to marker, kfb, k to one sts before marker, kfb, k to end (thumb increase row)
Rows 64 + 65 = Row 1
Row 66 = Row 63 (thumb increase row)
Rows 67 + 68 = Row 1
Row 69 = Row 63 (thumb increase row)
Rows 70 + 71 = Row 1
Row 72 = Row 63 (thumb increase row)
Rows 73 + 74 = Row 1
Row 75 = Row 63 (thumb increase row)
Rows 76 + 77 = Row 1
Row 78 = Row 63 (thumb increase row)
Rows 79 + 80 = Row 1
Row 81 = Row 63 (thumb increase row)
Row 82 = Row 1
Row 83:  sl1 (purlwise) k to marker, put sts between markers on scrap yarn, remove markers, CO2 (using backward loop CO) and k to end (you have now 14 sts on your needle)
Row 84 – 88 = Row 1
Row 89: sl1 k2tog, k to the last 3 sts, ssk, k  (decrease row)
Rows 90 – 94 = Row 1
Row 95: sl1 k2tog, k to the last 3 sts, ssk, k  (decrease row)
Row 96 – 99 = Row 1
Bind off all stitches in Row 100 EXCEPT THE LAST STITCH. DO NOT CUT YARN.
Switch to 2.5mm needles.

Part 2 - The Short Row Part

Pick up 49 stitches from the right hand side of the mitt by inserting your needle into the front part of the slipped stitch of each row from back to front without using your working yarn.

With MC knit one row (i.e. k5 pm (called m1) k10 pm (called m2) k10 pm (called m3) k10 pm (called m4) k10 pm (called p5) k to end)
Change to CC1: Select a backwards leaning section and knit it (see „The F- and B-sections“ below)
With MC: knit two rows
With CC2: Select a forwards leaning section and knit it (see „The F and B-sections“ below)
With MC: knit two rows (exception: after the last F-section, knit only one row)
Repeat this until you have done all B-sections and all F-sections
– each section should be knitted once! 

The orders I used were B4, F1, B2, F4, B5 F3, B1, F5, B3, F2 (in the blue & grey mitts on top of the title page) and B1, F5, B2, F4, B3, F3, B4, F2, B5, F1 (in the orange & pink mitts shown here).

If you want the mitts to be symmetrical, knit the sections of the second mitt in the reverse order.

Pick up 50 stitches from the other side of the thumb part inserting your needle into the front part of the slipped stitch of each row without using new yarn.

Turn work to right side and start grafting the ends together: Cut the yarn but leave a long enough tail and put the yarn on a tapestry needle.

Set-up stitch:

• front needle: insert purlwise and leave stitch on needle;
• back needle: insert purlwise and leave stitch on needle;

Repeat until you have no stitches left on your needles:

• front needle: insert knitwise needle into first and slide from needles (knit slip), insert needle purlwise into next stitch and leave on needle (purl leave)
• back needle: insert knitwise needle into first and slide from needles (knit slip), insert needle purlwise into next stitch and leave on needle (purl leave)

Thumbs

Put the 17 thumb stitches on two 3mm needles and pick up 5 sts from above thumb gusset without using new yarn.
Row 1 (MC): k till last sts, p2tog
Row 2 (MC): p15 p2tog p4
Row 3 + 5 (MC): k
Row 4 + 6 (MC): p
Row 7 (MC): bind off in knit stitch




The F- and B-Sections

B1

• (RS) k to end
• (WS) k to end
• (RS) k to marker 2 w+t (= wrap and turn)
• (WS) k to end
• (RS) * k to 2 stitches from gap w+t
• (WS) k to end – repeat from * a total of 5 times

B2, B3 and B4 (for B2 X is 2, for B3 X is 3 and for B4 X is 4)

• (RS) k to end
• (WS) k to marker X w+t
• (RS) k8 w+t
• (WS) * k10 w+t
• (RS) k8 w+t – repeat from* for a total of 5 times (WS) k to end

B5

• (RS) k to end
• (WS) k to m5 w+t
• (RS) k to end
• (WS) * k to gap k2 w+t
• (RS) k to end – repeat from * a total of 5 times
• (WS) k to end

F1

• (RS) k to marker 1 w+t
• (WS) k to end
• (RS) * k to gap k2 w+t
• (WS) k to end – repeat from * a total of 5 times
• (RS) k to end
• (WS) k to end

F2, F3 and F4 (for F2 X is 2, for F3 X is 3 and for F4 X is 4)

• (RS) k to marker X w+t
• (WS) * k8 w+t
• (RS) k10 w+t – repeat from * a total of 5 times
• (WS) k8 w+t
• (RS) k to end
• (WS) k to end

F5

• (RS) k to end
• (WS) k to marker 4 w+t
• (RS) * k to end
• (WS) k to two stitches before gap w+t – repeat from * a total of 5 times
• (RS) k to end
• (WS) k to end

Notes and Illustrations on Short Wave Mitts

Since some people had problems regarding different parts of the pattern, the following explanations & illustrations can hopefully clear up some of these.

How to pick up stitches from the thumb part

How to graft/do the kitchener stitch

Cut the yarn but leave a long enough tail (I usually take about 5 to 6 times the length of the seam). Put the yarn on a tapestry needle.
For setting up insert tapestry needle purlwise into the first stitch - first on the front needle, then on the back needle.
* Now insert the needle knitwise into the first stitch on the front needle and slip the stitch, then insert it purlwise in the next stitch but leave that on the needle. Do the same on the back needle - then repeat from * until there are no more stitches on your needles.

If my explanation is too wordy, I found a video that shows it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAEIogIli6o


On the stacking of garter stitch ridges - or where to start wrapping and turning
During the first half of the pattern the slope of the MC row goes downwards - that's why I call the CC sections "downwards sections" - the ones in the second half are therefore called "upwards sections".
Each section lies between two markers: left and right. For the downwards sections, the first w+t is at the beginning (right) marker - because you start on your way back (WS). For the upwards sections, the first w+t is on left marker (RS). That means that during the downwards sections you knit the first row till the end and start the “short row movements” in the second row, whereas in the upwards section you first do the short rows and only afterwards complete the CC row.
In the following sketch the blue line is the direction of the CC knitting of the first upwards section and the fifth (last) downwards section.

Is it possible, to do it differently and start the upwards section at the right marker - then the stacks of garter ridges should look like this. The difference in the completed mitt should be minimal - the shaping of the section and the lines made by the MC would be the same, only the stacks of garter stitch rows will look differently.