U-Turn Mitts

Show off your self-striping yarn with these fingerless gloves. Due to their non-standard construction no yarn cutting is involved, i.e. the mitts are knitted in one part and you only have to weave in two ends per mitt :) They have a garter stitch “ribbing” on both ends (fingers and wrists). Except for the thumb (knitted right in the end) the mitts are knitted flat.

They are called U-Turn mitts not only because they form an inverted U, but also since they are constructed by actually knitting a U-Turn :)

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



Attention: The pattern is written in a way that it can easily be adapted to other sizes or to other yarn weights. I.e. it sometimes states to continue until “X is wide enough to fit around Y”. If you don’t like these kinds of instructions, you probably won’t like the pattern. However, I will try to give some examples, these are printed in purple.

Because I'm better at designing patterns than at naming them, I asked my fellow users on knittingparadise.com for a good name ... the ideas were great: Rainbow, Riesenrad (Ferris Wheel), Aurora Borealis, Aura, Horseshoe Over the Rainbow, Rainbow Bridge, Follow your dreams, Arches, Geode ... but to name a few ... in the end, I opted for "U-Turn" because it has a technical feel to it, which suits me best.

Eine deutsche Version dieser Anleitung wurde von stebo79 (Ravelry-Name) geschrieben und findet sich hier auf Ravelry. Danke!
A German version of this pattern was written by fellow Raveler stebo79 and can be found here on Ravelry. Thanks!

Перевод описания на русский язык выполнен horoshogromko, его можно скачать здесь.
A Russian version was written by horoshogromko (Ravelry name) and is available here on her blog. спасибо!


I've also written a crochet version of these mitts - available in this blogpost.

Techniques and Abbreviations

• Judy’s Magic Cast-On is a technique that gives you live stitches on both sides of your needles – it is used for toe-up socks, but can be used for other purposes as well. Here's a written description (from Knitty) and here a YouTube-video. 
• Magic Loop Method - as shown in this YouTube video. I strongly advise to keep the stitches as they are on the needles and not to move stitches from one needle to another (up until the end of part 2 of the pattern).
• Knitting a flat circle: The technique for knitting a flat circle has been described a few times on this blog, e.g. in the "Zoom Out Mitts"-Post. Basically it consists of doing 8 increases (evenly spaced out in one round) every other row, and varying the starting point for the first increase to avoid an octagon pattern. 
  In this pattern only a half-circle is knitted. This means that there will be only 4 increases on every RS row - and they will be started at a random stitch within the first quarter of the half circle. 
• German Short Rows (or t+p, turn and pull): when you turn, bring yarn to the front and pull it back so that a sort of "double-stitch" is created, then knit back as usual - when you have to knit the double-stitch, make sure to knit it as one stitch (see also this YouTube video); this method has the advantage the no picking up of stitches is necessary. In the pattern, this stitch will be called t+p (turn and pull).
• Three-Needle Bind-Off: http://youtu.be/wpJUrCX52DU  
• Knitted Cast-On: http://youtu.be/-nJKC2xT0Q4 
• 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). In my experience (or the way I knit :) it's even better to pick up two stitches and knit decreases over them in the following two rows.
• pm: place marker
• sm: slip marker

Materials

• about 35 grams of fingering weight yarn
• 3mm circular needles – mine are 80 cm long (you can use them for the whole project if you can do the magic ring method for the thumb part – for small in-the-round parts I prefer dpns, that’s why I did the thumb with 3mm dpns)
• at least one more 3mm needle (for the three-needle-BO)
• 4 stitch markers
• a darning needle (to weave in ends)

Gauge or what to measure beforehand:
Measure the circumference of your wrists

General Construction

The picture on the right gives a general overview of the construction.

• Part 1: Knitted back and forth, it starts with a magic cast-on, i.e. a cast-on on both edges. On the lower edge a 10 stitch wide garter stitch "ribbing" is knitted, the rest is plain stockinette stitch, with (half-)circle increases that are knitted on the RS. This part ends with the 1st three-needle bind-off.
• Part 2: Knitted back and forth below the thumb and up to the upper edge which consists of a 10 stitch wide garter stitch "ribbing" (to match the lower edge). This part ends with the 2nd three needle bind-off above the thumb. 
• Part 3: Thumb – knitted in the round and ending with a p1k1-ribbing.

Instructions

Part 1:
With Judy’s Magic CO cast on 22 sts on each needle (see picture No. 1)
Turn work, so that you can see the “purl”-side, pull the lower needle through and start knitting

Row 1 (WS): k10 pm p10 pm p2 (here you have to turn your work 180 degrees and pull the other needle, this U-turn is always done at the point where you switch from one side onf the needle to the other - it will at a later point be referred to as "U-turn point") p2 pm p10 pm k10

Even numbered row (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, [within the space between the two markers do 4 increases - evenly spaced out and started at a random point], sm, k10 sm, k10
Odd-numbered row (WS): sl1 k9 sm, p to last (i.e. 4th) marker, k10
Repeat these rows until the lower edge fits around your wrists.
End with a RS row.

If you're uncomfortable with instructions as above, here's an example of the first 26 rows spelled out:
Row 2 (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, (kfb) 4 times, sm, k10 sm, k10
Row 3 and all odd-numbered rows in this part (WS): sl1 k9 sm, p to last (i.e. 4th) marker, k10
Row 4 (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, (k1 kfb) 4 times, sm, k10 sm, k10
Row 6 (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, (kfb, k2) 4 times, sm, k10 sm, k10
Row 8 (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, (k1 kfb k2) 4 times, sm, k10 sm, k10
Row 10 (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, (k3 kfb k1) 4 times, sm, k10 sm, k10
Row 12 (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, (k5 kfb) 4 times, sm, k10 sm, k10
Row 14 (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, (k1 kfb k5) 4 times, sm, k10 sm, k10
Row 16 (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, (k4 kfb k3) 4 times, sm, k10 sm, k10 (by now your piece should start to look similar to picture No. 2)
Row 18 (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, (k7 kfb k1) 4 times, sm, k10 sm, k10
Row 20 (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, (k3 kfb k6) 4 times, sm, k10 sm, k10
Row 22 (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, (kfb k10) 4 times, sm, k10 sm, k10
Row 24 (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, (k5 kfb k6) 4 times, sm, k10 sm, k10
Row 26 (RS): sl1 k9 sm, k10 sm, (k12 kfb) 4 times, sm, k10 sm, k10

...

Fold your piece so that the WS is visible (see picture No. 3) and bind off 22 stitches with a three needle BO, i.e. exactly up to the stitch behind the 2nd marker. Put the last stitch on back needle and turn inside out.

Part 2:
First you're going to knit back and forth in very short rows to create a little knitted triangle above the three-needle BO.

Row 1: sl1 (this is the stitch that is left from the three-needle BO), pick up 2 stitches from gap, k3, t+p, p1. p2tog, p2, pick up 2 stitches from gap, p2, t+p, k1, ssk (you should be back at the stitch where you started this row)
Row 2: k2tog, k6, t+p, p6, p2tog, p6, t+p, k6  (you should be back at the stitch where you started this row)
Row 3: k10, t+p, p7, p2tog, p2tog, p7, w+t, k7  (you should be back at the stitch where you started this row)
Row 4 (RS): k to U-turn point, CO10 with knitted CO (see picture No. 4)
Row 5: (WS) k9, k2tog, p2. t+p, (RS) k to end, turn
    (WS) sl1, k8, k2tog, p2,  t+p, (RS) k to end, turn
    (WS) sl1, k8, k2tog, p to U-turn point (from the other side, see picture No. 5), pick up 2 stitches from gap and pick up and knit 10 stitches from the lower edge of the CO of the previous row
Row 6: (RS) sl1, k8, k2tog, k2tog, k2, t+p, (WS) p2, k10, turn
    (RS) sl1, k8, k2tog, k2tog, k2, t+p, (WS) p2, k10, turn
    (RS), sl1, k8, k2tog, k to end
Row 7: (WS) sl1, k8, k2tog, p2, (RS) k to end, turn
    (WS) sl1, k8, k2tog, p2,  t+p, (RS) k to end, turn
    (WS) sl1, k8, k2tog, p to last 10 sts while randomly decreasing one stitch on each needle during the stockinette part), k the last 10 stitches
e.g. (WS) sl1, k2tog, p2, (RS) k to end, turn
    (WS) sl1, k8, k2tog, p2,  t+p, (RS) k to end, turn
    (WS) sl1, k8, k2tog, p6, p2tog, p to 18 sts before end, p2tog, p to last 10 sts, k to end

Your piece should now look similar to the one in picture No. 6

Repeat rows 6 and 7 until there are 19 or 20 stitches on each of your needles. Make sure to end with row 7

Now try the mitt on to see whether the upper edge (garter stitch fits around your fingers). You can now widen this edge with a few more (10 stitch wide) garter stitch rows.

With a new needle
Row A: sl1 k9 and turn (do NOT wrap the next stitch or use any other connection method for short rows - just turn
Row B: sl1 k9

Repeat these two rows until the upper garter stitch edge fits around your fingers.
When it's wide enough fold both needles back, so that the WS is visible (see picture No. 7) and do a three-needle BO of 9 stitches.  (It's easier if you put the 10 upper stitches from the other side also one another new needle.) There will be one stitch left - draw this out a bit, so that you won't lose it when you turn the upper edge back.

Part 3:
Catch the stitch that's been left over from the three-needle BO with a new needle and draw tight. Now it should look like picture No. 8.

Pick up and knit stitches from the edge of the garter stitch edging (about as many as the garter stitch ridges you knitted with rows A & B), then pick up 2 sts from the gap.
Knit around to the next gap, and pick up 2 stitches there.

Knit the next rounds in stockinette always decreasing over the gaps (see picture No. 9) until there are 18 stitches on your needles. Then continue in stockinette stitch until you have knitted a total of 8 rounds from the start of the thumb (part 3).

Knit 6 rounds of p1-k1-ribbing, then bind off in pattern.

Weave in ends.

Make two.