Pieces of Eight Mitts in Crochet

I never thought that it'd be fun to "rewrite" some of my knitting patterns to a crochet version - but it was. After publishing a crochet version for my Circle Mitts - called Kreisel Fingerless Gloves, I thought I might as well try the same thing with my Pieces of Eight Mitts. It worked better than I had thought and I really like the colors.

EDIT: The Pattern called Octavo Fingerless Gloves is now available here.

Kreisel Fingerless Gloves

Keep your hands warm this winter with these stylish and unique fingerless gloves. They are crocheted around the thumb which allows you to show off your variegated yarn to the best effect.

These mitts are the crochet version of my knitted Circle Mitts.
Kreisel is the german word for (spinning) top.





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






Materials

• about 40 to 45 grams of fingering weight yarn
• 3mm crochet hook
• 4 removable stitch marker (e.g. safety pins)
• tapestry needle to weave in ends

Stitches and Abbreviations

• ch: chain 
• sc: single crochet
• sctbl: single crochet through back loop: http://crochet.about.com/od/crochetterms/tp/back-loops-only-or-blo.htm
• sl st: slip stitch: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-crochet-the-slip-stitch.html
• inc: increase by working 2 single crochet stitches into 1 sc below (in case of this pattern, it's 2 sctbl into the sctbl below): http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-increase-with-single-crochet.html
• dec or sctog: decrease by working 2 single crochet stitches together: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-decrease-single-crochet.html 
• join: joining pieces with crochet: in order to join to pieces (or, in case of this pattern, the two sides of one piece) hold the pieces together with wrong sides facing and insert the crochet hook into both pieces at the same time, a foto tutorial can be found here (scroll down to “Joining with Crochet” http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter08/FEATwin08TT.php)
• [y]*x: work the sequence y (within the brackets) x times.
• crochet short rows (as done in this pattern (*)): work sc's (or sctbl's) up to the stitch indicated, then turn work (without a turning-chain) and start into the 2nd sc; when you're working over this turn in a following row, always crochet into the turning-sc as well.
  (*) there may be different methods out there, feel free to try them.

General Construction

When crocheting in the round, the structure of the finished piece looks different than when crocheting back and forth. Since in the original (knitted) Circle Mitts are knitted in the round (parts 1 and 2), back and forth (part 3) and then in the round again (part 4), I needed to change the pattern in a way that a change like that wouldn't occur - at least for parts 2 to 4.

Therefore, these mitts are constructed as follows: it starts with the thumb (part 1) which is finished by connecting the edges and creating a small tube (the thumb). Part 2 starts with crocheting around one edge of this tube and increases in circles. However after each "round" direction is changed (i.e. the round closed by a slip stitch and the piece is turned).


How to Crochet a Flat Circle
Start with a ring of 5 chains or a magic ring. Into this ring do a set-up row consisting 8 single crochets, close round with slip stitch.
In all following rounds, the stitch count should be increased by 8, i.e. in the first round every stitch, the 2nd row increase every 2nd stitch, in the 3rd row every 3rd, in the 4th row every 4th and so on ...
To avoid an octagon pattern, the increases should be made at different points, so the first rows may be
Round 0: sc to end, sl st into first sc, ch1 (-> 8 stitches)
Round 1: inc into every st, sl st into first sc, ch1 (every stitch was increase, now there are 16 stitches)
Round 2: [sc, inc] repeat to end, sl st into first sc, ch1 (every 2nd stitch was increased, now there are 24 stitches)
Round 3: [inc, sc 2] repeat to end, sl st into first sc, ch1 (every 3rd stitch was increased, now there are 32 stitches)
Round 4: [sc2, inc, sc1] repeat to end, sl st into first sc, ch1 (every 4th stitch was increased, now there are 40 stitches)
Round 5: [sc4, inc] repeat to end, sl st into first sc, ch1 (every 5th stitch was increased, now there are 48 stitches)
Round 6: [sc2, inc, sc3] repeat to end, sl st into first sc, ch1 (every 6th stitch was increase, now there are 56 stitches)
For this pattern the above recipe will be applied.

Gauge or What to Measure
If you're knitting for your own hands, you just have to try it on a few times before finishing. If you're knitting for somebody else, you'll need the following measurements:

• thumb circumference, 
• hand circumference at wrist height
• hand circumference at base of thumb
• hand circumference at knuckle height

As with many of my patterns, it is written in a way that you can adjust it to your hand size. If you're uncomfortable with instructions like that, the pattern might not be for you.

Instructions

Part 1 (Thumb)
Row 0: ch 10 and 1 turning-chain
Row 1: sc 10; 1 turning-chain
Row 2: sctbl 10; 1 turning-chain
Row 3: sctbl 8, dec; 1 turning-chain
Row 4: sctbl 9; 1 turning-chain
Row 5: sctbl 7, dec; 1 turning-chain
Row 6: sctbl 8; 1 turning-chain
Row 7: sctbl 6, dec; 1 turning-chain

(Your piece should now be as high as half of your thumb circumference. If it's too small for that you can add an even number of "sctbl all, 1 turning-chain"-rounds.)

Row 8: sctbl 7; 1 turning-chain
Row 9: sctbl 6, inc; 1 turning-chain
Row 10: sctbl 8; 1 turning-chain
Row 11: sctbl 7, inc; 1 turning-chain
Row 12: stbl 9; 1 turning-chain
Row 13: sctbl 8, inc; 1 turning-chain
Row 14: sctbl 10; 1 turning-chain

Now your piece should look like in picture 1.

Fold the edges together (chain edge and your last row) and connect.

Part 2:
Setup Round: Chain 1, and stitch about 20 sc's into the rim of the thumb in the round (while you're doing this you're looking to the inside of the thumb), after about 20 stitches you should be back at the beginning. close with a slip stitch. Chain 1 and turn.

For the next rounds, do the circle crochet recipe from above, but crochet sctbl stitches. Don't forget to change crochet direction (ie. turn) after every round.
If you had to crochet a few rounds more during part 1, there may be more stitches. If you have between less than or excatly 24 stitches in the round, you the next round should be increasing every 3rd stitch. If you made the thumb bigger and have more than 25 stitches start with increasing every 4th stitch. After a few rounds your piece should look as like picture 2.

Continue until the distance between the thumb and the upper edge is high enough for you. Make sure to end on an outside row.
For me this was the case after 13 rows.

To get you started here are the first few rounds spelled out
Round 1 (outside, ie. while crocheting you're looking at the outside of your piece): [sctbl 2, inc] repeat to end (or until there are less than 3 stitches, sctbl to end), chain 1 and turn (i.e. increase every 3rd stitch)
Round 2 (inside, ie. while crocheting you're looking at the intside of your piece):[sctbl, inc, sctbl 2] repeat to end (or until there are less than 4 stitches, sctbl to end), chain 1 and turn (i.e. increase every 4th stitch)
Round 3 (outside): [sctbl 4, inc] repeat to end (or until there are less than 5 stitches, sctbl to end), chain 1 and turn (i.e. increase every 5th stitch)
Round 4 (inside): [sctbl 2, inc, sctbl 3] repeat to end (or until there are less than 6 stitches, sctbl to end), chain 1 and turn (i.e. increase every 6th stitch)
Round 5 (outside): [sctbl 5, inc, sctbl 1] repeat to end (or until there are less than 7 stitches, sctbl to end), chain 1 and turn (i.e. increase every 7th stitch)
Round 6 (intside): [sctbl 2, inc, sctbl 5] repeat to end (or until there are less than 8 stitches, sctbl to end), chain 1 and turn (i.e. increase every 8th stitch)
... and so on ...

When the distance between the thumb and the upper edge is high enough, move to part 3.

Don't do a chain and don't turn after the last round.

Part 3:
Count your stitches, place stitchmarkers at the beginning of the round, the middle of the round, and around 5 stitches before the middle marker and 5 stitches after the mittle marker. These last two markers mark the ends of the rows in part 3.

Don't turn but go on crocheting in the same direction, but now with slip stitches into the back loop until you have reached the marker that is placed 5 stitches before the middle marker.
The point of these slip stitches and the subsequent stitches into the stitch below, is to get an even texture on the outside - the slip stitches will be hidden behind the next row.
Your piece should now look as in picture 3.

Chain 1 and turn.
Row 1: dec, then sctbl into the stitch below and continue the circle increases (e.g. if you increased every 15th stitch in the last round of part 2, in this row you have to increase every 16th stitch) - for the first half (until the "beginning marker") stitch into the stitch below the slip stitches you just did; for the second half do normal sctbl's - until you are two stitches away from the other marker that is placed 5 stitches away from the middle marker, dec, chain 1 and turn
Row 2: dec, sctbl 9, turn, sctbl to last 2 stitches, dec; chain 1 and turn;  dec, sctbl to last 2 stitches (while doing the circle increases) to the last 2 stitches, dec - this row with a short row is needed to widen the upper edge - your piece should now look similar to picture 4.
Row 3 = Row 2
Row 4: dec, sctbl (with circle increases) to last 2 stitches, dec

Repeat Row 4 until the the piece fits around your hand (or until the upper edge equals the hand circumference at the knuckles and the widest part equals the hand circumference at the base of the thumb) - see picture 5. If you want to widen the upper edge more, you can do one or more repeats of row 2 (i.e. using short rows).

Part 4:
After you have finished, count your stitches again. Devide the number of stitches by 4 and add 2 or 3. This is the number of stitches that you're going to connect to the other side of the mitt.
I had 99 stitches - devided by 4 makes a bit less than 25, plus 2 makes 27.

Hold the right sides of the mitt together and connect the number of stitches that you just calculated.
Your piece should now look like in picture 6.
Turn the mitt back right sides out (be sure to secure your last loop while you're doing this) and put a stitch marker in the current stitch.
(You can remove all other stitch markers at this point).

For an even texture you need again to hide the next few slip stitches before continuing.
If the last row you knitted in part 3 was an even numbered-row, you need to do slip stitches up the right hand side as seen from the current stitch, if it was an even numbered row, you need need to do the following slip stitches towards the left.

In my case, I had crocheted 7 rows in part 3, so I did my slip stitches up the left side (see picture 7).

Setup Row: sl st 14 on the inside of the mitt, turn

Now you can start to work on the little triangle on top of the joined stitches as follows (see picture 8). These are short rows, so you don't crochet a turning-chain but start with the second stitch.

Row 1: sctbl 11 (into the stitches below the slip stitches you just made), dec, (now you should be back at the marker), dec, sctbl 14, sl st 1, turn
Row 2: sctbl 11, dec (now you should be back at the marker), dec sctbl 8, sl st 1, turn
Row 3: sctbl 5, dec (marker) dec, sctbl 8, sl st, turn
Row 4: sctbl 5, dec (marker) dec, sctbl 2, sl st, turn
Row 5: dec (marker) and close with slip stitch, chain 1

Now do several more rounds of sctbl's until the shaft of the mitt is as long as you want it, i.e.
Round: sctbl to end, sl st into first stitch, chain 1, turn

Make sure to end each round with a slip stitch, chain 1 and turn - to keep up the regular stitch pattern.

Try your mitts on for size (or measure the circumference, it should equal your wrist circumference). If the shaft is too wide you can do some decreasing rounds as well, i.e.
Decreasing round: dec, sctbl to last 2 stitches, dec, sl st into first stitch, chain 1, turn

Weave in ends.
Make two.

This pattern was featured as most clicked at the Hookin on Hump Day Link Party 107. It was also featured in the Stash-buster Link Party on Linda's Crafty Corner in December 2015, on the Crafting Along Link Party #120 at Be a Crafter and at Yarn Fanstastic Party #54 at EyeLoveKnots.

Vermicelli Autumn Wrap

This year I went to some yarn festivals for the first time ever and bought some beautiful hand-painted yarn. However, these yarns are always different, i.e. no two skeins are the same ... and one 100 gram skein is not enough for a nice big scarf that I love to wrap myself into when it's getting colder outside. That's why I got the idea of combining this yarn with a semi-solid yarn. This shows off the colors of the hand-painted or hand-dyed yarn even better.

Wide stripes of garter stitch show off the beautiful features of the hand-painted yarn while a lace pattern makes the most of the (semi-)solid yarn.

It's called Vermicelli because the lace pattern looks a bit like little caterpillars and because the brown color reminded me of one of my favorite autumn desserts - Vermicelles.


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





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Materials

• 3.5 mm needles
• 100 grams of yarn in color 1 (C1), here I used some beautiful hand-dyed yarn (by Wolleverliebt that I bought at Wollefestival).
• 150 grams of yarn in color 2 (C2), here I used some semi-solid Wollmeise Pure Merino that I bought some years ago
• tapestry needle to weave in ends

Construction

The vermicelli wrap forms a rectangle but is knitted diagonally. You start with only a few stitches and increase on both sides (part 1). During the next part the stitch count stays the same but you increase on one side and decrease on the other (part 2). When the scarf is long enough you decrease on both sides and finish (part 3).


Techniques

• If you want to avoid cutting your yarn every time you change color, you'd want to carry the yarn up the side of your work - there are several ways to do this - e.g. as shown in this YouTube video by New Stitch a Day. or as shown in this YouTube video by The Knitting Vortex.

Instructions

Part 1

In color 1
CO4
R1: k all stitches
R2: kfb, k to last stitch, kfb
-> repeat 12 more times (i.e. you have knitted a total of 26 rows with C1 and there are 30 sts on your needles)

Color 2
Setup Row 1: k all stitches
Setup Row 2: kfb, p to last stitch, kfb
-> then knit chart 1 for the next 34 rows (i.e. you have knitted a total of 36 rows with C2 and now there are 66 sts on your needles)

Here's the pattern from chart 1 spelled out:
R1: k1, * k2tog, yo, k1 repeat from * until there is only one stitch left, k1
R2 and all even numbered rows: kfb, p to last stitch, kfb
R3: k2, * yo, k1, k2tog repeat from * until there are only two stitches left, k2
R5: k3, * k1, k2tog, yo repeat from * until there are three stitches left, k3

The pattern is a repeat of six rows - the charts show 12 rows of it to illustrate how to handle the increases or decreases.

Color 1
R1: k all stitches
R2: kfb, k to last stitch, kfb
-> repeat 11 more times (i.e. you have knitted 24 rows with C1 and there are now 90 stitches on your needles)

Color 2
Setup Row 1: k all stitches
Setup Row 2: kfb, p to last stitch, kfb
-> then knit chart 1 for the next 34 rows (i.e. you have knitted a total of 36 rows with C2 and now there are 126 sts on your needles)

Color 1
R1: k all stitches
R2: kfb, k to last stitch, kfb
-> repeat 11 more times (i.e. you have knitted 24 rows with C1 and there are now 150 stitches on your needles)

If you want your wrap to be wider you can repeat the last two stripes again.

Part 2

First stripe of part 2 with color 2
Setup Row 1: k all stitches
Setup Row 2: kfb, p to last stitch, kfb (-> now there are 152 stitches)
-> then knit chart 2 for the next 34 rows (i.e. you have knitted a total of 36 rows with C2, since there is always an decrease at the beginning of an even-numbered row and an increase at the end of it, the stitch count will from now on stay the same during part 2)

Here's the pattern of chart 2 spelled out
R1: k1, * k2tog, yo, k1 repeat from * until there is only one stitch left, k1
R2 and all even numbered rows: ssk, p to last stitch, kfb
R3: k2, * yo, k1, k2tog repeat from * to end
R5: k3, * k1, k2tog, yo repeat from * until there are two stitches left, k2


Color 1
R1: k all stitches
R2: ssk, k to last, kfb
-> repeat 11 more times (i.e. you have knitted 24 rows with C1)

Color 2

Setup Row 1: k all stitches
Setup Row 2: ssk, p to last stitch, kfb
-> then knit chart 2 for the next 34 rows (i.e. you have knitted a total of 36 rows with C2)

Repeat the last two stripes of color 1 and 2 until your wrap has the desired length.

Part 3

Color 1
R1: k all stitches
R2: ssk, k to last, k2tog
-> repeat 11 more times (i.e. you have knitted 24 rows with C1 - there are now 128 sts on your needles, i.e. if you subtract 2 edge stitches there are 126 stitches - a number that's divisible by 3)

Color 2

Setup Row 1: k all stitches
Setup Row 2: ssk, p to last stitch, k2tog
-> then knit chart 3 for the next 34 rows (i.e. you have knitted a total of 36 rows with C2, and there are 92 stitches on your needles)

Here's the pattern of chart 3 spelled out:
R1: k1, * k2tog, yo, k1 repeat from * until there is only one stitch left, k1
R2 and all even numbered rows: ssk, p to last stitch, k2tog
R3: k3, * yo, k1, k2tog repeat from * to end
R5: k2, * k1, k2tog, yo repeat from * until there are two stitches left, k2

Repeat these two stripes (color 1 and color 2) once more - now there are only 32 stitches left.

With color 1 repeat the following rows until there are only 4 stitches left
R1: k all stitches
R2: ssk, k to last, k2tog
Then bind off.

Weave in ends and block.

Studies in Topology 2

Not sure whether this can be used anywhere ... but I wanted to knit entwined rings (just not know if it can be done :)

I'm not quite satisfied with the result and there are a few things to figure out before I can use this idea within a pattern. However, it was fun to knit.

Edgy Fingerless Gloves

These fingerless gloves have a beautiful garter-stitch look that shows off your variegated yarn to the best effect. As with many of my FG designs, these are knitted in one piece each, i.e. there are only two ends to weave in for each gloves. The design also allows you to adapt them in size to make them custom-fit your hands.

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

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Materials

• 25 to 30 grams of fingering weight yarn
• three 3mm needles (I used dpns to start, then switched to circulars), whichever needles or methods (e.g. Magic Loop) you prefer, you need a third needle for the three-needle BO
• 4 stitch markers
• scrap yarn or a long stitch holder
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Techniques

• Three-Needle Bind-Off: The three needle bind-off is used to attach two pieces of knitting (or to ends of one piece of knitting) to one another - this technique is shown in this YouTube Video by planetpurl.
• Short Rows with Wraps and Turns (w+t): In this pattern short rows are used to shape the mitts, e.g. to make it a bit wider at the bottom edge. The pattern is written with "wrap and turn"-short rows (see this YouTube Video by Very Pink Knits).
• Pick up and knit stitches from the edge - as shown in this YouTube-Video by Very Pink Knits

Construction
The basic construction is shown in the picture on the right. The gloves are knitted in three parts. They are started in the round at the thumb (part 1), in part 2 (also knitted in the round, but alternating in knit and purl rows to achieve a garter stitch look) increases are made at the for corners to make the piece rectangular. Once it's high enough the upper and lower edge are cast of and it's knitted flat (part 3) in (real) garter stitch. When wide enough to fit around your hands both sides are connected with a three-needle bind-off.


Gauge and Measurements
In garter stitch 13 rows are 5 cm in height and 11 stitches equal 5 cm in width
The finished gloves (as described below) measure about 20 cm in height and 17 cm in circumference at the top and 18.5 cm at the lower edge. However, the pattern is written in a way that you can adapt it to the size of your hands.


Instructions

Part 1: Thumb - Knitted in the round

CO18 and join in round
Round 1 - Round 10: * p1 k1 p1 repeat from *
Round 11: *p1 k1 p1 mk1 repeat from * (-> 24 sts)
Round 12 – Round 15: *p1 k1 repeat from *
While knitting R15 either distribute the stitches evenly on four needles (6 sts each) or place stitch markers after every 6th stitch -> your piece should now look similar to illustration 1

(When in the following the pattern speaks of „needle 1“ this means the stitches between the beginning-of-round-marker and the next marker, “needle 2” means the space between that marker and the next one … and so on to “needle 4” which means the space between the last marker and the beginning-of-round-marker.)

Part 2: Knitted in the round

Round 1: * kfb, knit up to last st on needle (or to 1 before marker), kfb repeat from *
Round 2: p all stitches
Round 3: needle 1: k to end of needle, turn work (do not wrap and turn),
    sl1, k to last stitch, sl1, turn work (do not wrap and turn)
    k to end of needle, turn work (do not wrap and turn)
    sl1, k to last stitch, sl1, turn work (do not wrap and turn)
    kfb, k to last stitch, kfb – next needle (or slip marker)
    needle 2: pick up three stitches from the side (i.e. from the edge of the rows you just knitted – see picture 3), k up to last stitch, kfb – next needle (or slip marker)
    needle 3: kfb, k to last stitch, kfb - next needle (or slip marker)
    needle 4: kfb, k to end of needle, pick up three stitches from the side (i.e. from the edge of the rows you knitted on needle 1)

On illustration 2, you can see the gap between needle 1 and needle 2 (or needle 1 and needle 4) that shows up after you've knitted needle 1 in a round 3. That's why you do not only have to increase one stitch at the corner, but also two more stitches (ie. a total of three stitches) at the beginning of needle 2 and the end of needle 4. Illustration 3 shows part of the process of picking up.

Work rounds  2 and 3 a total of 9 times – or until the long side measures the intended length of your fingerless gloves. (After 9 repeats I had the following stitch count: needle 1 and 3 = n stitches each, needle 2 and 4 = 48 stitches each)
Row 20: needle 1: purl and BO all but the last stitch,
     needle 2: purl all stitches - either with a new needle or put these stitches on scrap yarn/a stitch holder afterwards, make one new stitch by purling into the first stitch on needle 3 (but don't slip this first stitch from needle 3)
     needle 3: purl and BO all stitches, purl the last stitch and keep it with the others from needle 4
     needle 4: purl all stitches

(The stitches increased at the end of needles 2 and 3 are there to avoid different heights of parts 2 and 3.)

Part 3 – Widening the shaft (knitted flat)

The next part is knitted in garter stitch – with a few short rows for shaping.
Here you can adapt the gloves to fit your hands. So, please try on the gloves and make them fit your hands.

I used a combination of the following rows to make the gloves fit my hands:
Standard Row 1, 2 (WS, RS): sl1, k to end, turn, sl1, k to end  
Widening Below Rows 1, 2 (WS, RS): sl1, k15, w+t, k to end
Widening Upper Part Rows 1, 2, 3. 4 (WS, RS, WS, RS): sl1, k to 5 sts before end, w+t, k18, w+t, k to end; turn; sl1, k to end

Here’s the sequence I knitted:
Rows 1, 2 = Standard Rows
Rows 3, 4 = Widening Below Rows
Rows 5, 6 = Standard Rows
Rows 7, 8 = Widening Below Rows
Rows 9, 10 = Standard Rows
Rows 11, 12 = Standard Rows
Rows 13, 14 = Widening Upper Part
Rows 15, 16 = Standard Rows
Rows 17, 18 = Widening Below Rows
Rows 19, 20 = Standard Rows
Rows 21, 22 = Widening Below Rows
Rows 23, 24 = Standard Rows
Row 25: sl1, k to end

When the glove is wide enough to fit around your hand, put the stitches from the scrap yarn onto another needle. Hold both needles together (wrong sides out) and do a three needle BO.

Weave in ends.

Make two.

Inclination Wrist Warmers

I love fingerless gloves and wrist warmers. And I also love to try out new construction ideas. For these I had to fail three times before I got the shaping right. But it was worth it - I really like them.

These mitts are knitted all in garter stitch - even though the construction may look a bit complicated in the beginning it will come together nicely in the end. Because of the stripey pattern, you only need about 15 grams of each color - so these are great to use leftovers or some nice mini skeins.


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








Materials

• a total of about 25 grams of fingering weight yarn in two colors - I used about 15 grams of the main color (MC, dark purple in the pictures) and about 10 grams of the contrast color (CC, light purple and white in the pictures)
• 3mm knitting needles (plus a third needle of about that size)
• a crochet hook (for the provisional CO)
• scrap yarn (for the provisional CO)
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends.

Techniques 

• Provisonal CO: My preferred method of a provisional cast-on is the crochet provisional CO – as shown in this YouTube Video by lucyneatby
• Grafting in stockinette stitch (aka Kitchener stitch): As shown for example in this YouTube video by WEBS - America's Yarn Store 
• Other Grafting Stitches: Joni Coniglio has written a series on grafting (“5 Grafting Myths”) on the knitting daily blog. All her post can be found here: http://www.knittingdaily.com/author/joni-coniglio/  ).
  The techniques used here, can be found in this blog post.
• Short Rows with Wrap and Turn (w+t): In this pattern short rows are used to shape the mitt, i.e. to make it a bit wider at the bottom edge. The pattern is written with "wrap and turn"-short rows (see this YouTube Video by Very Pink Knits and this YouTube Video to show how to pick up wraps on the purl side by knitfreedom.com) - however, any method that you like works as well.

Gauge and Measurements
In garter stitch 24 rows (12 garter stitch ridges) measured 5 cm in height and 11 stitches were 5 cm wide. The finished mitts as knitted by me measure 17 cm in height. They measure 18 cm in circumference at the lower edge - and about 17 cm in circumference at the upper edge.
The pattern is written in a way to adapt to the circumference of your wrists - so you should know this measurement.

General Construction

These mitts are constructed similar to the Trikonasana yoga socks. Where for the Trikonasana yoga socks I could "cheat" by turning the second one inside out, for these I had to construct the second one differently. (Because of the stripes, this pattern has a clear RS and WS distinction.)

The schematic shows how the different parts make up the complete wrist warmers. The only difference between the two is that the first inclines to the left and the second one inclines to the right.

The wrist warmers are started with the piece below the thumb (1st part) - here some short rows are used for shaping purposed.

Then the stitches above the thumb are added with a new provisional CO and the main part (2nd part in the schematic is knitted). This part ends with a number of stitches being put on a stitch holder or piece of scrap yarn.

A small 3rd part (the piece above the thumb) ends with grafting the remaining stitches together with the second provisional CO. Then the stitches on the stitch holder are grafted together with the stitches from the first provisional CO.


Instructions

First Wrist Warmer

1st Part or Piece under the thumb
Provisionally CO 38 stitches - leaving a tail long enough to graft 38 stitches


In MC
R0: k all sts (your piece should look now as in photo 1)
R1 (RS): ssk, k to last st, kfb
R2 (WS): sl1 wyib, k to last st, sl1 wyif
R3, R4: ssk, k12, w+t, k to last st, sl1 wyif
R5, R6: ssk, k18, w+t, k to last st, sl1 wyif
R7 = R1
R8, R9: sl1 wyib, k4, w+t, k to last st, kfb
R10, R11: sl1, wyib, k6, w+t, k to last st, kfb
R12 = R2
R13, R14 = R5, R6
R15, R16 = R3, R4
R17 = R1
R18, R19 = R8, R9
R20, R21 = R10, R11

2nd Part or Main Part
On the third needle provisionally CO 19 stitches with scrap yarn
Still with MC start the next row as R1 (ssk, k to last st, kfb) but once you've reached the end, then knit the 19 newly cast on stitches
Knit R2 (sl1 wyib, k to last st, sl1 wyif)

Now let's start with the stripey pattern

R3 (MC) = R1
R4 (MC) = R2
R5 (CC) = R1
R6 (CC) = R2
R7 (CC) = R1
R8 (CC) = R2

Repeat rows R3 to R8 until the piece is wide enough to fit around your wrist (at the diagonal). For me this was the case after a total of 7 stripes.

Then continue in MC with one R1, one R2 and another R1.
Next row (knitted like a 19-stitch wide row2): sl1 wyib, k17, sl1 wyif - and put the remaining stitches (there should be 38 stitches left) on a stitch holder or a piece of scrap yarn. Turn work.

3rd Part or Part over the thumb and grafting
R1: ssk, k to last st, kfb
R2: sl1 wyib, k to last st, sl1 wyif
Repeats R1 and R2 until the upper diagonal fits around your fingers, for me this was the case after a total 6 rows (or 3 garter stitch ridges).
Then knit another R1.

Cut your yarn leaving a tail long enough to graft the seam. Open the stitches from the second provisional CO and catch them on a knitting needle. Hold the two needles together right sides out and with a tapestry needle graft in garter stitch. (If you have done grafting before, here's the short hand for grafting garter stitch: front needle: k slip, p leave; back needle: k slip p leave - if you haven't done this before, please watch the video I have linked above)

Now open the stitches from the first provisional CO and catch them on a knitting needle, put the stitches from the stitch holder or scrap yarn on another needle. Thread the yarn tail you left at the beginning in a tapestry needle. Hold the pieces together right sides out and graft them in garter stitch, but with aiming to get the purl ridge in front and the knit valley on the back needle (please refer to Joni Coniglio's blog post for the different kinds of grafting stitches), this means that for the first stitch insert the tapestry needle knitwise and pull the yarn through on both needles but do not slip the stitches from the needles. Then repeat the following steps to the end of the row:

• Front needle: insert the tapestry needle into the first stitch purlwise and slip the stitch off the needle, now insert the tapestry needly knitwise into the next stitch and leave it on the needle.
• Do the same on the back needle, i.e. insert the tapestry needle into the first stitch purlwise and slip the stitch off the needle, now insert the tapestry needly knitwise into the next stitch and leave it on the needle.

(Or in short: front needle: p slip, k leave; back needle: p slip, k leave).

Weave in ends.


Second Wrist Warmer


As explained in the construction section, if you want them to be symmetrical (ie. one being the mirror image of the other) you have to knit the 2nd one differently.

The picture on the right shows both wrist warmers just before grafting. The first one on the top and the second one below.

Basically all you have to do is change all rows 1 to start with the increase (kfb instead of ssk for the first wrist warmer) and end with the decrease (k2tog instead of the kfb).

So for the second wrist warmer rows 1 and 2 are knitted as follows:

R1 (RS): kfb, k to last 2 sts, k2tog
R2 (WS): sl1 wyif, k to last st, sl1 wyif

This also includes the short rows of part 1, where for the 2nd wrist warmer the first st of an RS row is an increase (kfb) and the last stitch of an RS row is decrease - in both cases if there is such a stitch.

Everything else (the short rows, the provisional CO, the stripes etc.) is just the same as for the first mitt.

Yarn
I bought this yarn at Wollefestival 2015 in Cologne. These wrist warmers are made from two miniskeins from "Frau wo aus po" whose beautifully dyed yarns made me buy too much :) - anyway, here's a link to her blog and to her blogshop.

Knit Design Fails - or Patterns that Haven't Been Finished (yet?)

A lot of knitting ideas occur to me when I'm on the train commuting to work. I usually write them down or draw a little sketch to avoid forgetting them straight away ... and then I'll try them out when I feel like it.

Some of these ideas work - they become finished knitted objects and I write down the pattern for it and publish it here. But some of them don't work, or just don't get finished.

In this post I wanted to share some of the "design fails" I've had over the years - some of them were forgotten completely, others were reworked into a better version ... please note that there are lots more, because on average I have one "fail" for every one published pattern :) This means that I frog a lot which is the main reason I don't like to cut my yarn before I'm really, REALLY sure that I want something to stay the way it is. This is also the main reason I prefer sturdy materials (e.g. sock yarn from wool and poloyamide) that can be ribbed back many times.

1. Picture 1 shows the start of an idea for fingerless gloves started from the thumb (like e.g. Circle Mitts or Pieces of Eight Mitts). However, I didn't like the way the waves at the shaft merged into the circle around the thumb - so I frogged it. I have a vague idea how to fix this issue so I may pursue this idea again in future.
2. On picture 2 is a prototype for a kind of opposite version of the Starburst Mitts - with the rows pivoting around a point at the wrist. Even though it kind of worked, I didn't like the look of it - so I frogged it.
3. Number 3 shows a yoga sock design that just look plump - it fitted my foot but I really didn't like it.
4. Photo number 4 shows a try to use some beautiful Noro Kureyon yarn. I wanted to show off the color way by contrasting it with a different color way - unfortunately, I didn't like the shape. This yarn eventually became the Almendra Cowl.
5. Picture 5 shows a rather confused construction idea for fingerless gloves knitted in several directions. It did fit my hands but it look too crowded and complicated. I used the idea of a slanted thumb panel later in the Windings Mitts.
6. Finally, on picture 6 you can see the first prototype of  wrist warmers that are knitted at a 45 degree angle - the connection between the thumb and the main part looked a bit clumsy so I ribbed it back and knitted it without the angle - resulting in the Strata fingerless gloves. (A pattern with a similar construction but without a thumb will be published in a few days :)

Have you ever tried out an idea that just didn't work? It would be great to hear about it.