Montag, 9. November 2015

Octavo Fingerless Gloves

These stylish fingerless gloves will help help to keep your hands warm this fall. With their swirly design they are the perfect eye-catcher and great to show off your variegated yarn.

These mitts are called Octavo because of the eight-shape (octavo meaning one eighth in Spanish), because they are the crochet version of my Pieces of Eight mitts that I published nearly two years ago (both Pieces of Eight and  referring to coins) and - last but not least, because I like the name since the Octavo as a grimoire also plays a role in the library of Unseen University on Terry Pratchett's Discworld.




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




An Italian version of this pattern is available here.


Materials
  • about 40 to 45 grams of fingering weight yarn
  • a 3mm crochet hook
  • 4 removable stitch markers
  • a tapestry needle to weave in ends


Stitches and Techniques

Size and Possible Adjustments

The finished mitts are about 18 cm high and between 19 cm (at the widest point) and 16 cm in circumference.

  • The width of the circumference is easily changed by crocheting a few rows more or less in part 3.
  • If the thumb is too small for you, you can
    a) crochet it with a bigger crochet hook and change back to a 3mm hook when starting part 2,
    b) make it a few stitches wider but then adjust the number of increases in row 1 on part 2 that you end up with 31 stitches or
    c) do a thumb construction as explained in the Kreisel Fingerless Gloves and pick up 24 sts around it (or adjust the number of increases in row 1 on part 2 that you end up with 31 stitches).


General Construction

These fingerless gloves are worked in three parts as shown in the picture on the right hand side.

Part 1 (the thumb) is crocheted in the round. Then a longer chain is added to prepare for the eight-shape crocheted in part 2 - during this part increases are made around the thumb and decreases are made with the newly chained stitches. This part is crocheted back and forth.
During part 3 the part that covers the back of your hands is done - also back and forth. In the end, the upper edge of this part is connected to the other side of the glove.


Instructions

The pattern starts with a foundation chain because it’s stretchier than a normal crochet chain – alternatively you can start with a normal chain and a bigger hook just for the chain row.

Part 1: Thumb

Do 14 foundation chain sts and join in round with slip stitch
Round 1: sc all stitches - then go on (as in amigurumi – no connections with slip stitch etc.)
Repeat this round  5 more times
R6: sc 4, inc, sc 4, inc, sc4
R7 : sc all stitches
R8 : sc 2, inc, sc 10, inc, sc 2
R9 : sc all stitches
R10 : [sc, inc, sc] 6 times
Close with slip stitch and place a marker in this slip stitch (this marker will be called Middle Marker or MM for short - and it should always be put in the current row)

Part 2: Eight-Shape

Chain 70 + 1 turning chain and place markers in the 30th and 52nd chain. (These markers can stay there until the end of part 2, i.e. don’t move them up your rows, but just leave them where they are – they will not be used in part 2) - your piece should now look similar to the one in picture 1.

NOTE 1: all increase and decrease stitches in this part are crocheted through the back loop of the underlying stitch only.

NOTE 2: Please note that the sequences in brackets don't always match the number of stitches left (e.g. it might say [dec, sctbl 5], but there are only 4 stitches left) - that's OK. Just continue with the sequence and stop when you run out of stitches (in case of the example above, just make one decrease and sctbl the 3 stitches to the end)

R1: [sc5, dec, sc 5] until you reach MM. For the 1st mitt go on crocheting while looking at the inside of the thumb, for the second mitt go on looking at the outside of the thumb - that way you set up one mitt mirror-inverted to the other). [sc2, inc]*7 times, sc to the end. Now make a slip stitch into the underside of the first stitch of the chain of the last row, and then another slip stitch in the underside of the next chain (see picture 3). Start the next row into the last sc.
R2: [sctbl 1, inc, sctbl 3] to MM, [sctbl 8, dec, sctbl 1] to end, 1 turning-chain
R3: [sctbl 3, dec, sctbl 5] to MM, [sctbl 3, inc, sctbl 2] to the end, connect with 2 sl st into the underside of the 2 next chains stitches and start the next row into the last sc (this is how you'll end all odd-numbered rows in this part - it will be referred to as "connect with 2 sl st")
R4: [sctbl 2, inc, sctbl 4] to MM, [dec, sctbl 7] to end, sctbl to end, 1 turning-chain
Now your piece should look similar to the one in picture 2.
R5: [sctbl 1, dec, sctbl 5] to MM, sctbl 2, [sctbl 3, inc, sctbl 4] to end, connect with 2 sl st
R6: [sctbl 8, inc] to 2 sts before to MM, sctbl 4, [dec, sctbl 5] to end, 1 turning-chain
R7: [sctbl 3, dec, sctbl 1] to 2 sts before MM, sctbl 4, [sctbl 9, inc] to end, connect with 2 sl st
R8: [sctbl 10, inc] to 3 sts before MM. sctbl 6, [sctbl 3, dec] to end, 1 turning-chain
R9: [sctbl 2, dec] to 3 sts before MM, sctbl 6, [sctbl 6, inc, sctbl 5] to end, connect with 2 sl st
R10: [sctbl 7, inc, sctbl 5] to 3 sts before MM, sctbl 6, [dec, sctbl 1] to end, 1 turning-chain
R11: [dec] to 3 sts before MM, sctbl 6,  [sctbl 9, inc, sctbl 4] to end, connect with 2 sl st
R12: [sctbl 7, inc, sctbl 7] to 4 sts before MM, sctbl 8, [dec] to end
R13: turn your piece to the wrong side and connect the edge below the current stitch to the curve above (see picture 4) - you should use about 12 to 14 stitches to do this.

When you look at your piece from the front, you see an 8 shape with the upper curve bigger than the
lower one. For the first mitt your current stitch will be on the left-hand side, for the second mitt it will be on the right hand side.
Count your stitches on the upper curve (i.e. from your current stitch to the end of the row, see black curve on the picture to the right). Your stitch count should be somewhere about 76 to 78 (a few stitches really don't matter here).

To calculate where to put your stitch markers, substract 22 from your stitch count, and devide the resulting number by 2.

I had 76 sts (76 - 22 = 54; 54 / 2 = 27). You can see that your current stitch is a bit lower than the end stitch of the curve on the other side. Therefore the part on the side of your current stitch should be a bit longer than the part on the other side, i.e. add 2 to the number for the longer part and substract 2 for the number on the shorter part. (In my example 27 - 2 = 25 (shorter part), 27 + 2 = 29 (longer part). Place your stitch markers according to the picture.

Part 3: Widening the Wrists
Now go on crocheting upwards (towards the marker you just put in)
R1: sctbl 29 (you should have reached the new marker), 1 turning-chain
R2: sctbl 29, sctbl 18 (now you should have reached a marker you put in when beginning part 2), 1 turning-chain
R3: sctbl to end, 1 turning-chain
R4: sctbl to end, 1 turning-chain
R5: sctbl18, sl st and turn, sctbl to end, 1 turning-chain, turn, sctbl to end (don't forget to stitch into the sl st from the short row below), 1 turning-chain
R6, sctbl to end, 1 turning-chain

Repeat rows 3 to 6 until the mitt fits around your hand. For me this was the case after working rows 3 to 6 a total of 3 times. Now your piece should look like picture 6.

Fold the mitt (right sides together) and connect the last row to the stitches between the stitch markers on the other side (see picture 6). Turn your mitts back right sides out and remove your stitch markers.

Weave in ends. Make two.



This pattern was featured at the Link and Share Wednesday Link Party hosted by Oombawka Design and on the Fiber Tuesdays Link Party hosted by Oui Crochet. It was also  feaured at Crafting Along #119 at Be a Crafter.

Oombawka Design

Sonntag, 8. November 2015

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.


Samstag, 31. Oktober 2015

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.




Creative Commons License
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
  • 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

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.

EyeLoveKnots