Saturday, February 24, 2007

I'm ba-aaack :] and another free wristwarmer / mitten pattern

Dr Chris [ aka The Boy] has performed life saving surgery on the 'puter and she lives to try my patience another day. He and Nadie came up yesterday with Suki and Sumi and left around dinnertime tonight. Ms Sophie is still patrolling the house to make sure that the furry interlopers have actually gone home although she coped much better than usual and was on snuggling terms with Nadie almost immediately. Usually the 'I'm highly offended' act is good for at least a couple of days of growling and hissing.

I haven't been completely idle despite the absolutely stinking hot weather, so here's the latest of the current lot of totally-out-of-season wristwarmers. Nice, simple garter stitch but with a little bit of lace for interest. They are actually a much deeper jade than the photo shows... and just in case you are interested in how such things spring into being: the pattern is my take on one that has been used since time immemorial to make umpteen gazillion covered coathangers for every fete, fair and street stall that ever was. I see possibilities for wristwarmers in all sorts of places at the moment it seems, and when Maz sent me the pattern for the coathangers, after I'd cranked out a few, it just seemed logical to work out how to put that lace bit on both ends of a wider strip of garter stitching. The other thought that occurs is ... this pattern is basically reversible so it SHOULD make a neat scarf pattern. I'd probably cast on around half as many stitches and go up a couple of sizes on the needles to make the garter stitch a little lacier. If you try it, drop me a line and a photo, ok?
Wristwarmers / fingerless mittens



[1]50gram ball of Heirloom 5-ply pure wool [ any sockweight should work ]


1 pair 4mm / US size 5 /UK size 8 needles


gauge: 23 - 24 stitches to 4" over garter stitch



Cast on 48 stitches [ or about 38 for a shorter pair ]


Row1: k to last 4 stitches, YO, k2tog,YO,k2


Rows 2-7 * repeat row 1 a further 6 times



Row 8: cast off [ bind off] 4 stitches, k to last 4 stitches, YO, k2tog, YO, k2



Row 9: repeat row 8*






Repeat rows 2-9 until you have 9 points on each side of the garter stitch strip or number necessary to fit around wrist, ending with row 8.



Cast off remaining stitches.



Sew side seam from base of the point for about 1 3/8", leave 2" or a little less unseamed for the thumb hole, and sew remainder of seam to the base of the [other end] point. Of course you can make the short seam even shorter if you don't want the lacy bit to come so far up the fingers.




and of course:
this pattern is copyright 2007 S.Iacuone for personal and charity use only.
For any other use please contact me.
Ta.
Knew you'd do the right thing :]


Gratuitous cute cat photo: Suki[ko]

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the mitt pattern - that's a very clever take on garter lace!

Hope you manage a cool break soon - nothing is as exhausting as unrelenting heat!

Sheepish Annie said...

Phew...hug Dr. Chris for me. I was getting serious angst over here waiting for a post!!! Love the wrist warmers. 'Twas simply genius to see a new pattern the coathanger covers. And I just got some new sock yarn...how convenient!

Have you thought to submit any of these patterns to Knitty or MagKnits?

Linda Mullen said...

Kewl, you're back. It's snowing here.

Nadie said...

Thats Suki, can't you tell your own grandkittens apart?! She was sitting behind me when that post came up and is highly offended

catsmum said...

okay, okay I apologise! I couldn't see any white bits but now that I look closely I can see a glimmer of white on that hind paw. Bad grandma :[

Anonymous said...

Hi Susan, I'm glad you liked the Opal!

We're asking all receivers of yarn to PLEASE promote GYK by either posting about it (and the yarn they received) or putting a button in the sidebar.

Thanks hun. x

lbquilts said...

hi susan!
this is Linda from IOWA(USA)! i think i will try this pattern for our next winter season...my computer desk is by my front door so this should help my fingers stay warmer as i blog! please visit me and sign in on my big world map (include pic if you can)
www.heartofthehawkeyes.blogspot.com
thank you for posting the pattern...
lbquilts@mchsi.com

Anonymous said...

I've been looking for a fairly simple design that has pointy-bits around the fingers - your design is perfect! I think this is the only design I've seen that doesn't use more yarn than I have. Would it be OK to provide a copy to a friend with some yarn to knit? Obviously I would include copyright information clearly.

catsmum said...

share away Chris - I'm happy to see it being used

Sarah said...

I love the gauntlets!!! They're cute and look warm. I live in wisconsin, so this would be a perfect thing for me. The lace on them looked soooooooooo difficult. I've started to make a pair of socks with the same type of lace.

Anonymous said...

Lovely mitts. Thanks.

Diana K. said...

Should there be an extra k2tog in row 9? You start with 32 stitches, add one stitch per row from row 1 to 7 (total 39), then reduce 3 in rows 8 and 9 (bind off 4, k2tog once and yo twice). This results in 33 stitches, one more than what you started with. So the piece ends up a trapezoid. I've been knitting this in a worsted with size 9 needles, to complement a scarf, and it looks pretty but the shape seems wrong.

Anonymous said...

May I use the pattern as a gift for someone. Gwen

Alison said...

hello,

Would it be OK to share this pattern to a UK Mental Health charity, who would then share it with others? The items would be knitted by volunteers and then donated for the charity to sell. Copyright info would be passed on with the pattern.

Many thanks
Alison