Halloween (Basic) Mitt Pattern

One of the many perks of being a mom is that I get to go trick-or-treating again.  It's awesome.  But my role has changed from that of an 11-year old who dresses up and collects candy to that of a 32-year old who follows behind her three-year old son who instead of asking for candy at each door, requests cottage cheese.  Seriously, that's what this little elephant said last year at 2, "Cottage cheese, please?"  Oh, my those cheeks.  I just want to nom-nom on them.

 

Last year I didn't have anything festive to wear and I vowed that this year I would have a little something to show off my Halloween spirit, but in a more adult way.  I could wear a witch hat or a mask, but instead I thought some boldly striping mitts would be awesome- and I can wear them all October long.  And while I originally considered using Simply Socks Yarn Solids to stripe my mitts, I instead approached Caitlin at String Theory Colorworks to dye up some special orange and black striping yarn for me.  I liked it so much that I'm offering the same color in the store.  It's called Little Ghost Nebula and like I promised a couple weeks ago, here's the pattern that I used to create my Halloween Mitts.

You don't have to be celebrating Halloween to knit this mitts- it's really just my basic ribbed mitt pattern that you can use with any fingering weight yarn.  It's a quick project for yourself or someone you love.  Mitts are awesome because they keep your hands warm, but leave your fingers free for using your iPhone, typing on your keyboard, or fastening your son's carseat.  And if you want mitts with a more intricate pattern, consider these.

 

Materials: Yarn pictured is String Theory Colorworks Continuum striping yarn in the Little Ghost Nebula colorway.  The skein is 100 grams and I used about 1/3 of that for my mitts.  You'll need 5 double point needles in size US 1 (I used these) - you'll knit with 4 and use the 5th for holding the thumb stitches.  You'll also need a needle for weaving in ends, and two stitch markers.

Size: I knit these for myself, and I have somewhat large hands and thick wrists.  I used size 1 Kollage square double point needles- *love*.  So if you are knitting these for someone with less man-ish hands, you might consider casting on less stitches and then at the thumb gusset instead of knitting through the first 15 stitches, you would knit through 1/4 of the number of stitches you cast on, and the adjust from there.  It's really quite simple to change the size of this pair of mitts if you decrease in multiples of 4 stitches to keep with the rib pattern.

Instructions:

Cast on 60 stitches.  Distribute as follows: 24 sts on needle 1, 20 sts on needle 2, 16 sts on needle 3.  Join in a round.

Arm: The stitch pattern for the arm is a simple k2,p2 rib.  Knit this pattern for approximately 66 rounds.

Thumb Gusset: After completing your arm the desired length in the rib pattern, you'll start increasing to allow for a thumb.

Row 1: Knit rib pattern through first 15 stitches, PM, M1, PM.  Knit the rest of the round, keeping in the rib pattern.  You have added one stitch between the markers on needle 1.  Needles 2 and 3 remain the same.

Row 2: Knit in rib pattern through first 15 stitches (to 1st marker), SM, M1, K1, M1, SM, continue rest of round in rib pattern.  You now have three stitches between the markers on needle 1.  Needles 2 and 3 remain the same.

Row 3: Knit in rib pattern to first marker.  SM, K1, M1 K1, M1, K1, SM, continue rest of round in rib pattern.

Continue increasing by making two stitches per row in this manner (between the markers) until you have made 17 stitches.

Hand:  Knit each round 9 more times, knittting the knit stiches and purling the purl stitches to keep in the rib pattern for the non-thumb part of the mitt.

Slip the 17 thumb stitches to the 5th (spare) needle to be held there while you knit the hand.  You will come back and complete the thumb after you cast-off the hand.

Setup stitches for the hand as follows: 24 sts on needle 1, 20 sts on needle 2, 16 sts on needle 3.

Now you'll knit the hand, keeping with the rib pattern, for 16-20 rounds, depending on the size of the hand, then cast off.  You'll want the finished mitt to come below your middle knuckles, as pictured.

 

Now you'll knit the thumb.  Join yarn, then knit the 17 held stitches.  Pick up 7 stitches along the thumb gusset and continue to knit.  Knit this for 9 rounds, then cast off.

Weave in all ends.

PM = place marker

SM = slip marker

K2 = knit 2

P2 = purl 2

M1 = Make one stitch by picking up the bar between two stitches and knitting it.

*It's worth noting that instead of knitting the stitches on the thumb for the pictured mitts, I continued in the k2p2 rib.  If I knit these mitts again (which I plan to), I'm likely to knit the plain stockinette thumb as I've written in these instructions.  I wrote the pattern with a non-rib thumb because increasing for the thumb while also keeping in the rib pattern is VERY tedious and I didn't want to deter any new mitt knitters by making it more complicated than it has to be.

Did you find an error?  Then e-mail me at [email protected] and you'll see verified errors typed in RED.

Are you on Ravelry?  You can queue these mitts up here.

This pattern is print-friendly.  Simply click on the "permalink" button on the bottom of this post.  Then do a print-preview and you'll see that the pages are already printer-friendly and within proper margins.

Comments

[p-la]

Thank you for the free pattern!! I'm going to make a pair in orange and black and a pair in purple and black. I may even 1 of each at the same time!!!

[Renee']

James is soooo cute. What a doll. Thanks for the pattern Allison!

[Cheryl]

Lovely mitts for Halloween.
Thank you.

[Leslie]

Will there be any more Little Ghost Nebula yarn available? Thanks!

[Allison]

Yes, I do anticpate getting it back in stock from time to time. You'll know exactly when if you sign up for the store's enewsletter here: http://www.simplysockyarn.com/servlet/Page?template=Newsletter

[Linda Downs]

these would also be perfect for SF Giants fans.