Grandma Smith's Crochet , er... Knitting - "Erin" Knitted Mittens

While Grandma did a lot of crocheting, she also did quite a bit of knitting. Just about every year she would make the grandkids new mittens. Mary remembers each year Grandma having her trace her hand so Grandma could get the size right. Since this was such a regular event, I thought the pattern should be included here. Shown are a pair of ladies' size medium mittens that I made, copying a pair made by Grandma

The directions below are given for a general mitten, following Grandma's method, regardless of needles/yarn/gauge, so you can feel free to choose your yarn and needle size to suit you. Numbers in parentheses are given for the specific mitten knitted as a copy of the actual mittens knitted by Grandma-- I matched her gauge and stitch count pretty closely.

Planning: Trace the person's hand for whom you are knitting the mitten. Use this tracing to figure the person's knitted mitten size, allowing a small amount of room for ease, or growth, in the case of a child. The dimensions we will concern ourselves with are:

• length (L) – measured from wristline to tip of longest finger; the wristline is the place where the wrist meets the hand, right at the junction.

• circumference (C) - measured at the widest part of the hand, just above the thumb, without including the thumb

• thumb depth (T) – the distance from the wristline to the the bottom of the V formed between the thumb and the hand.

• thumb length (TL) – measured from the bottom of the V formed between the thumb and the hand, to the tip of the thumb

For Grandma's mitten: L=7”, C=8”, T=3”, TL=2 1/4"” ; this is roughly a medium sized ladies' mitten

Abbreviations & terms:

• 1KFBL =”knit into the front and back loop” =Knit into the front loop of the next stitch, don't drop the stitch from the left needle, then knit into the back loop of the same stitch, then drop the stitch from the left needle; this is an increase stitch which makes a tiny bar at the point of the increase.
• K2TOG = knit two stitches together; this decreases by one stitch.
• SSK = slip one st to the right needle knitwise, slip another st knitwise, insert the left needle into these two sts as if to knit, knit these two sts together; this is a left-slanting decrease, which is symmetrical to the K2TOG; an alternative equivalent way to perform the SSK decrease is: sl 1 knitwise, knit the next stitch, on the right-hand needle pass the slipped stitch over the stitch just knitted and off the needle (abbreviated as: sl 1, k1, psso)
• Stockinette stitch = alternating rows of Knit and Purl; the bumpy side is the "wrong" side.

Gauge swatch: Select your needle and yarn and knit a 4”x4” square in stockinette stitch to figure your gauge. Grandma used a double strand of worsted weight acrylic yarn, with a gauge of 10 st = 3” and 22 rows = 4”. I achieved the same gauge using a double strand of worsted weight acrylic yarn and US size 10 needles (5 3/4 mm).

General: Mittens are worked flat and sewn up later. Even the thumb is worked flat and sewn. Both mittens are exactly the same, so there's no left and right mitten.

Cast-on: Number of stitches to cast on: C multiplied by gauge, rounded to the nearest even number (Grandma: 26). Cast on these stitches using your favorite method (I use long tail cast-on).

Wrist ribbing: work K1 P1 ribbing for 3 inches (Grandma: 14 rows)

Begin mitten body: work 1/2” in stockinette stitch, ending with a purl row (Grandma: 4 rows).

Thumb gusset: Place two markers on either side of the center-most two stitches on the needle. For Grandma's mitten, this resulted in 12 stitches, marker, 2 stitches, marker, 12 stitches.

• R1: K up to the marker, slip the marker, 1KFBL, K up to the stitch before the next marker, 1KFBL, slip the marker, K to the end of the row.
• R2: P

Continue alternating R1 and R2 until the stockinette stitch portion of the mitten measures length (T/2)+1/2” (Grandma: 2”, resulting in four R1-type increase rows and four R2 type purl rows), ending on a purl row. Now work as follows:

• R1: K
• R2: P
• R3: K up to the marker, slip the marker, K up to the 2nd st past the marker, 1KFBL, K up to 2nd stitch before the next marker, 1KFBL, K to the end of the row, slipping the marker as you pass it.
• R4: P
• R5: K up to the marker, slip the marker, K up to the 3rd st past the marker, 1KFBL, K up to 3rd stitch before the next marker, 1KFBL, K to the end of the row, slipping the marker as you pass it.
• R6: P

Continue in this fashion, alternating increase rows with purl rows, increasing the underlined numbers by one each time, until the total length of the stockinette portion of the mitten is T (Grandma: 3”); end on a purl row. You now have created the thumb gusset. You are now going to put the thumb stitches on a stitch holder and the mitten main body will be worked.

Mitten main body: Divide the stitches as follows: ((#cast-on sts / 2)+1) for one flat side of the mitten, the thumb gusset, and ((#cast-on sts / 2)+1) for the other flat side of the mitten (for Grandma's mitten this is 14, 10, 14). Do your dividing as you knit the next row: K the required number of sts for one flat side of the mitten, move thumb gusset sts to 2 holders, evenly split between them, and continue to K across the row for the other flat side of the mitten, making sure that you pull the first st of the second side tightly to draw it close to the last st of the first side. The thumb gusset on the holders now sticks out like a little pocket. You will continue back and forth in stockinette stitch to make the main mitten body, working on #cast-on sts +2 (Grandma: 28 sts) (the 2 extra sts will get drawn in when you sew the seam and the body will then have the right circumference). Continue in plain stockinette stitch until the stockinette portion of the mitten is 85% of L (Grandma: 6”), ending on a purl row.

Main mitten body decreases: Count 2 sts in from the right and place a marker. Count 2 sts in from the left and place a marker. Place one marker on each side of the center two stitches of the row, thereby dividing the row into five groups of stitches. (Grandma: 2, 11, 2, 11, 2). Work decrease rows as follows:

• R1: K to first marker, slip marker, K2TOG [Editorial remark: a more symmetrical appearance would be achieved if you used SSK, instead], knit to within 2 sts of the next marker, K2TOG, slip marker, K2, slip marker,K2TOG [ditto, with respect to use of SSK] , knit to within 2 sts of the next marker, K2TOG, slip marker, K2 (a total of 4 sts decreased).
• R2: P
  Repeat these two rows until the number of stitches remaining is approximately 16 sts (Grandma: 16), ending on a purl row. On the next round, K2TOG all the way around. Snip the thread with a fairly long tail (it will be used to sew up the back of the mitten). Using a tapestry needle, thread the tail through the remaining stitches on the needle, inserting the tapestry needle first into the stitches at the far end of the row from where the tail comes out (you're making a circular loop that passes through all the remaining sts); draw up tightly to gather up the tip of the mitten; send the thread through the same way one more time and let it dangle until you are ready to finish sewing up later.

Thumb: Move the thumb gusset stitches to needles; it will be a little awkward for the first couple of rows because of the curve of the thumb; you may use more needles if you wish, or a circular needle; however, I found it eased up in just a couple of rows. Join in new yarn at the right-most side, with the right side of the knitting facing you. Knit across the row and pick up one stitch from the main body of the mitten in the center of the V to help span the gap (Grandma: 11 sts on needles). Note that this row is the row from which you'll measure the length of the thumb. Work the thumb in stockinette stitch flat, to an additional length equal to TL-1/2”(Grandma: 1 3/4" or 10 rows), ending on a purl row. Knit one row of decreases using repeating K2TOGs. Clip the yarn with a long tail (it will be used to sew the thumb seam) and draw up the end of the thumb the same way you did the tip of the mitten.

Finishing: Grandma did not use a mattress stitch to sew up seams. Instead, she sewed through the bumps at the edge of the knitting fabric. This results in a more visible, but flatter seam. Use the yarn tail at the thumb to sew up the thumb seam and to close any gaps at the V where the thumb meets the body of the mitten. Weave in any ends on the inside of the mitten. Use the yarn tail at the tip of the mitten to sew up the main body seam. Weave in remaining thread ends at the cuff.

Make a second mitten exactly like the first (there is no right/left-handedness to the mittens).

Alternative 1: to make the knitting of the thumb flatter, you can work the thumb before the body of the mitten. Just reverse the moving of stitches to stitch holders. You should knit the first part of the row up to the thumb so you don't have to break the yarn. To get the extra stitch on the thumb, do an increase (1KFBL) at the far left of the row. Later, when you resume the knitting of the main part of the mitten body, you would join the yarn at the V in the thumb and work across, making sure on the return row that you tightly draw the front and back of the mitten together at the V. Close any gaps in the V when you are sewing up.

Alternative 2: These mittens would lend themselves well to knitting in the round. The length of the rows would be decreased by two stitches, in this case, since no seams would be necessary.