I’ve recently finished this pair of fingerless mittens for myself, crocheted to my own new design. I wear this type of mitten most days around the house, as I always have cold hands!
I had thought I had finally found my ‘forever’ pattern, when I made myself a lovely pair of knitted fingerless mittens earlier this year. They were for outdoor wear, made in a gorgeous pure wool and fitted perfectly. So despite how stressful I find knitting, I immediately cast on another pair in a practical sock yarn that would be perfect for everyday indoor wear.
I painstakingly adapted the pattern to include some increasing and decreasing in strategic places, and consequently mirrored the two hands, rather than knitting them both identically. This was going to be the absolute apogee of my fingerless glove journey.
Imagine my frustration then, when I found on the completion of the first glove, that it was not just slightly different in size (I’m a fibre arts designer, I understand the effect of different yarns on gage) but literally half the size, widthwise, although the same length – as if I’d made one side of a mitten, rather than the whole thing.
Here is the offending mitten – you can see the careful shaping I’ve added at the wrist and heel of the palm. But they are just completely out of whack otherwise.
You may wonder why I continue to try to force myself to knit my mittens, when I find it so tiresome. It comes down to the finer, more flexible nature of knit fabric compared to crocheted fabric which is generally denser (comparing like for like), and also to the exciting stretchiness of knitted ribbing which is almost impossible to replicate in crochet. Yes, we can get close, but it’s not quite as good. And another reason is that there is so much beautiful printed sock yarn out there designed to look pretty when knitted, that I really wanted to use, and the prints never work quite as well in crochet. For an item like these gloves that I literally wear for most days of the year, I had really hoped to find a perfect solution, rather than something that was ‘nearly there’.
But I am far too disillusioned to restart this knitting pattern, because the knitting process is so slow and stressful for me. And even if I get this pair right, if I want to make them again in the future, I’d probably have to re-write the pattern for a third time for another different yarn. So I decided to make myself the best version I could in crochet instead and it really is ‘close enough for practical purposes’ as my OH says.
Crocheted Fingerless Mittens
My new crocheted mittens are made in 4ply yarn, as I need them to be as thin as possible – which is why I did not make another pair of the very serviceable DK crocheted fingerless gloves I have made before. I chose a sock yarn with a percentage of nylon to give them longevity – I have previously had to darn my fingerless mittens over and over again. This yarn is Garnstudio DROPS Fabel in colour 602 ‘Silver Fox‘.
They are very simply constructed, but shaped carefully as I went along to fit my hands – including being slightly larger in a couple of places on my right hand, because I am right handed.
I used a much larger crochet hook than you would normally use for a 4ply yarn – 4.5mm – to make sure the finished fabric was supple, but this has still given a closely woven, non-gappy fabric that I’m pleased with. It looks pretty good in this long print yarn too.
The wrist is worked side-to-side in dc (US: sc) rib which will probably not keep its tension for long, but it gives a reasonable look (and is usually under the cuff of my jumper anyway). The main body of the mittens is then worked in continuous rounds of dc.
The next time I work this pattern, the only thing I might play around with is using a couple of short rows (actually rounds) near the top of the palm, so that the palm of the mittens is shorter than the back of the mittens.
I think other yarnies obsess over socks – the exact method for heels and toes, etc. I don’t have much of an interest in nice socks so I think fingerless mittens are turning out to be my equivalent obsession.
Now I’m going to unravel the blue knitted mitten and remake it in crochet – this will likely lead to ugly colour pooling, but we’ll see!