Knitting the Blues: Eeryne Fingerless Mitts

Eeryne Fingerless Mittsnamed for their inspiration, the girl that nagged me to make them

Pattern: Eeryne Fingerless Mittens, designed by me and offered in this post. Actually, it is more a guideline than a real pattern, but it's all yours!
Yarn: Frog Tree Alpaca Sport Weight in brown (I don't have a wrapper for the color number)
Needles: size 2
Started and Finished: February 2007, I don't have exact dates.

"Mum, school is freezing and my hands get so cold! Can you make me some of those gloves without the fingers and thumb? Please?" Followed by weeks of procrastination and "Have you made my gloves yet?," we talked criteria. She wanted no fingers at all and only an opening for her thumb. Oh, and she kind of like the way ribbon looks going through knitting. I already had the yarn (I had given it to her for Christmas 2005, promising to knit her some gloves and a hat. I'm getting to it!), and I had seen some fingerless mitts on someone that were a cozy 2X2 rib that I though would fit the bill, so I cast on a multiple of four and started knitting in the round. How hard could it be? Knit a little ways, work some yarn overs for the ribbon holes, knit a little longer, switch from working in the round to back and forth for an inch or so, join and knit in the round again and bind off. So.Easy.

Yeah.Right.

Oh how I wish I had taken progress pics. Try to follow: When I got to the place where I wanted to work the yo, k2tog to make the ribbon holes and leave enough room for the ribbon to be seen it would go something like this: k1, p1, yo, knit a purl and knit together as a knit, k1, p1, work a purl and knit together as a knit again, all the way around. This really irked my aesthetic sense, as the rows of two knits would be interrupted into one, and while the alternate rows would be hidden by the ribbon, the ribbon would go under-but the others would show. I know. I'm the only one that would be bothered, but I was. So, I pretty much decided to forget the ribbon, and put the gloves down for a day or so until my brain came up with this: p1, k1, p1, k2 all around. Then on the eyelet row: yo, work a p with a k, yo work a p with a k, k1, thus leaving a column of knit2 flowing up the glove uninterrupted. Hooray! I cast on a multiple of five and got going. While that worked really well for the delicate wrists in our family, working up the hand the glove got tight enough to cut off circulation to the fingers. Crap. So I put it down again. While doing absolutely nothing one day my mind came up with increasing at the k1 to a k2, making the part of the glove above the eyelets to a 2X2 rib. Wala! The perfect solution. Thus, the birth of the Eeryne Fingerless Mitt. Here is a guideline for you to follow should you need a pair for yourself:

Eeryne Glove

Yarn: Fingering to Sport Weight yarn.
Yarn amounts?: Hmmm, I used less than a skein of the Frog Tree Alpaca for our small hands, less than half a Heavy Weight Socks That Rock for a pair, so for us I'd say 130 yards. Your mileage may vary based on your hand size and needle size that you choose.
Needles: Double Pointed needles. I like a firmly knit glove, so I used 2s and 2 1/2s (Brittany makes these) for ours, but you could probably use 3s or 4s easily, with the same numbers and get a fitting glove, provided you don't have gargantuan hands.
Ribbon: Approximately 1.5 yards, or whatever it takes to get the length bows you love.

The plan: Using double pointed needles in your chosen size (in this case 2s) cast on 35 (40) sts. Divide equally on four needles and join, being very careful not to twist. Pattern stitch: *k1, p1, k1, p1, k1. Repeat from * to complete round. Work as established for about 1" or the length you desire the cuff to be. EYELET ROUND: *k1, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog. Repeat from * to complete round. NEXT ROUND: *k1, p1, k1, p1, k1. Repeat from * to complete round. NEXT ROUND, INCREASE ROUND: *k1, p1, inc1, k1, p1, k1. Repeat from * to complete round. NEXT ROUND: *k1, p1, k2, p1, k1. Repeat from * to complete round. Work as established for about 1-1.5" or the desired length to thumb opening. BEGIN WORKING BACK AND FORTH: At end of last round to thumb opening, turn work and begin working back and forth in rib as established, working the first and last stitch of every row as a knit (creating a one stitch garter ridge). Work as established for about 1.5-1.75", or desired length for thumb opening. JOIN AND WORK IN THE ROUND: When thumb opening is the length desired, join work again and knit in the rib as established until glove is desired length. Bind off all sts. FINISHING: Weave in ends. Thread ribbon through eyelet holes, making sure that the ribbon travels under the column of k2s and over the k1s.

DISCLAIMER: This pattern has not been extensively test knit by anybody but me. I have knit four pairs, some with 35 sts, one pair with 40. Your yardage may vary, and as you notice I didn't even work a real gauge. Just try it. They take so little time to knit that if it doesn't work out the first time, the second time it will (and trust me, the Frog Tree Alpaca lived up to its name-I frogged those gloves several times before I was happy). I love my gloves, I wear them to work and around the house, they are warm and comfortable. Knit a pair while it is still cool enought to need them. Or in time for that too cold air-conditioning at work!

Left: Frog Tree Alpaca in blue. Top: RYC Cashsoft 4 Ply. Right: Socks That Rock, Heavyweight in Sapphire (that photographs terribly and they are off to college, so I can't get another photo right now).