Mittens, thumbs, oh dear! Final part

How are you all my dear loomies! Almost done with those mittens? Ready to tackle the thumb!

Here goes nothing. You have at this point lovely mitten with a big hole on one side. You have two options, leave it as a hole or knit a little more and have a complete mitten, hopefully you will choose the latter.

If you are ready to start with your thumb, then lets get started :).

Thumb Instructions:

PU=pick up
WY=Working yarn

Set your loom to a 18 peg configuration.
PU 7 sts from the stitch holder and place them on the loom.
PU 2 sts from the side of the thumb hole, PU 7 sts from the mitten (the 7 pegs that you casted on, place those loops on the pegs), PU 2 sts from the other side of the thumb hole. 18 sts on the loom.

Rnd 1-14: Join WY to first peg. k to the end of rnd.
Optional (if you want to taper the end of the thumb, if not, skip this round): Rnd 16: k8, k2tog, k8, k2tog.
Rnd 17-18: k
GBO

Now, you may be asking yourself how did she get the yarn to match. If you are using self-striping yarn, you are going to have to unravel the yarn until you get to the same spot of dye color as in your first mitten, the thumb was pure luck that I ended up with the same type of color change as the body of the mitten–the stars were aligned.

Have fun knitting your mitts!!!

1 Comment

• Verônica Maliska Wagner September 15, 2012 at 1:19 am

  J’ adore…magnifique les travaillers.
  Je suis brasilienne, adorée travaille manualles.

     share this post:

Mittens, thumbs, oh dear!

Mittens and gloves are next in the list of my favorites, socks being the first ones. Mittens are just like socks, except you wear them on your hands :). They are small enough to carry around and yet you can use intricate designs on them to keep your mind excited.

Just like socks have the challenge of a heel, mittens and gloves have the challenge of a thumb! How do we create a thumb opening or the thumb for that matter. In the next two postings, I am going to show you how to create the opening for the thumb and then how to create the thumb for the mittens.

For our pattern, I used my basic mitten pattern.

Loom: AIO

Yarn: Knit Picks Chroma, worsted  (one of my favorite yarns!)

Notions: knitting tool, stitch holder, tapestry needle

Size: Adult women (small hands).

Abbreviations:

rnd=round

k=knit stitch or flat stitch

p=purl stitch

CO=Cast on

BO=Bind off

GBO=Gather Bind off

DIRECTIONS

CO 32 sts, prepare to work in the rnd.

Rnd 1-14: *k2, p2; rep from * to the end of rnd.

Rnd 15-33: k to the end of rnd.

Rnd 34: Remove the first 7 sts to a stitch holder (see video). Cut yarn coming from the last peg, leaving a 6 inch yarn tail. Join yarn to peg 8. K from peg 8 to the end of rnd.

Rnd 35: With yarn coming from the last peg (peg 32),CO 7 sts ( e-wrap the first 7 pegs (see video)), k to the end of rnd.

Rnd 36-72: k to the end of rnd.

GBO.

THUMB DIRECTIONS

Check back later in the week for how to do the thumb :)

Check out the video on creating the thumb opening.

5 Comments

• Jami Gensler September 11, 2012 at 7:01 pm

  Thanks so much for all the videos, Isela. You rock!
• Erin Lowmaster September 14, 2012 at 10:05 pm

  Are these adult or child size?
• Karen Cooper September 15, 2012 at 4:13 pm

  Is this sock weight yarn or Chroma worsted weight?
• Isela September 16, 2012 at 10:08 pm

  Worsted weight.
• Isela September 16, 2012 at 10:08 pm

  Adult women, smallish hands, about 7.5 inches around the widest part of the hand.

     share this post:

Increases Mini-Series: Make 1 (M1)

M1=Make 1

Make 1 is an increase that is worked into the horizontal strand of yarn running between two stitches. There are two types of Make 1′s, a left twist  M1L and a right twist M1R. Some patterns do not specify which type of Make 1 to use, whenever the pattern doesn’t specify, it is safe to use the M1L.

M1L=Make 1 left. Twist the horizontal strand of yarn CLOCKWISE.

M1R=Make 1 right. Twist the horizontal strand of yarn COUNTERCLOCKWISE.

3 Comments

• Sue K July 22, 2012 at 8:45 pm

  Isela,
  Thanks so much for doing the mini-series on increase. I know this will help a lot of the knitters, including myself. I know them all in needle knitting just wasn’t sure on the loom. Thanks again for all your wonderful help!!! Any new races coming up?
• Barbara Sibley August 15, 2012 at 3:45 pm

  Using 50 pegs. How do I get 2/3rds out of the 25 for the heel/toe?
• Melitza Calderon February 9, 2013 at 5:34 am

  Hello,

  How do I M5 on same stitch? The stitch guide says M5 (make): (k1,YO, K1, YO, K1) in same st: 5 sts in one made.

  The pattern calls for the following.

  row 1: K1; *P5tog, M5 in next st; rep from * to last st, K1.

  This is really confusing. Please help me understand how to do this.

  Thanks,
  Melitza

     share this post:

Increases Mini-Series: knit 1 front and back (k1f&b)

Knit 1 front and back (k1f&b)

It is one of the most commonly used increases. It is a visible increase as it creates a horizontal bar wherever you create the increase.  Also known as the bar increase because of the horizontal bar it creates.  To create this increase, you will need an empty peg to the right of the peg where you want the increase. Name the pegs as follows: Peg A (peg with loop on it) and Peg B (empty peg).

Step 1: Knit the stitch as usual on Peg A. Instead of popping the loop off the peg as you normally would when creating a knit stitch, place the newly formed loop on the adjacent empty peg (Peg B), leaving the original loop on Peg A and the new loop on Peg B.

Step 2: Wrap Peg A counterclockwise. Lift the bottom loop off the peg, leaving one loop on the peg.

Continue working the row.

Here is a visual for your convenience.

2 Comments

• Ro July 18, 2012 at 5:30 am

  Hi Isela,

  Could you tell me, on what type of project would this be used ? What purpose does this have? thx
  Congrats on joining the Knitting Board site.! :)
• Lisa July 19, 2012 at 1:28 pm

  I have looked at looms and plan on purchasing one this weekend,is it as easy as you make it seem? I knitted years ago when in school,but that is all,I needle tatt and sew and always looking at new ways to make items.I have MS and want to keep going by making beautiful items as a type of therapy,any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

     share this post:

Increases Mini-Series: Yarn Over (YO)

Yarn Over, abbreviated as YO. In needle knit patterns, it can also be referred as yarn around needle (YRN), yarn forward (YF), and wool around/over needle  (YON). This type of increase creates a small hole in the knitting, within the row where you create the increase.

To create the YO, simply e-wrap the peg counterclockwise.

Working with YOs: When a pattern calls for a YO within the knitted fabric, we are going to need to move the stitches outwards to create an empty peg where we want the YO located. In the video shown, I demonstrate how to increase within the fabric. There are two methods: First method: move the stitches out to create the empty space then knit the stitches and e-wrap the empty peg. Second method and my preferred method when only increasing one stitch is to knit the stitches and move them to their new peg after I have knitted them (as shown in the video). When the pattern calls for a YO at the beginning of a row, it is quite simple, just e-wrap the next adjacent empty peg to the first/last peg of the fabric.

3 Comments

• Marilyn Gruber July 7, 2012 at 12:22 pm

  Hello,
  I am going to try making making my first pair of socks on the sock loom. I would appreciate help with understanding “Join to form a round”. Do I connect the stitches on the pegs with a special stitch or how do I do so? Thank you for help from a new loom knitter.
• Isela July 18, 2012 at 4:19 am

  Marilyn, you connect them in various forms, the easiest method is to simply interchange the loop from the last peg with the loop from the first peg.
• Isela September 4, 2012 at 2:57 pm

  To join in the round is a simple way to say that we will be knitting around the knitting loom and not a flat panel. One easy way to join in the round is to take the yarn coming from the last peg to the front of the first peg and continue wrapping the loom around and around. Another method is to interchange the last loop on the last peg with the loop from the first peg. Hope this helps.

     share this post:

Double Woven Socks LAL: Leg portion

Let’s go ahead and start on the leg portion of the pattern.

Rnd 11: *SKYF2, k2; rep from * to the end of rnd.

Rnd 12: k to the end of rnd.

Rnd 13: *k2, SKYF2; rep from * to the end of rnd.

Repeat Rnds 11-14 until sock leg measures 6 inches or desired length.

A few concerns on Round 11 and 12.

Round 11 is all a matter of skipping two pegs with the yarn in front of the peg and then knitting the next two pegs.

Round 12 is where the tricky part comes in. You need to knit all the pegs, but you have to place the strand that is front of the peg towards the back of the peg but in front of the right side of the fabric.

I prepared a small video showing how to do this on the knitting loom.

Let me know if this helps a bit on how to do this section of the sock.

Also, here is a playlist of mini-videos to help you with this pattern.

7 Comments

• Jackie Sickle May 8, 2012 at 7:15 pm

  Thanks. The video was very helpful
• Bunnie P May 10, 2012 at 12:56 pm

  Thanks for the video – very helpful!
• Mary May 11, 2012 at 4:40 pm

  Can you tell me how many stitches to wrap for my sock using 52 pegs? Thanks
• Mary May 16, 2012 at 4:47 am

  I finished the first sock and started the second one.
• Isela May 16, 2012 at 2:29 pm

  Mary, I would wrap 44 pegs.
• Isela May 16, 2012 at 3:01 pm

  Mary, you are a knitting sock rockstar!
• Sharon May 17, 2012 at 9:15 am

  I’ve been so busy I am still to finish the leg on the first sock.

     share this post: