Lana Grossa Fingerless Mitts Gloves Knitting Pattern

Lana Grossa Fingerless Mitts in Cool Wool

What Is Being Made

These fingerless mitts are a pair of hand-warming accessories designed to keep wrists and hands warm while leaving fingers free for dexterity. The mitts are available in two sizes, with a circumference of approximately 16 cm for the smaller size and 20 cm for the larger size. The design features a thumb gusset for comfortable fit and a cable pattern detail that adds visual interest and texture to the finished piece.

Techniques Used

The Lana Grossa Fingerless Mitts are constructed using several key knitting techniques:

• Seamless, worked in the round: The mitts are knitted circularly using double-pointed needles, eliminating the need for seaming and creating a smooth, continuous fabric.
• Bottom-up construction: The mitts are cast on at the cuff and worked upward toward the hand opening, allowing for easy adjustments to length if needed.
• Thumb gusset shaping: Increases are strategically placed before and after the third stitch on the first needle, then repeated every third round until the gusset reaches 15 stitches. This creates a comfortable, fitted opening for the thumb.
• Cable crossings: The pattern incorporates cable stitches worked according to a provided chart, with decreases worked before and after cable crossings and yarn overs placed after and before the crossings to maintain stitch count.
• Strategic decreasing: Decreases are worked at specific points to shape the hand opening and create a fitted cuff.

Stitches Used

The stitch pattern combines several fundamental knitting stitches:

• Twisted rib: The primary stitch pattern used throughout the mitts, worked as K1tbl (knit one through the back loop), p1 (purl one). This twisted variation creates a more elastic and textured rib than standard ribbing.
• Cable stitches: Worked according to a chart pattern, cables are created by crossing stitches over a cable needle and then knitting them in a different order, producing the characteristic twisted rope effect.
• Increases: M1L (make one left) increases are used to create the thumb gusset shaping.
• Decreases: k2tog tbl (knit two together through the back loop), sk2p (slip, knit, pass slipped stitch over), and skp (slip, knit, pass) are used for shaping and maintaining pattern integrity.
• Yarn overs: yo increases are incorporated within the cable pattern section.

Materials and Tools

The Lana Grossa Fingerless Mitts require minimal materials, making them an efficient project:

• Yarn: 50 grams of Lana Grossa Cool Wool, a pure wool yarn with a yardage of 160 meters per 50 grams. The specified color is Mustard (color number 2062).
• Needles: One set of size 3 mm double-pointed needles for working in the round.
• Additional tools: A cable needle for working cable crossings.
• Gauge: The pattern is worked to a gauge of 28 stitches and 40 rounds over 10 x 10 centimeters in stockinette stitch on size 3 mm needles.

Pattern Details

The mitts begin with a cast-on of 48 stitches for the smaller size or 52 stitches for the larger size. The pattern is worked in twisted rib with cable crossings, following a chart for the cable placement. The first round of the pattern is worked once, followed by rounds 2 through 6 repeated three times, then rounds 17 through 21 are repeated multiple times to achieve the desired length. The thumb gusset begins on round 27 with strategic increases that continue every third round until 15 stitches are accumulated for the thumb opening. After the gusset stitches are placed on a holder, 5 stitches are cast on to close the gap, and the hand opening is shaped with decreases to return to the original stitch count. The finished mitts feature 9 twisted rib stitches between cable crossings, creating a balanced, wearable design.