Simple Fingerless Gloves

After I made the heart hat, I wanted to make the coordinating striped mittens from the Pickles website. However, after talking to Amy, we decided there wasn't much need for mittens in sunny SoCal, and that I should make fingerless gloves instead. My first attempt was to imitate the stripes on the original mitten pattern, but then I realized I would never ever wear the clown-ish mitts pictured below. Instead, I opted for a solid from the soft merino wool leftover from the hat base color and knit some simple cream gloves, which I love.

The first attempt to match the heart hat mittens

To make the solid fingerless gloves, I used the malabrigo merino wool yarn leftover from the hat in natural #63. I picked up some amazing KA brand US 8 needles in only a 9" circular so that I could knit these in the round instead of DPN which was really fun. These needles seem to be very hard to find but I got them at Knitting by the Beach in Solana Beach, or it looks like you could order them online here.

Start by CO 32 sts (I used the Cable Cast-On method for this, see post in March)

Join the round being careful not to twist the sts.

Work in a rib stitch, K2, P2 for 22 rounds, or until the piece is about 3"

K all sts for 2 rounds.
(Here is where you can continue in St stitch, knit every stitch, in the round for a longer length, if desired. I wanted mine to be fairly short and just cover my wrists, so I only knit 2 rounds before moving on to the hand section.)

My gloves just cover the wrist.

Make 1 st (M1), K6, M1, K to the end of the round.
You should have 34 sts at the end of this round.

K all sts for 3 rounds.

M1, K8, M1, K to the end of the round.
You should have 36 sts at the end of this round.

K all sts for 3 rounds.

M1, K10, M1, K to the end of the round.
You should have 38 sts at the end of this round.

K all sts for 3 rounds.

Here you'll make the thumb hole:
K2, Bind-off 8 sts, K to the end of the round.
This part is tricky because you really need to K4 at the start of the row so that when you begin to bind-off, you leave 2 sts at the start of the round and bind-off the following 8 sts.
You should have 30 sts at the end of this round.

K2, Cast-on 2, K to the end of the round.
You should have 32 sts at the end of this round.
When you cast-on here, you want to use the Backwards Tail method. It is show here under "Single Cast-On, also known as Backward-Loop Cast-On"

K all sts for 8 rounds or until the section after the thumb is approx. 1.5"

Switch to the rib st, K2, P2 for 5 rows or until the rib section measures about 1"

Bind-off and assemble ends.

The other glove is made in exactly the same way, just flip it over. This pattern was based on a pattern from Lion Brand Yarn, shown here.