Machine Knittin': Some mittens

I took another (unsuccessful) run at the previously-failed neckline for the knitalong sweater this weekend. I have learned that I have much to learn about taking off ribbing with circular knitting but also I don't want to talk about it.

Instead let's talk about these!

My hands modeling fingerless gray mitts with blue and green color variations with 1x1 and English rib textures.
The "palms-up" view of the same mitts.

I made these based on the Fingerless Mitt to Knit by Diana Sullivan (from Austin, TX). Diana doesn't give gauge or final measurements, or discuss blocking, so I made them almost exactly according to pattern.

Diana calls for superwash sock yarn, so I picked up a skein from Knitty City while I was out on some errands. I finally got to try out my fancy new yarn winder, which was pretty fun.

Yarn winder attached to countertop, ready to turn this skein into a cake.
Caked yarn on the winder posed with the label for the yarn. Lang Yarns MixTapeSoxx Super Soxx color 4-ply superwash.
The cake extracted from the winder, with the label stuffed into the center like I saw @KnitFactoryImpl do it.

Each mitt is knit in two parts:

  • The main body is knit from the wrist-up. 51 stitches set up for 1x1 rib (I used 53). Do 40 rows of the 1x1 rib. Then switch to English rib by setting the ribber carriage to tuck to the left and do another 40 rows. Back to 1x1 rib for 8 rows for the top of the mitt. Finally, transfer all stitches to the main bed, knit one row at the loosest tension, and do a loose loop-through-loop bind-off.
  • The thumb portion is knit as a triangle, starting from the tip of the thumb. 25 stitches in 1x1 rib for 4 rows. Switch to English rib and decrease by 1 stitch on each bed on each side (so, 4 stitches total). Repeat until you're down to 1 stitch, knit twice on that one needle, and you're done.
Body of the mitt, fresh off the machine.
The little thumb cover!

I'm still pretty new to sewing-up knits, so I ended up doing the first one in stops-and-starts. It begins by attaching the thumb piece to one side of the body by lining up the tiny triangle end of the thumb to the first row of English rib on the body.

I did my best approximation of a mattress stitch here, making the mistake of trying to also "match up" the English rib sections of both pieces, even though the body had a lot more stitches of rib to work with.

In-progress sewing-up photo of the mitt. The thumb has been attached to one side. The thumb has been incorrectly sewn to the mitt all the way to the top, leaving no stitches to close around the thumb itself.

Thankfully it was easy to unravel my mistake. I made things a bit easier for myself on the second one. It paid to go slow and simply count stitches, stopping when I ran out of English rib stitches to sew from the thumb.

Second mitt ready to sew up. The transitions between 1x1 rib and English rib are marked with purple stitch markers.