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My Mellow Mitts are finally done and I’m ready to show them off. Things kept getting in the way of the knitting of these. Not big things, just ordinary life things. In fact so many life things happened that there was one day that I didn’t knit at all, not one little stitch. That just doesn’t happen to me. So yesterday, when I got home, I blew off all my obligations and responsibilities and knitted on these mitts. I ignored life (and this blog) and knitted away until my mitts were done. By the time I was casting off, I felt much better. I was happy and smiling and all mellowed out. Ahh the power of yarn.

Mellow Mitts are opera-length fingerless gloves made with fingering weight yarn. The pattern below includes options for small, medium, and large sizes.

Size	Circumference of Your Palm	Cast-On	Amount of yarn needed
Small	7 - 8 in (18-20 cm)	48	320 yds (293 m)
Medium	8 - 9 in (18-23 cm)	56	380 yds (347 m)
Large	10 - 11 in (23 - 25 cm)	64	430 yds (393 m)

I made mine with Chroma Fingering in colorway Seafoam.

Chroma Fingering Yarn
from: Knit Picks

If you are a follower of this blog that probably doesn’t surprise you. I do like that Chroma yarn. This is the third pattern I’ve published with it. (And just last week when I was making up an order of more yarn from Knit Picks I was sooooo tempted to get more because Chroma is currently on sale and the colorway Lupine is just to die for. Instead I was good and stuck with my original plan to only buy CotLin and Palette. But it was hard.) The color Seafoam doesn’t seem to be available anymore. Those darn yarn companies are always adding new colors, which I applaud, and taking away old colors, which I deplore. (Which probably means I really should have ordered some of that Lupine Chroma because in month they’ll discontinue it or something and I’ll be kicking myself.)

Theses mitts are intended to be long, over-the-elbow fingerless gloves. There is something so elegant about gloves that extend over your elbow. To shape the glove and make it taper down the length of the arm I used yarn-over spacing.

There are no decreases, not until you reach the wrist. In the beginning, at the elbow, there is a “yarn over, ssk to end” every second row. Then it changes to ever third row. Then to every fourth row and so on. By gradually making the yarn-overs less and less frequent, the fabric naturally narrows and it do so in a way that doesn’t bind or pinch. It retains lots of stretchiness which is pretty important for a comfortable fitting glove.

I like my thumb gussets to be wide and flexible. There will be a hole at the base of the thumb that you close up afterwards.

Just follow the link to a photo tutorial for closing up a thumb gusset hole.

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Mellow Mitts – opera-length fingerless gloves

Yarn = Chroma Fingering yarn (one ball to two balls depending on size made)

Needles = US size 2 (2.25mm) for working in the round. Check out my free tutorial for using double pointed needles or magic looping with a circular.

Gauge = 32 sts =4 inches (10 cm) in plain stockinette

Notions = two stitch markers for the thumb increases and a tapestry needle for sewing in ends

Stitch Abbreviations

• k = knit
• p = purl
• YO = Yarn Over
• ssk = slip, slip knit (Slip two stitches knit-wise one at a time. Insert the left tip into the front of both slipped stitches and knit them together.)
• M1L = pick up the horizontal strand between two stitches by inserting the left needle from front to back and knit into the back loop.
• M1R = pick up the horizontal strand between two stitches by inserting the left needle from back to front and knit normally.
• pm = place a stitch marker
• sm = slip stitch marker

 

Cast On 48 (56,64) sts. Join to work in the round.

The Arm

Set Up Round 1: k

Set Up Round 2: p

Set Up Round 3: k

Set Up Round 4: p

Section 1

Round 1: k

Round 2: *YO, ssk* to end

Work Rounds 1 & 2 a total of ten (11, 12) times

Section 2

Round 1 & 2: k

Round 3: *YO, ssk* to end

Work Rounds 1 – 3 a total of ten (11, 12) times

Section 3

Round 1 – 3: k

Round 4: *YO, ssk* to end

Work Rounds 1 – 4 a total of ten (11, 12) times

Section 4

Round 1 – 4: k

Round 5: *YO, ssk* to end

Work Rounds 1 – 5 a total of ten (11, 12) times

Note: Want your gloves to be shorter? Simply work fewer repeats of each section!

Wrist Decreases

Round 1 : k

Round 2: *k2, ssk* to end (36, 42, 48 sts)

Rounds 3 – 10 (11, 12): k

Thumb Increases

Round 1: k 18(21, 24), M1L, k to end (37, 43, 49 sts)

Round 2: k

Round 3: k 18 (21, 24) pm, M1R, k1, M1L, pm, k to end (39, 45, 51 sts)

Round 4: k

Round 5: k to marker, sm, M1R, k to marker, M1L, sm, k to end

Round 6: k

Repeat rounds 5 & 6 nine (11, 13) more times, until there are 59 (69, 79) sts on the needles.

Palm

Set up round : k 18 (21, 24) sts, remove marker, place next 23 (27, 31) sts onto waste yarn, remove next marker, k to end (36, 42, 48 sts)

Round 1: **YO, ssk* to end

Rounds 2 – 5: k

Round 6: *YO, ssk* to end

Rounds 7 – 9: k

Round 10: *YO, ssk* to end

Rounds 11 & 12: k

Round 13: *YO, ssk* to end

Round 14: k

Round 15: p

Round 16: k

Round 17: p

Round 18: k

Bind off.

Finishing the Thumb

Pick up 23 (27, 31) sts from waste yarn. Join in new yarn (leave a long tail for closing your thumb gusset hole later) and work in the round.

Rounds 1 – 4: k

Round 5: p

Round 6: k

Round 7: p

Round 8: k

Bind Off. Weave in ends and close up that hole at the base of the thumb. You can find my free tutorial for that right here.

Now make your second mitt. Then enjoy!

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You can find my other free patterns right here.