I can’t survive winter without a pair of fingerless mittens, I wear them all day long inside and outside the house. They keep my hands and wrists warm but fingers free to work, type and use my touch screen.
So here is a crochet pattern for the mittens you see above. Although I used handspun wool, you could substitute it with another DK weight yarn.
The mittens are worked flat, then sewn together, leaving a hole for the thumb. It’s an easy and fast project using two different stitches, riddle stitch and half double crochet.
The pattern is written in standard American/U.S. English terms.
Fingerless Mittens – Crochet Pattern
Size
One size will fit an average hand, 21 cm (8“) long
Material
About 70 m (77 yards) handspun wool or other wool in DK weight, yarn in contrasting colours for the edges
Crochet hook Size 5mm or size to obtain gauge
Large-eyed blunt needle
Gauge
10 sts and 10 rows in hdc = 10cm (4”)
Stitch explanation
slip stitch – insert hook in stitch, yarn over and draw loop through stitch and loop on hook
single crochet – insert hook in stitch, yarn over and pull up loop, yarn over and draw through both loops on hook.
double crochet – yarn over, insert hook in stitch, yarn over and pull up loop (3 loops on hook), yarn over and draw through 2 loops, yarn over and draw through 2 remaining loops.
half double crochet – yarn over, insert hook in stitch, yarn over and pull up loop (3 loops on hook), yarn over and draw through all loops on hook.
Abbreviations
Ch – chain
Ch sp – chain space
Dc – double crochet
Hdc – half double crochet
Sl st – slip stitch
Sc – single crochet
St(s) – stitch(es)
Mittens
Ch 26
Row 1: 1ch, skip 2 ch sts,* work (1sc, 1ch, 1dc) in next ch st, skip 2 ch sts *.Repeat from * to * across the row. End by working 1 sc in last ch st of row.
Row 2: 1ch,* work (1sc, 1ch, 1dc) in 1-st chain loop *. Repeat from * to * across the row. End by working 1 sc in ch st at beginning of the preceding row.
Row 3 to 8: Repeat row 2.
Row 9: Ch 2, miss first st, hdc in next stitch, hdc in each stitch until end of row – 21 sts.
Row 10: Ch 2, miss first st, hdc in next st, hdc across row. Last stitch into top stitch of beg ch 2.
Row 11 to 17: Repeat row 10. Break off yarn leaving long tail for stitching.
Picot twist edging
The top edge gets a twisted picot edge.
Row 1 (RS): Join yarn in contrasting colour, ch 1, 1 dc into first st and each st to end, turn.
Row 2: 3 ch, 1 sc into back loop of first st. * 3 ch, 1 sl st into front loop of next st, 3 ch, 1 dc into back loop of next st, rep from * to end.
Break yarn.
Double crochet edging
The bottom edge of the mitten gets a dc edging.
Working from right to left along the row, work a row of dc stitches into the crochet fabric, spacing the stitches evenly along the edge.
Thumb
With a tapestry needle sew mittens stitch to stitch while leaving a hole for the thumb. My thumb hole starts 4cm (2”) from the top edge, measuring 5 cm (2”).
Row 1: With RS facing, join yarn with a sc at seamline, evenly work sc around.
Break yarn.
Weave in ends.
Note for hand spinners
I first kettle dyed a Shetland wool/bleached tussah silk top using emerald green, turquoise and yellow acid dyes and then spun a 2 ply yarn from it.
Where to get handspun yarn
In the Uk there is Hilltop Cloud, a shop offering yarn and fibre, all hand dyed or Barber Black Sheep with a similar product range.
In the US there is Spincycle Yarns, and many more shops on Etsy where spinners sell their yarns, it’s worth looking around, also to just marvel at the beautiful yarns that people make by hand.
Check out my pom pom earflap hat pattern, also made from handspun yarn.
