Winter Snows MKAL – Clue 4

We’ve made it to the last week of January and the last clue for our mittens. Here are my mittens so far, they really need a good blocking!

This week, we’ll be knitting our thumbs and finishing the mittens.

Let’s talk about the thumb…

Last week I showed you how to take out the scrap yarn and put the thumb stitches on the needles. One complaint people often have about knitting mittens is that they get holes at the sides of the thumbs. The way I prevent those holes is by picking up two stitches on each side of the thumb from the mitten and then knitting them together. Typically, this leaves no holes or at the very least one that is much smaller and easier to close than picking up one.

As for length, it is very easy to customize on the thumb because you can try the mitten on as you go along. Knit the thumb straight until it hits the middle of your thumbnail. Then you can start your decreases. Just make sure to keep going with the color pattern as you are working it.

I seam my thumb with Kitchener stitch even though it is only a few stitches. I like the way it mirrors the top of the hand. If you prefer you can just weave the tail through the remaining stitches and pull it tight.

Finally, you may wonder why the dot pattern on the thumbs isn’t all the way to the edges at the top and looks a little loop-sided on some. I have found that if you have a stitch of colorwork in the first two stitches of an area you are doing decreases it just gets lost in the decrease or looks really sloppy, so I leave them out. When the thumb is all knit the pattern will look just fine.

Clue 4

Make sure if you are doing the small or large size that you use the correct chart for each hand. If you are knitting a medium, the chart is the same for both hands.

Winter Snows Mittens Small Clue 4
Winter Snows Mittens Medium Clue 4
Winter Snows Mittens Large Clue 4