Description

I always have a cold nose, cold ears, cold toes, and cold hands, but I need my fingers free to knit and type. Fingerless mitts are a perfect way to do that, as long as they have long cuffs to tuck into my sleeves and long tips to cover as much of my fingers as possible. Because I wear them incessantly, my fingerless mitts often lose their elasticity, so a stitch definition to preserve that is a real plus.

When I saw a twisted rib motif in a stitch dictionary one day, my mind went immediately to a mitt pattern. The three-dimensionality and texture of a twisted rib is striking and so easy to create. Be sure, if you use double-pointed needles, to pull the connection tight over the needle transition. I like to end a needle with a purl stitch and begin the next needle with a twisted knit stitch, but some people like to do the opposite. Experiment and see which works best for you. These mitts have it all, as far as I’m concerned (with the added bonus of not needing a formal blocking!).

Danish Version: https://strikkeglad.dk/34795/te-og-boller/

I usually use two circular needles for these mitts (once I knit two pair on those needles at the same time!), though I’ve used double-pointed needles, also. As far as yarn, I like using a multi-ply yarn with plenty of nylon for strength and spring.

Tip: you don’t need to use a cable needle for the wraps if you’d rather not. Just knit the stitches in pattern, bring the working yarn to the front, slip the three stitches to the left needle, bring the working yarn to the back wrapping it around the three stitches, slip the three stitches back to the right needle, and repeat.

Errata: On the Knitty version, there is a missing pick-up-and-knit stitch in the set-up round for the S/M thumb. It should read:
Setup Round: Transfer 21 thumb sts onto DPNs. Starting at center of cast on stitches, rejoin yarn and pick up and knit the center cast-on st, pick up and knit the next cast-on stitch, pick and knit a stitch in the area before the next stitch,p1, k1 tbl; repeat from * to last held st, p1, pick up and knit two stitches in the area before the next stitch, pick up and knit the last cast-on stitch, pm. 26 sts.*

Also Available on Ravelry and Knitty