mittens

[chickie]

 want to make mittens.  I love the ones that have the back loop only/ribbed cuffs, but then I mess up on the very top and they come out pointed or with holes.  Also, I hate doing the thumb on this type of pattern because it always feels tight around the base when I sew it on. 

 

 I found a pattern that lets me start at the top with a magic circle and work in rounds and add the thumb when I get to that point. I like doing it this way because it gives me a nice rounded top that's tight and well shaped.

 

But I have 2 problems.  The first is that I end up with extra stitches when I add the thumb. The second is I don't get that nice ribbed cuff that's so warm.

 

Does anyone have any hints on how I can not have such trouble around the thumb?  I end up having to make both mittens at the same time, row by row, just to get them to look alike. I add the thumb (which is made separately) with 4 stitches, then continue all around, but always end up with too many stitches.

 

And is there a way to make a ribbed cuff when starting from the top?

 

Thanks for any help.

[magiccrochetfan]

you can make a rib by doing front and back post sts.  it may not be as stretchy as the back loop method (but then my crochet rib is never very stretchy no matter how i do it).  tutorial http://www.dummies.com/crafts/crocheting/how-to-crochet-post-stitch-ribbing/

 

for the other construction questions it would help to know the specific pattern you are using.  

[chickie]

That's a good idea, using front and back post stitches. I don't imagine it will be stretchy like I wanted, but it would look very nice. I'll try that tonight. Thanks!

 

As for the pattern I'm using, it's sort of made up, so I'll just give you the idea here to let you know where I go wrong.  I just do a magic circle, do 8sc in ring, then 2 in each for 16, then 1 sc, 2 sc, etc, so you end up with 28 sc at the base of thumb. Then you make a thumb. You lay the thumb on the hand so that they are both pointing up and sew them together just on one side, where they touch each other, using about 4 stitches.  You tie them off and attach yarn and start doing rds again.  The problem is that you have 28 sc on the hand, and about 11 sc around the base of the thumb.. So all of a sudden you are making 39 sc around.  So you have to start doing sc2tog for a few rds so you can get back to 28.  It's doable, but confusing.  Which is why I work on both mittens at once.  And I don't see a pattern anywhere that does it this way.

 

I have been struggling with mittens for 2 years now.  I see people say mittens are SO easy. Why do I not get it?? 

 

Thanks for any help!

[Granny Square]

re: the ribbing -- some patterns have you sew on ribbing as the last step of a garment --like a sweater for example, when the pieces are sewn up including shoulder seams, the neck ribbing is made separately, joined into a band and sewn onto the neckline--this should work fine for your top-down mittens.  You just need to be careful to keep the sewing-up at the same tension as the rest of the fabric, which goes for your thumb-seam as well.

 

Not sure if you have already looked at these patterns, here's a search on free top-down mitten patterns

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#view=captioned_thumbs&craft=crochet&page=1&pa=top-down&query=mittens%20&availability=free&sort=best

I haven't made these, but the "perfect fit" mittens caught my eye and got a favorable and "it's easy" review.  The "be the change" mittens had a lot of project with favorable reviews.

[chickie]

Thank you Granny Square. Both the Perfect Fit ones and Be the Change seemed hopeful until I read that the thumb is worked from the base to the tip.  I really have such a hard time with the two together stiches when I reach the very tip. I'd rather start at the top. Maybe it's the arthritic fingers that don't want to work that well, but I'm determined to make mittens for the shelter, so I'll keep looking for a pattern I can do.