she who watches too much sci-fi ([info]leapoftheory) wrote in [info]knitting,
@ 2008-11-20 18:40:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Current mood: confused
Entry tags:pattern request

Mitten Help!
So I have the world's ugliest mittens in my possession. Well, maybe not the ugliest ever but they're pretty unattractive. But they're also the warmest mittens I have ever owned. And they're dying a slow, ratty looking death. I would really like to replicate them since I have no idea where I could get another pair and I have the skills. Now, finding a basic mitten pattern is not terribly difficult, the hard part is figuring out the lining. These have a fleece lining inside. It looks to me like the fleece mitten was sewn up and then stuck inside the knitted mitten and sewn to the hem. But looking at it, there doesn't appear to be any visible seam! I cannot for the life of me figure out how this mitten was assembled so that the lining is sewn in without leaving an awful seam or falling apart.

So what I'm hoping you guys can help me with is 1) finding a really good simple mitten pattern (ribbed cuff, stockinette mitten, nothing fancy), and 2) Figuring out how to attach a fleece lining to the mitten without nasty visible seams.


(Post a new comment)


[info]bouwert
2008-11-21 12:00 am UTC (link)
Sorry for the vague nature of this reply, but I've seen mittens where the "outer" shell mitten is knit, and then stitches are picked up along the cuff, and essentially a second mitten is made, perhaps in a softer fiber than the outer shell. Then, the inner mitten is turned inside out/stuffed up back into the outer shell. Make sense?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]leapoftheory
2008-11-21 12:37 am UTC (link)
I see what you're saying, but that's far more complicated than this mitten. My linings are straight up polar fleece :). But this sounds like a neat way to make more knitting intensive versions for gifts. I might give this a shot once I get mitten knitting down.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]bouwert
2008-11-21 12:44 am UTC (link)
Yeah, as I re-read your post more closely I see that. ;) Lemme try again - You could make the mitten, make a lining of the appropriate size, poke small holes around the hem of the fleece mitten, and then crochet the two together at the hem. Have you seen the dish towels with the crocheted tops that allow them to hang on a drawer pull? The same idea is used to attach the crochet part to the towel.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]emmacrew
2008-11-21 02:01 am UTC (link)
Or just make the liner and pick up stitches around the edge and knit from there.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]gingy
2008-11-21 12:03 am UTC (link)
Seems to me as though the mitten's lining was sewn in while the mitten was inside out, before the tip was grafted or sewn closed.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]gingy
2008-11-21 12:03 am UTC (link)
Oh, and I'm making mittens on two needles from http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/2-needlemitts.html right now. EASY.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]leapoftheory
2008-11-21 12:15 am UTC (link)
Well, the tricksy part is that the lining isn't attached to the rest of the mitten- just the hem. I can pull the lining out of the mitten entirely, but the seam where it was sewn to the hem is invisible. I see where on the mitten it was sewn, but all evidence of what kind of thread or stitching was used to sew the lining down is nowhere to be seen. :(

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]gingy
2008-11-21 12:20 am UTC (link)
Okay, yeah. That sounds right to me. You have the lining and you have the mitten with the last (for instance) 6 sts on each needle (in the round), right? Then you put the two together at the hem, their right sides together, and sew it up. Then, turn it right side out, and graft the last sts together with Kitchener. The seam will not be visible.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]leapoftheory
2008-11-21 12:24 am UTC (link)
Crap, I think I wasn't clear. The lining isn't knit, it's just straight up polar fleece. Should I post a picture? I think I'm making this more complicated in my head than it needs to be. I know how to make the fleece lining, it's just a sewn deal, the sewing it to the mitten hem is throwing me because it seems like there would be an obvious seam at the hem if I did that. Like a big old thread line across my pretty knitted mitten shell, and I don't want that.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]gingy
2008-11-21 12:27 am UTC (link)
No, you're perfectly clear. I think if you sew it by hand, and catch only one or two strands of each stitch, what I described would work perfectly.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]leapoftheory
2008-11-21 12:34 am UTC (link)
I'm going to have a few things to learn on this one (I'm terrified of Kitchener, but I'm told it's very easy)! Thanks for the help!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]gingy
2008-11-21 12:36 am UTC (link)
It's SO easy. Look at Silver's Sock Class on Ravelry, it has clear instructions.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]con_grazia
2008-11-21 12:54 am UTC (link)
This video will completely take away your fear of the Kitchener stitch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhQYq-6UCKI

Whenenver I have to use it, I sit down in front of the video and just stop it and start it and go right along with her. Piece of cake. Totally!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]leapoftheory
2008-11-21 01:01 am UTC (link)
Oh awesome, thank you! *bookmarks*

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]quiet000001
2008-11-21 12:56 am UTC (link)
A picture might help, but what's described here is pretty much the way I can imagine doing it, also. Fleece is a pretty forgiving fabric to work with, so I think you could easily get away with spacing your stitches according to where you could hide them most easily on the knit side, and still end up with the things fixed together pretty well. (By forgiving in this case, I mean that if you end up with, say, two thread stitches close to each other, and then the next one is a little distance away because of the knit pattern, the fleece isn't going to get all weird and bunch up like a light weight fabric might.)

Although if you REALLY want to know, dedicate the mittens to the gods of knitting and cut 'em open so you can see where they're sewn together from both sides. :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]leapoftheory
2008-11-21 01:03 am UTC (link)
I thought about ripping them open, but then what would I wear on my hands between pairs? :-O I live in Vermont, where it's only gonna get colder. I decided being mittenless was a bad bad plan for crazy people only ;-p

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]saint_buddha
2008-11-21 12:05 am UTC (link)
Could they be mittens with thrumbs in them? Stephanie Pearl-McPhee has a great blog post about this type of mitten.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]leapoftheory
2008-11-21 12:17 am UTC (link)
Those are really neat, but not what I've got. I've got mittens with a knitted outside and a fleece inside. It's literally two mittens- one knit and one fleece sewn together. I can pull the fleece inside all the way out and examine the lining, but I can't for the life of me figure out how this woman stitched the lining to the hem of the knitted mitten because the seam is totally obscured by the yarn. Maybe I should add a picture to this post. That might help.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]saint_buddha
2008-11-21 12:25 am UTC (link)
You can knit the outside mitten starting with a provisional cast-on. Once you are finished with the outside mitten, then you can rip out the provisional cast-on and put the stitches on needle and knit the inside mitten which can be the same pattern as the outside mitten. Just make sure the thumbs are on the same side.

Edit: I just read your reply up above. Knit the mitten and then make the fleece lining. Make a crochet chain and sew the lining using a sewing machine or handstitching directly to the crochet chain. Then sew the crochet chain to the mitten's edge. It should be almost invisible.

Edited at 2008-11-21 12:31 am UTC

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]leapoftheory
2008-11-21 12:35 am UTC (link)
Oh, that makes sense. And it saves my mitten from being torn apart in search of the seaming method ;-p. I will have to come back and post my results when I get them done! :) Thank you!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]saint_buddha
2008-11-21 12:44 am UTC (link)
You're welcome.

As for a straight-forward pattern, may I suggest The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns: Basic Designs in Multiple Sizes & Gauges? It not only has a basic mitten pattern but it also has basic patterns for most articles of clothing. It is pretty awesome.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]leapoftheory
2008-11-21 01:00 am UTC (link)
Oh hey, that's on my Amazon wishlist! :) Good to know it comes recommended!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]tashabear
2008-11-21 12:10 am UTC (link)
Are they commercially-made mittens?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]leapoftheory
2008-11-21 12:21 am UTC (link)
Nope. They were hand knit by a local woman who no longer sells them through the shop I got them at. And I can't seem to locate her. I know she knit them herself though, because I later saw her and her wares at a craft show (I wanna say 3 years ago). Now that I want a new pair, she's nowhere to be found :(. I have not seen this type of mitten anywhere commercially. They're all linerless, and the liner is what keeps my hands from getting all hivey from the wool!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]mamaursula
2008-11-21 01:03 am UTC (link)
Knit your mitten (in the round), make your fleecy inside, turn the knit mitten inside out and sew the fleece sewn seem to the mitten between the stitches?

Or, was the knit mitten just knit fabric that was then cut and assembled? In which case you can sew the seams together?

I have obviously never lined anything, I just make things up as I go along. Do you have a picture? :-)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]mamaursula
2008-11-21 01:06 am UTC (link)
Okay, all the comments showed up when I posted, so disregard everything except the picture part.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]leapoftheory
2008-11-21 01:15 am UTC (link)
Not a good one. I tried to take a few earlier, but you can't really tell much from them. I think I'm going to try what [info]saint_buddha suggested and knit up the mitter, sew up the lining, and then sew the lining hem to a crochet chain that I sew onto the mitten. It makes the most sense to me based on this mitten. I'll have to post the finished object with directions when I get it done. :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]cableknitk8
2008-11-21 09:56 pm UTC (link)
I know this isn't really what you're looking for, but one easy way to get mittens that are warm and fuzzy on the inside is to knit them with a fairly heavy yarn, then turn them inside out and brush the insides with a dry nail cleaning brush until they're nice and fuzzy. Turn them right side out and you have warm mittens that are soft and fuzzy on the inside.

(Reply to this)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…