Crochet guide
How crochet mittens and fingerless gloves are made
Crochet mittens and fingerless mitts are built in three ways. From the cuff up, a mitten starts at the wrist and closes over the fingertips. From the fingertips down, it starts at the top and ends with the cuff. Flat, a fingerless mitt is worked in rows, then folded and seamed. This guide explains each way, the thumb and the cuff. It is not a pattern.
On this page 12 parts
Mittens, gloves and fingerless mitts
A mitten covers the four fingers together and the thumb by itself. A glove has a separate covering for each finger. A fingerless glove, also called a fingerless mitt or a wrist warmer, covers the hand and leaves the fingers free.
This guide covers mittens and fingerless mitts. Every one has the same parts: a cuff at the wrist, a hand, and an opening or a covering for the thumb.
The three ways, side by side
| Way | It starts with | How the top is closed | Worked in |
|---|---|---|---|
| From the cuff up | The cuff | Decrease rounds, then the yarn tail drawn through the last round | Rounds |
| From the fingertips down | A small ring of stitches at the top | Nothing to close: the mitten starts at the top | Rounds |
| Flat, for a fingerless mitt | A chain | Left open, for the fingers | Rows, then a seam |
From the cuff up
The cuff is made first. The hand is then worked in rounds from the edge of the cuff toward the fingers. See working in the round.
The rounds go on until the piece reaches the base of the thumb. There an opening is made for the thumb, and the rounds carry on above it to the fingertips. More or fewer rounds make the mitten longer or shorter.
The top is shaped and closed, and the thumb is worked last.
From the fingertips down
A mitten can start at the top. It begins as a small ring of stitches and widens with increases until it fits around the fingers. It is worked down the hand in rounds and ends with the cuff. It starts at its closed end, so no closing step is left.
The thumb is still a small tube of its own. As in a mitten worked from the cuff up, it can be added last, into an opening left for it.
Flat, and seamed
A fingerless mitt can be a plain rectangle worked in rows. The rectangle is folded, and its edges are seamed, with the seam left open for a short way where the thumb comes through. No rounds are worked. See joining and seaming pieces.
The cuff
The cuff is usually ribbing, which stretches. It is made in one of two ways.
- First, as a strip. The ribbing is worked in short rows until the strip wraps around the wrist. Its two ends are joined into a loop, and the hand is worked into the edge of the loop.
- Last, onto the hand. The ribbing is worked in short rows that run sideways to the bottom edge of the mitten, and each row is joined to that edge as it goes.
The cuff has to stretch over the widest part of the hand and still sit close at the wrist. When the cuff is made first, try it on before you work the hand.
The thumb opening
There are two ways to make room for the thumb.
A gap. In the round where the thumb begins, some stitches are skipped and a chain is made over them. The next round is worked across the chains. This leaves a slot in the fabric, and the thumb is worked into it later.
A gusset. Increases are worked at the thumb side over several rounds, so that the hand widens toward the base of the thumb. Then the added stitches are set apart for the thumb, and the hand carries on without them.
Working the thumb
The thumb is a small tube worked in rounds. Yarn is joined at the opening. The first round is worked into the skipped stitches along the bottom of the opening and into the chains along its top. See joining new yarn.
The rounds go on to the tip of the thumb, and the tip is closed like the top of the mitten.
A small hole is often left where the thumb meets the hand. Sew it shut with the yarn tail. See weaving in ends.
Closing the top
A mitten worked from the cuff up is narrowed at the top with one or more rounds of decreases. The yarn is cut, and the tail is threaded through the stitches of the last round with a yarn needle. Pulling the tail draws the hole shut.
Fingerless mitts
A fingerless mitt is a mitten that stops before the fingers. Worked in rounds, it needs only a gap for the thumb, and the top is left open. A few rounds or a narrow cuff can be worked around the thumb opening.
A convertible mitten is a fingerless mitt with a cover for the fingers. The cover is attached to the mitt. It folds over the fingertips, or back out of the way.
Size and fit
Two measurements size a mitten: the distance around the hand at its widest part, without the thumb, and the length of the hand from the wrist to the tip of the longest finger. Measuring for crochet clothes explains how a pattern's measurements are compared with the body, and Crochet gauge how to match a pattern's size.
Where to go next
- Crochet ribbing, for the cuff.
- Working in the round, for the hand and the thumb.
- Decreases, for the top.
- Joining new yarn, for starting the thumb.
- How a crochet hat is made, which is built in three ways much like these.