Frustrating, but good recovery even if it isn't as perfect. And great that it keeps your hand and wrist warm just as you need.

I love fingerless mitts, especially when walking the dogs, gloves just end up with soggy fingers.

It has occurred to me that I could wear these inside old leather gloves for extra protection--a little more warmth, but not "crowding" the fingers.

One of the things about country living is that stuff doesn't have to be perfect to be workable/usable/"good enough." This particular project is more along the lines of "duct tape and baling wire" than perfection. But it works.

I really like these. My mother knitted a number of them - I'm wearing some purple ones now. Very useful if you live in a cold house.

My mother knitted full mittens, but I've now worn out or lost all but one. (She died in 1990.) I need to make a pair or two of those, too. But mostly we're not cold enough to need full mittens, and I need the use of fingers. The house isn't cold by English standards, but where I write *is* cold when a blue norther roars in.

I'm sorry you dropped your stitches!

And hope you feel well again soon.

Me, too, on both of those. I'm a little better today, but still having paroxysmal coughing fits from time to time.

Don't forget the raw honey if you have access to some. It does wonders.

Not bad at all for a first attempt!

How many stitches do you think you'll need to pick up to build up the thumb section?

I haven't a clue. The only thing I can think of to do is take another hunk of yarn and knit a tube that looks "about right", see if it fits on my thumb the way I'd like, and then stare at it a long, long time, while I figure out how it would be possible to go from "large comfortable opening here" to "end of tube the right size there."

Suggestions?

Typically I've had to pick up 4 stitches for the thumb, but that's with fingering weight yarn. If you're using worsted weight here, I'd suggest you try picking up 2 stitches, from the side of the tube that's between your thumb and fingers.

Personal tip: I've found it useful to have a nice long tail available when I am picking up stitches on a thumb. A long tail comes in handy to fill in any gaps when you're ready to weave in the ends.

ETA: I've usually found that you don't have to knit that many rounds on the thumb for a fingerless mitt. With fingering weight yarn, it's been anywhere from 5-10 rounds. And for a bind-off, I recommend going with something like Jeny's SSO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abBhe-JYmgI) or a similarly flexible BO. Your thumb knuckle will appreciate it.

Edited at 2016-02-15 03:58 pm (UTC)

When you say "pick up stitches" do you mean "pick up" as in "pick up stitches alongside a heel flap"??

I have 24 stitches (10 on stitch holder, 14 "slipped" along the sides of the flat-knitting part) available for picking up, and the circumference of my thumb is 2 1/2 inches. At my gauge with this yarn, 7 stitches/ inch, that's 18 inches for the thumb. I had added 10 stitches between the cuff and the thumb hole on the bottom, and added 6 at the top of the thumb hole to rejoin at the top. As I understand it, I need to decrease six stitches from the 24 to get the 18 I need for the thumb-column. I was planning to spread those out around the margin of the hole. Is that anywhere close to right?

I wish the person in the video of the super-stretchy bind-off had *slowed down more* on every moment. Because she doesn't hold the yarn the way I do, I found it difficult to follow her movements on some parts of the demo...brain was trying to translate to a different system. I sorta got it, but not enough. I very much liked the way of joining the bind-off into the "rim" by weaving the tail into the starting stitch. Thanks for the link.

Yep, it's a lot like picking up stitches on a heel flap. The tricky bit is, your working yarn isn't going to be attached to anything, so if you're not careful, you'll pull the tail too much.

Try this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQPiqp4KGGo - for seeing how to divide the stitches and pick up new stitches for the thumb, and the model looks like a decent size.