PDF file very kindly produced by Brenda Myers aka domedweller

Explorers Fingerless Mittens
(loom knitted)

I designed these simple yet very elegant fingerless mitts with a fitted thumb piece loom knitted directly into the hand for my teenage daughter Angelica, who is an Explorer Scout, forever outside so her hands become very chilly. She’d asked me for something to keep her hands and wrists warm but didn’t want her fingers restricted in any way so that she wouldn’t have to keep taking off the gloves to take part in the various scouting activities she enjoys very much.

Directions are given for both soft ruffle feminine edging and plain men’s style.

There are two mattress stitch seams : one small down the side and around the base of the thumb and a larger one down the length of the hand to join the two sides together which form the shape of the fingerless glove.

By knitting the fingerless gloves as flat panels instead of in the round, it makes it easier to adjust the size making this pattern versatile to fit any size of hand from toddlers up to largest adult hand size.

YARN
just 1/2 of one 100g skein of Colinette ART in shade 163 “Vincents Apron” was used in the example shown
(ART is a 79% merino and 21% bamboo blend which is super soft yet durable and easy to block into shape)

You can use any 10ply 8-10wpi (wraps per inch) aran or worsted weight yarn with a needle size of 5.0mm stated on the label.

Its best to choose a soft pure wool blend content for these fingerless gloves as this will give you a nicer fit which wont keep stretching out of shape across the hand, will last longer than ones made with 100% acrylic or synthetic yarn. If you have allergies towards animal fibers can I suggest a soft smooth cotton bamboo blend in the weight stated as a substitute, the resulting fingerless gloves will be luxurious and very flattering.

Yardage of approx 80 meters needed for pair of generous medium to average large adult size fingerless gloves, adjust yardage accordingly for the size of gloves you are making.

LOOMS & TOOLS
• loom hook
• large eye sewing needle

• CinDWood or Décor Accents Looms:
1/2 inch gauge round loom from CinDwood Crafts or Decor Accents RG (regular gauge) loom with enough pegs for the size
of glove you want to make:
o approx 21 pegs for smaller child size
o approx 23 to 25 pegs for large child size o approx 27 to 29 pegs for small to
medium teenage or ladies size
o approx 31 pegs for adult generous
medium to average large size ladies o approx 33 to 35 pegs for nicely large
mens size
(31 pegs of a 51 peg 1/2 inch gauge round loom was used in example shown)

For a non adjustable fit these can be made in the round using the 29 peg round 1/2 inch gauge loom

• Knifty Knitter Looms: If you do not have the 1/2 inch gauge looms, you can use any of the round Knifty Knitter looms using an odd number of pegs knitting as a flat panel. Slight adjustments will need to be made for the thumb row and the number of rows for the hand for a good fit.
For example: Using the large adult purple hat size or smallest 24 peg round loom using 23 pegs, working in flat panels not in the round, instead of the 11 pegs stated for the thumb section row you will probably only need 8 to 9 pegs with only 6 to 8 rows for the length of the thumb. The rows of the hand will need to be adjusted as well otherwise the resulting fingerless glove will be way too long, its best to do this by sizing as you go along measuring against your own hand but remember to make a note of how many rows you do for both hand section parts of the pattern so you can make the second fingerless glove of the pair exactly the same as the first.

Past experience shows me that the 24 pegs make a glove which is slightly on the large side for my hands, if that is the case for you as well then only use 23 pegs, as the first peg of each row is skipped and not worked, the flat panel will be smaller than if you worked all 24 pegs in the round.
For a non adjustable fit these can be made in the round using the 24 peg round loom

• Martha Stewart Weaving and Loom Knitting Kit: 3/4 inch gauge larger pegs inserting every other hole use the same instructions as given for Knifty Knitter style looms. Working with the small pegs inserted into every hole you only need a very slight adjustment to the number of pegs needed in your cast on row, cast on 37 for example shown, thumb section row will be 15 instead of 11 stitches wide and the length of thumb and hand will be the more or less the same, these are just guesses as I haven’t had time to make a pair on the MS loom yet so if you do make a pair using this loom, let me know how many stitches you used so I can add the info here.