A fellow knitter asked me about this. I thought I would post it for anybody who’s knitting mittens and aren’t sure of the sizes needed. I don’t like following a pattern. I’m one of those knitters who likes it broken down into inches. Knit by the inch. I knit charity mittens, so here are my measurements based on experience.
Use a 1-3 inch cuff for all sizes.
Distance from top of cuff to thumb opening:
Ages 3-5 1 1/2 inches
Ages 6-8 1 1/2 inches
Ages 8-10 1 3/4 inches
Small adult 2 1/4 inches
Medium adult 2 1/2 inches
Large adult 2 3/4 inches
Thumb length will be the same as the above.
Total length of mitten from top of cuff where stockinette begins to top of mitten:
Ages 3-5 4 1/2 inches
Ages 6-8 5 inches
Ages 8-10 5 1/2 inches
Adult small 7 inches
Adult medium 7 1/2 inches
Adult large 8 inches
Add one to three inches to these measurements including the cuff length you choose.
I stop a half inch short of these thumb opening to top of mitten measurements and divide these stitches in half for magic loop. You can place a marker at the halfway point if using straights or double points. K1, ssk, knit to three stitches before marker, k2tog, k1. Repeat for stitches after the marker. I do this on every row until I’m down to about 8 stitches, cut the yarn, draw through the loops, and fasten off. These decreases come out to about half an inch.
On any size chart you find online, they never tell you the distance from the top of the cuff to the thumb opening. This is going to be the same measurement as for the thumb length. Hope this helps.
I’ll add that most mitten patterns say to start the decreases when the mitten reaches the tip of the little finger. For an adult, that may be an inch or 2 shorter than the tip of the longest finger which would be the whole length of it.
When I do it from that point, the tops of my mittens seem to be tight and uncomfortable. I do it at the point where the knitting covers the top of the index and ring fingers, then do my decreases as written here. The measurements are for when you’re knitting these as a gift and don’t have the person near by to measure. They’re general guidelines.
I have been making mittens for some girls that come through my crossing area ( I am a school Crossing guard) as a reward for positive behavior and the girls all wanted convertible mittens. So to make them I used the Magic loop method and on the palm side I knitted till it reached the bottom of my little finger and I then knitted across with waste yarn and purled back. Then resumed the original yarn and finished the top of the mitten. Then picked up the stitches on the waste yarn and knitted a few rows of ribbing. All I had to do to finish it was to sew the sides down. Then pick up the stitches for the thumb and finish it. It is easy to convert a mitten pattern to the convertible style by doing that.
Awesome! I knit for charity too, and while hats and sweaters tend to be my thing, I do try - and I mean try - to toss in some mittens once in a while. Never have felt very successful at them and maybe not following a pattern would be the way to go.
Any rough yarn estimates to go with these measurements? I’ve had to frog three projects lately because I’m trying to use up yarn and I keep losing at yarn chicken.
I wrote the whole thing out. It seems like something that is really good to know and I really appreciate that you took the time to give us this helpful ‘recipe’…
Hugs,
TEMA
I’ve had to frog three projects lately because I’m trying to use up yarn and I keep losing at yarn chicken.