Butterfly Kisses KAL: Finishing the Hand

Now that we have shaped our thumb gusset, it's time to finish the hand of our mitts.

If you need to review any of the Butterfly Kisses KAL lessons along the way, a complete list of tutorial links is available on the KAL Introduction page. My thanks to Skacel for providing me with the HiKoo Sueño Tonal yarn and addi Natura dpns for this KAL.

Lesson 6: Finishing the Hand

Holding the Gusset Stitches

After the gusset of a mitten or glove is completed, you have to do two things before working the remainder of the hand. First, all of the gusset stitches need to be held on a stitch holder or piece of waste yarn. Then you need to cast on a single stitch so no gap is created in the space where the gusset stitches were worked.

Now, you are ready to finish knitting the top part of the hand.

Binding Off

I had planned on teaching you a stretchy bind off, but found that a traditional bind off works nicely for these mitts. Even if you know how to do a traditional bind off, watch this mini lesson for tips on working it in the round. There's a really cool trick at the end that you won't want to miss.

Pattern

(If you would like a printable copy of the entire pattern, Butterfly Kisses is available in my shop.)

Rnd 30: k5, slip 15 gusset sts onto a piece of waste yarn, CO 1, k40.

It may be helpful to place markers on either side of the CO st as a reminder that this st is not in the bowknot pattern.

Rnd 31-32, 34, 36: k all sts.

Rnd 33, 35, 37: k6, [k5, yfwd, sl5, ybk] 4 times.

Rnd 38: k6, [k7, make Bowknot, k2] 4 times.

Rnd 39-42, 44, 46: k all sts.

Rnd 43, 45, 47: yfwd, sl5, ybk, k1, [yfwd, sl5, yb, k5] 4 times.

Rnd 48: k2, make Bowknot, k3, [k2, make Bowknot, k7].

Rnd 49: k all sts.

Rnd 50: k4, k2tog, k40.

Work 3 x 2 Ribbing for at least 1 inch or desired length.

3 x 2 Ribbing All Rnds: p1, k3, [p2, k3] to last stitch, p1.

Bind off.

In the final lesson, I'll show you how to knit the thumb so there are no unsightly holes.

Post Your Progress

Here are my mitts so far.

I'd love to see your progress. Don't forget to share pictures of your work on Facebook and Instagram with #thechillydog and tag me @thechillydog.