Knucks

Knucks is a pattern written by a wonderful knitter, Pamela Grossman, for fingerless mittens.  I remember when the pattern was first published, because my dear friend Elizabeth Thompson knitted and embellished a pair for the write up.

[Elizabeth once knit this absolutely incredible pair of baby pants for me, and I have to digress to show them to you…

Aren't they amazing?]

So, Knucks.  I've been in search of just the right pattern for the fingerless mitts my six year old wants.  He wanted partial fingers, rather than the style that just wraps around the hand.  In the middle of searching Ravelry for a pattern, Knucks popped up.  Why hadn't I thought of them earlier?  And, predictably, Pamela had included a child's size in her pattern.

I was all set — ready to swatch them in some Alpaca I had dyed in Ollie's favorite colorway, Eco, a shading of greens.

I swatched on the way to a Labor Day picnic.  It was a long drive so I swatched further than I normally would have.

When I was done, I realized it was a total disaster.  This yarn was much bulkier than the yarn the pattern was written for, and taking it down to a needle size that would have made it close would result in a fabric so dense there would be no give in it.

Fortunately, we had a long drive home.  I promised Ollie a pair of Knucks as soon as I could make it to the store toss my stash (really!) to get a more appropriate yarn.  And, in the meantime, I knit a second swatch and apologized to him for making something that wasn't exactly what he wanted.

Not much too it — just two squares.  I took a bit of extra care when doing mattress stitch to match up the edges to let the stockinette roll, and left about 3/4" unstitched for a nice little thumb hole.  He seems quite taken with them — and fell asleep wearing them.

But, next on my list is a pair of knucks.