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Peasant Thumb for Top-Down Mittens

This article is part of my universal basic mittens pattern.

This is probably the easiest thumb pattern. Because there’s no gusset for the thumb your mitten should have some positive ease meaning that the circumference of your mitten should be larger than the circumference of your hand.

Your mitten should now cover the top of your hand from the tip of your longest finger to the base of the thumb or equal the measurement A on the size chart.

Abbreviations

Knitting abbreviations used in this pattern you can find here.

Pattern

The pattern is written for the magic loop method and it’s assumed that your stitches are divided evenly on two needles.

 sts on my needles.

Right hand

Round 1: k12, take a piece of scrap yarn in a different colour and leaving the working yarn aside, use it to k the following 7 sts, transfer all those sts you worked with scrap yarn back to the left needle (without twisting) and k over the scrap yarn using the working yarn, continue working with the working yarn.

Left hand

Round 1: k1, take a piece of scrap yarn in a different colour and leaving the working yarn aside, use it to k the following 7 sts, transfer all those sts you worked with scrap yarn back to the left needle (without twisting) and k over the scrap yarn using the working yarn, continue working with the working yarn.

Both hands

Continue working in the round until your thumb opening measures according to measurement B on the schematic  (for instance, if you are making a pair of mittens in women’s size work 2.4″ (6 cm) before beginning the cuff) or covers your whole hand from the tip of your longest finger to the beginning of the wrist and then go and make the cuff. After finishing the cuff come back to this pattern and make the thumb according to the instructions below.

Thumb

Remove the waste yarn and place the live stitches onto two needles. You should now have a total of 14 sts, 7 sts on each needle. 

Take your working yarn and leave a long enough tail so that you can close the holes that might form between the needles. To prevent holes you can also pick up an extra stitch on each side between the needles and on the next round knit them together with the following stitch. Check this video tutorial on how to prevent holes from forming. Work until your thumb measures desired length and (k2tog) around or according to measurement C on the schematic. A total of 7 sts remaining.

Break yarn, leaving a 6″ tail to thread through remaining live sts. Pull tight to close top of thumb.

Work the other thumb the same way.

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