Ori-Esque Mitts

What kind of idiot decides to knit a Dr Who scarf and a pair of mitts in under ten days? Yes, Gentle Reader… you are looking at her. Well, actually you are looking at a picture of Ori, the youngest and most naive dwarf in ‘The Hobbit’ – which is quite appropriate as it was a vague approximation of his gloves, I decided to knit.

NB: These mitts are not a precise copy, just a simple inspired by. I don’t normally do ‘holiday knitting’, full stop. But one son was desperate for a Dr Who scarf; another for a pair of mittens or muffatees as worn by one of the  dwarves in the new Hobbit movie. How could I resist?

I knitted a half scale ‘Original’ series 12 Dr Who scarf, using the colours and sequence on this site, only as a 12 foot scarf is impractical to wear, halved the length of each colour stripe. I gave myself ten days to knit this – 60 st cast on, using 4mm needles and scrap or stash yarn. I finished in time, but did leave off the last few stripes, giving my son a fair half scale approximation at about five foot.

For ‘The Hobbit’ muffatees, my 19 year old settled on the gloves of Ori. At first, I thought they were a travelling stitch – fair enough but slow, given I was making them from scratch with no pattern, within the same 10 days I was making the Dr Who scarf.  Then I realised they are stocking stitch with garter ridges – knit sideways. I had no idea how to figure out the thumb, not getting a clear shot online or from two viewings of the movie, so I decided to wing it and figure it when I got to it. All my gloves are of the 19thC persuasion, knit the ‘right’ way up, with gussets for thumbs. So I decided to do a provisional cast on, to keep the CO sts live, and then worry about the thumb when I got to it.

The originals look to be knitted from chunky wool, but I went with DK. Largely because I prefer the look of it, also I think they’re more practical to wear. Forgive the rubbish picture – getting even this one was like herding cats after capturing them and forcing muffatees onto their reluctant paws… He wears them every time he goes out, honest!

Ori-Esque

Brigantia DK 100% wool in grey. 4mm needles or size needed to get gauge of   20 sts and 24 rows per 4 inch. If you’d prefer to knit in Aran, chunky or best of all, handspun, just knit a small tension square, and follow technique.

Use any type of provisional cast on, to keep the CO sts live.

Using provisional CO, CO 40 sts.

Row 1: *(right side)  Knit

Row 2: Purl

Row 3: Purl

Rep from * til you have 18 garter st ridges.

Now place first 16 sts on waste yarn or st holder. This is where you will come back and work the thumb later.

Rep row 1 – 3 on remaining sts til you have worked one ridge. Now place live cast on sts on 4mm needle.

With work inside, fold into a tube and work a 3 needle cast off, joining beginning of work, to end. Leave 6″ tail so it is easy to sew in later.

Now work 3 needle cast off on wrong side, for first 8 sts of mitt.

Thumb

Turn mitt right way out. You now need to switch to 4 4mm dpns or magic loop with a circ.

PU 8 live sts waiting for you from beginning, PU 2 sts to close the gap, PU 8 sts waiting for you from end, PU 2 sts to close gap (or PU 4 and K 2 tog, twice if that gives you a neater finish). [20 sts]  Work four rounds, or til it looks deep enough for you, work 1 round Purls, then cast off.

Sew in ends on inside. Work second Ori-esque the same.