How to Knit Easy Fingerless Gloves on Two Straight Needles
This is a great project for beginning knitters, kids and anyone who wants to create something fun and useful in a short amount of time. You can knit these easy fingerless gloves in just a few hours while relaxing in front of the fire or watching a movie.
Here is what you need:
- A ball of yarn in your desired colour (or two, three, four colours, if you want to make striped or blocked mittens)
- Two straight knitting needles (check the label of your yarn to see which one is right or see tips below)
- Scissors
- Knitting Needle
Step 1 – Knit a Swatch
Before you start your actual project, it’s helpful to create a gauge swatch. A gauge swatch is a small sample of knitting that allows you to check whether your stitches and rows match the pattern’s recommended gauge.
You can omit these first two steps if your yarn label tells you the gauge and you have the correct needle size.
Here’s how to make a gauge swatch:
a. Cast on more stitches than the recommended gauge width (e.g. cast on 24 stitches for a 20-stitch gauge).
b. Knit a few rows in the recommended stitch pattern. Here it is a simple garter stitch (knit every row).
c. Once you have a few rows of knitting you can measure how many stitches you have in 10 cm/ 4 inches.
Step 2 – Find Out the Number of Cast On Stitches
Next measure the width of your hand or of the person you are knitting for.
And now just a tiny bit of maths. I will give you an example to show you how to find out the number of cast on stitches for your hat.
(A) Width of Hand = 8 cm
(B) Number of stitches per 10 cm = 17 sts
Calculate as follow:
A x 2 + 4 cm = C
8 cm x 2 + 4 cm = 20 cm
C = 20 cm
To find out the number of cast on stitches you calculate:
B ÷ 10 x C
17 ÷ 10 x 20 = 34
Number of cast on stitches = 34 sts.
Step 3 – Knit the Fingerless Gloves
Basically you just knit two big squares and sew them up into tubes leaving a gap for the thumb.
Begin by casting on the determined number of stitches from step 2.
Knit until you achieve a square shape, easily verified by laying one corner of the knitted piece to the opposite corner (see picture).
Once the square is complete, cast off your stitches.
Next, fold the knitted square in half and sew it into a tube using a knitting needle. Remember to leave an intentional opening for the thumb at the desired location.
Repeat these steps for the second glove.
Let me know how you got on with these.
