geekette8

My friend Will was complaining about how cold his hands get when rowing in the winter. He mentioned that some people had special mittens that fit over the handles of the oars and allow you still to grip the oar properly... and I offered to knit him some.

I was going to adapt a standard mitten pattern, then I found out with some judicious googling that these types of mitts are called pogies and there are three patterns on Ravelry for them. I picked the pattern I liked best, but of course I am incapable of making a pattern without altering it in some way: the original pattern used a relatively thin yarn, whereas what I had to hand was thicker; I wanted to knit two-at-a-time magic loop instead of one-at-a-time on DPNs; and I wanted to do "fingertips up" rather than "cuff down" because I wasn't 100% certain I had enough yarn.

The original pattern is here (requires Ravelry login) and is copyright Fervid Designs.

I thought I'd write up my alterations to it in case anyone else ever wanted to do something similar.


Yarn
I used worsted weight yarn (the label says 4-5 sts per inch on size US 7-9 needles). The particular yarn I used was Universal Yarn Inc. Classic Worsted Tapestry, which is machine washable and 80% acrylic, 20% wool.

Needles
To match the thicker yarn I also used larger needles - US size 7 for the main body of the pogies and size 9 for the ribbing. My gauge in stockinette on the 7s was 5 sts per inch.

Pattern
Divide the yarn into two balls. Using size 7 circular needles, cast on two sets of 8 stitches, one from each ball, using the Turkish cast on or Figure 8 cast on (or your favourite sock toe cast on!). Use Magic Loop to do the following:

Round 1: knit front and back of each stitch (-> 16 st)
Round 2: knit

[Now, you have two mitten tips on your needles. When you knit a single round you are knitting the front of mitt 1, the front of mitt 2, the back of mitt 2, and finally the back of mitt 1. I find it helpful to put a marker in near the start of the first section so I know when the round starts.]

Round 3: (k1, kf&b) around (-> 24 st)
Round 4: knit
Round 5: (k2, kf&b) around (-> 32 st)
Round 6: knit
Roung 7: (k3, kf&b) around (-> 40 st)
Rounds 8,9,10,11: knit

Now you will work on the first section on your needles ONLY (the front of mitt 1. Mitt 1 is going to be the "mid pogie").
- Slip 1 purlwise, knit 19 across to end of first section.
- Turn the work, slip the first stitch purlwise and purl back 19 stitches across the same section you just knit.
Repeat these two rows, on the front of mitt 1 only, until the front of mitt 1 is 3.5" long from the point where you started this section. Finish with a knit row.

Now we will do the same with mitt 2, but mitt 2 is going to be the "end pogie" with only one cuff for the oar, so we need to do the front and back of mitt 2 together.
- Slip 1 purlwise, knit 19 to end of second section, knit 20 to end of third section
- Turn work, slip 1 purlwise, purl 19 to start of third section, purl 20 to start of second section
Repeat these two rows, on the front and back of mitt 2 only, until mitt 2 is 3.5" long from where you started this section.
Finish with a knit row.

Finally we will repeat what we did on the front of mitt 1 on the back of mitt 1, that is the fourth section on the needles.
- Slip 1 purlwise, knit 19 to end of fourth section.
- Turn the work, slip the first stitch purlwise and purl back 19 stitches across.
Repeat these two rows, on the back of mitt 1 only, until the back of mitt 1 is 3.5" long from the point where you started this section. Finish with a knit row.

Revert to working around as normal now (this means re-joining both sides of mitt 1 and the split side of mitt 2 as you go).
Knit rounds plain until you reach 3.5" from the re-joining.

Switch to size 9 needles and k2,p2 ribbing for the cuff. The cuffs need to be 2" long.

Bind off cuffs with a stretchy bind off (I like E Z sewn bind off).

Now to do the oar cuffs: one on mitt 2, and two on mitt 1. On each cuff, pick up 32 stitches evenly around the edge of the hole using the size 9 needles and do k2,p2 ribbing for 1.5". Bind off with the same bind off as the main cuff.



If you have any questions on this pattern feel free to leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer!