Stump Mitten

Bob is my adopted brother.  He is one of the most generous, humorous and pleasant men I know.  Bob is always creating, whether it is dyeing fibers or yarn, making shawls on a continuous thread loom, spinning long draw, creating works of art in glass and even cooking.  Bob lives with his partner, Patrick, on a small farm in upstate NY where they raise sheep, goats, bunnies, dogs and cats.  As a matter of fact, that is where Sparkles came from. His mom was dropped off there while she was pregnant. 

 I love visiting with them.  Actually, that is where I go to make the wonderful Pixie Batts.  I bought my first wheel from Bob which is how I met them. Choosing a wheel with Bob was the most fun I had had in ages.   This dear man has mentored me from almost the beginning of my fiber business career and we continue to share ideas, and even vending space occasionally.

All this said, Bob has some serious challenges in his life.  He was in a shop accident a number of years ago which left him with only 1 hand.  He is also in constant back pain, and now mostly in a wheel chair, from another progressive problem.  Yet Bob does not feel sorry for himself. He and SmokeyBlue are very much alike in this way.  Bob works every day, keeps his business running with his partner and still has time to play and create.  I wanted to make something special for him, noticed he was often cold when outside so decided to make him a stump and matching fingerless mitten.

I looked a bit in books and on the internet but could not find a pattern or at least one I would be proud to have knit. Thinking up designs is fun so I wrote a pattern to fit the image in my head. I was a bit stumped on the size of Bob's arm and did not want to spoil the surprise by asking Patrick to measure Bob, so Jim helped me guess. Then I decided to use decreasing sized ribbing as the mitten would surely then fit better, slowly taper down the arm and stay on his arm. Actually this makes the sizing more general so the mitten can, hopefully,  fit many arms. Not being used to differently-abled wording I had a bit of hesitation naming it a stump mitten, but when I searched the internet using those words I found quite a few commercial stump sock/mittens, but none so fine as the one I gave to Bob.  The free Stump Mitten pattern is below.

Stump Mitten

Made from 2 colors of hand spun sport/DK weight yarn

Gauge = 5 sts/in in stockinette st

Needles = size 5 (3.75mm) dpns or whatever gets you gauge.

Fits a man’s arm.

CO 56 sts with color A. Place a multiple of 7 sts on each needle.

Note: If needed, as you decrease, move stitches to have correct multiples of 6, 5, 4 & 3sts on each needle.

*k5, p2* around for 1.5”

*k2, k2tog, k1, p2* for 1 round (48sts)

*k4, p2* until piece measures 3”

Change to color B yarn.

*k4, p2* around for 2 rows.

*k1, k2tog, k1, p2* for one round (40sts)

*k3, p2* around until total length is 4.5”

*k1, k2tog, p2* for 1 round (32 sts)

*k2, p2* until mitten measures 7”

*k2, p2tog* (24 sts)

*k2, p1* around until total length is 9”

Change back to color A yarn.
*K2, p1* around for 1 more inch

Change again to color B yarn.
*k2, k2tog* (18 sts)

Knit 1 round

*k4, k2tog* (15 sts)

Knit for 7 rounds.

Cut off a tail of about 10” and thread end through an embroidery needle. Run the needle through all the sts, pulling into a tight circle. Tie off. Weave in ends.

A matching set for one stump and a regular hand could be done by using the same yarn on a regular mitten or a fingerless mitten.