What is an afterthought thumb?

An afterthought thumb is a method of knitting the thumb of a mitten that allows you to simply mark off the stitches for the thumb, so you can come back to them later. It is a simpler construction than doing a "gusset" thumb, and works great for colorwork because there is less interruption to your charts.

When to use it

This construction method is great for when you just want to keep going with your knitting, without pausing to figure out the thumb. You don't have to interrupt your colorwork, and you can put off the most fiddly part of your project until the end!

Doodle patterns that use this technique

The Base Doodle Mittens are made with an afterthought thumb. 

INSTRUCTIONS

MATERIALS

You'll need your project + waste yarn and DPNs

PLACING THE AFTERTHOUGHT THUMB

Placing an afterthought thumb involves knitting a portion of your stitches onto waste yarn. This holds the stitches in the rows below AND above the waste yarn live, so you can come back and knit the thumb later.

You'll see this as the stripe of waste yarn on the sample below. It's a good idea to use a waste yarn that stands out from your main color, so that it's easier to see when you pick it up later.

This type of thumb is often knit on either side of the BOR (just before or after the BOR, depending on whether you are knitting the right or left mitten). For this tutorial, we'll try to keep it general. Refer to your pattern for the exact placement of the thumb stitches. 

Step 1: Work the round as established, until pattern tells you to place the thumb stitches. 

Step 2: Knit the thumb stiches with your waste yarn. 

Example: If the patterns says to use 10 stitches for the thumb, knit the next 10 stitches in your waste yarn, and then pause.

Step 3: Slip the waste yarn stitches back onto the left needle. 

Step 4: Continue working the rest of the round as established. You'll be knitting back over the waste yarn stitches with your main project yarn, and then continuing to knit in the round. 

Pro tip: Leave a nice tail on either end of the waste yarn stitches, so the waste yarn doesn't go anywhere!

PICKING UP THE AFTERTHOUGHT THUMB

When you are ready to go back and knit the afterthought thumb, you'll need to get the stitches from the waste yarn back onto needles.

Step 1: Using a DPN, pick up the stitches in the row below the waste yarn. Repeat with the stitches in the row above your waste yarn, using a second DPN. (You can turn your project around to pick up the second set of stitches, if this helps!)

Step 2: Once all the main yarn stitches are back on your DPNs, use a tapestry needle (or similar) to pull the waste yarn out of your knitting.

Step 3: Join the yarn you will use to knit the thumb, knit across the first DPN, and pick up 2 stitches in the corner.

Step 4: Knit across the second DPN, and pick up 2 stitches in the other corner.

Step 5: Knit 1 round in plain stockinette.

WORKING THE AFTERTHOUGHT THUMB

Knitting the thumb is essentially just plain stockinette in the round until the thumb section is long enough. Then you just decrease, similar to the crown of a hat, until the end is closed up. 

Step 1: Continue working in the round, knitting all stitches, until the thumb is approximately 0.25 in [1 cm] less than the desired length. You can try on the mitten as you go to make sure the fit is how you want it.

Step 2: Work the next round as k2tog across all stitches. Keep working in k2tog across all stitches until approx. 5-6 stitches remain on the needle. Break yarn, with approx. 8 in [20 cm] tail.

Step 3: Using your tapestry needle, pull the yarn tail through the remaining stitches, pull tight, and secure.

And that's it! Your new mittens are now finished!

 

Why do we place the afterthought thumb on a non-colorwork row? 

The Base Doodle Mitten pattern says to place the afterthought thumb on a round that does NOT have colorwork. But if you've never done an afterthought thumb before, it might not be clear why we say that. 

After you pick up the stitches from the waste yarn, that line of stitches opens up to create a hole in your knitting. If you have a chart that goes over that part of your project, the hole you create will split the motif. 

Maybe not too bad if you are using Basic Doodle charts, but it's still worth making sure you plan ahead to think about how the mitten thumb will affect your chart design!

Happy Doodling!

 

Blog co-written by Jamie Lomax and Grey Lundy.