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I'm knitting a miniature mitten in the round (for a tea cosy). I start the mitten with Judy's Magic cast on, and it goes well until I get to the thumb, where the pattern calls for:

previous row = 12 stitches

"CO 3 sts, cast off/bind off 3 sts, knit to end of rnd." (CO meaning cast on)

The next line tells me to keep on knitting and do a two stitch decrease

According to the picture this should give me a little bump of a thumb, but all I'm getting is 3 big holes and no thumb at all. What am I doing wrong?

Thank you for reading!

Emily
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2 Answers2

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I tried the instructions from your pattern as written, and it gave me a single hole with a string running across it. That string would be a problem in a real mitten, but it might be okay for a decorative one. Presumably the pattern will have you pick up stitches around the edge of the hole and knit a thumb. I have no idea how you're getting 3 holes. Please add a photo of that, and maybe we can give you some more customized troubleshooting.

A normal way to make a thumb opening is to bind off stitches on one round. On the next round, cast on an equal number of stitches. So for your pattern, it would go like this:

  • Thumb round 1: Bind off 3 sts, knit to end of round
  • Thumb round 2: Cast on 3 sts, knit to end of round

After the main part of the mitten is done, you would pick up 6 or 7 sts around the edge of the thumb hole, knit several rounds to make a tube, then decrease with one round of all k2tog, then break yarn and draw it through the hole.

csk
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The author of the pattern was kind enough to write me back and I learned two things:

  1. The cast-on had to be done as a cable cast-on
  2. I was making the mistake of casting on 3 stitches and then casting off the subsequent 3 stitches (and turning my work in the process), when I actually just needed to cast them on and then immediately cast those same stitches off

Thanks all who were in interested in this question and offered to help, much appreciated!

Emily
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