Summary A unique thumb-less mitten pattern, with instructions for adding an inner liner and creating an afterthought thumb “if thumblessness ceases to charm.”

Pattern description from Knitting Around: “Wisconsin winters can be bitter, and our joggers mutter about cold hands and freezing thumbs. You say, slip your thumb out of its mitten thumb and warm it up with our fingers. They say no; they don’t want to… couldn’t mittens be made without thumbs? Clever joggers. Mittens may indeed be made without thumbs, you say - secretly rejoicing that you’ll not have to bother with them for once. As you work your way up the first thumbless mitten, ideas come crowding: let’s nip in the wrist a bit to foil the icy blasts that want to blow in at the cuff. Why not a bit of ribbing on fewer stitches? Not up the hand you go, and another idea surfaces: remember that old curled-tip mitten you came up with in 1960-something? And, wouldn’t a double-mitten be twice as warm? Remember the Very Warm Hat? Let us incorporate all these ideas into one mitten. And, if and when the jogger becomes a civilian again, an After-thought Thumb is a simple and painless operation.”

Materials: 1 4oz skein 2-ply Sheepswool, Homespun, fisherman or 2-ply Icelandic Wool. An 11.5” circular needle, and/or a set of d.p. needles.

This pattern may be found on pages 152-154 of Knitting Around.

This pattern was first published in Newsletter #15, Spring 1965.