Saturday, January 17, 2009

Search for the perfect convertible mittens pattern

Every work day, I commute across the river to get to my lab by bus. While I am waiting for the shuttle, I read the Metro (a free paper). During the winter season mittens and gloves hamper my ability to turn the pages of the paper and to get my bus pass out of my wallet. I have embarked on a quest to locate the perfect convertible mittens pattern, to allow access to my fingertips without making my entire hand cold.


  • Convertible Mittens with optional cables and beading – These have ribbing at the cuff, finger holes and edge of the glove flap and contains buttons to connect the mitten flap to the cuff. DK weight yarn.
  • Broad Street Mittens – These are ribbed at the cuff. There is a nice diagram showing how many sts are used/ increased/decreased in each portion of the glove, finger holes etc. Very cute button hole to connect the flap.
  • Convertible men’s mittens – Pattern shown with two colors striped. Thumb can be converted to fingerless, too.
  • Women’s Open Palm Mittens – Striped pattern. These do not have a button hole to connect the flap to the back of you hand.
  • $1.29 Downloadable Men’s Fingerless Gloves – No button clasp. Uses a heavy worsted weight yarn. Some of the free patterns above are very similar, so I would not recommend purchasing the pattern unless you want the gauges for that particular yarn.
  • Convertible mitten pattern – Looks like it would be a fast project with chunky yarn, but these are not as elegant as some of the other patterns. It has you using a knifty knitter loom.
  • The Converts – These mittens were knit with a different yarn for the flap and hand portions. There is not a fingerless glove inside the flap.
  • Striped Convertible Mitten Pattern – Contains button fastening, finger holes. Optional to make thumb whole or fingerless.
  • Glittens – these are not convertible mittens, but a glove/mitten hybrid with two different finger holes (which should make gripping easier).
  • Knit pocket mittens – this pattern is not the easiest to read (because of the webpage format), but this is another option.
  • Fetching Convertible Mittens – The pattern adapts a fingerless glove pattern into convertible mitts. This pattern has great cables and texture.
  • Fingerless mittens with a flap - top of the flap has a hexagonic shape. Contains button fastening. Thick rib cuff and top of fingerless region. Not gloved for fingers.
  • Playground mittens – These are child sized convertible mittens. No button clasp or fingerless glove interior.
  • Camera Mittens – Rather than removing a whole flap, what about having a little slit to remove a finger so you can take that photograph?
  • Men’s Convertible mittens – These look ribbed through most of the entire mitten. Fingers are not separated in fingerless portion. This is a 1940’s pattern, so you may need to check the conversion chart on this page to get the right size needles.
  • Mittens for Women – Ribbed cuff, textured mitten. Fingers are not separated in fingerless portion. This 1940's pattern may also require the conversion of needle sizes.
  • Kim’s Mittens – In the instructions, the flap is only on one hand. The designer says that she wears glove liners under them to keep her fingers warm.
  • Rock-Along Glittens – These have a pattern with two colors. Super cute and funky!
  • New! May, 2011: Convertible Fenway Mitts by ChemKnits - These convertible mittens are designed with the Red Sox "B" on the back so you can stay warm as you cheer at baseball games.