How to Knit Fingerless Mittens on Straight Needles

January 30, 2022February 4, 2022 ~ Judy's Chickens ~ 22 Comments

Fingerless mittens are my new favorite mitt to wear in winter. Even now, as I sit outside on the porch writing this post, I am wearing them, tucking my fingers into the wool interior now and then to warm them.

My husband is a convert, as well. He has found he can pet his beloved dog, feed her a treat for minding him, and answer a text while out on our walks, all without taking his mitts off!

A Knitting Club:

I recently started a knitting club at a local high school. The first stitch I taught the students was the long-tail cast-on. It’s a little more complex than the backward loop cast on, but it gives a neat, elastic edge to your garment; I thought it was worth the extra effort. The students were brilliant and figured it out in no time and then taught their friends. That was lovely; I even heard a few of them say how accomplished they felt. That taught me not to underestimate their eagerness to learn a new skill. Next, they learned to knit and purl. The first garment we worked on was a scarf. I worked out this stitch sampler to introduce them to a few pattern options.

Here’s a photo of one student’s first finished object, a scarf knit in stockinette stitch. I was so happy for her!

All the needles and yarn for the class were donated by friends and strangers alike. I received many lovely notes with the packages of supplies. I’ve included two. Receiving boxes of supplies in the mail or dropped off on my porch was all part of the fun for me. The knitting community is a generous bunch. I am grateful.

Moving this story along, I was inspired by one student’s desire to make fingerless mitts. I have always found knitting mittens to be a complicated endeavor, mainly because they are typically knit on four double-pointed needles. Along with keeping up with the stitch count and keeping the needles level, you need to knit in a thumb gusset (which I’ll explain soon). After much trial and error, I figured out a pattern that used one size of straight needles and worked up quickly once you got the hang of it. The pattern still may be too advanced for a beginner, but I’ve written it up with detailed instructions and lots of pictures hoping that those who are motivated and willing will give it a try. Once I figured this out, I’ve been making mitts for friends and family using all sorts of colorful yarns.

Anatomy of a Fingerless Mitten:

Measurements:
7-inches long and 8-inches around the palm of the hand. They seem to fit the average-sized hand as there is a lot of give in the fabric.

Supplies:
1 pair size 7 straight knitting needles
1 skein (about 110 yards) of worsted weight yarn
2 stitch markers (you could use paperclips)
1 large-eyed sewing needle
a tape measure
scissors
paper and pen for counting rows (optional)

Choosing yarn — what’s all the info on the yarn tag mean?
This pattern calls for worsted weight yarn. The word “weight” refers to the thickness of the fiber, not what is measured on a scale. Any yarn you like that says “worsted” on the label will do. For extra warmth, choose 100% wool.

Knitting Terms:
Cast-on: How you put stitches on a needle to begin a project.
1×1 Rib: Knit 1, Purl 1 across each row.
Stockinette Stitch: Right-side rows, knit. Wrong-side rows, purl
Increase a Stitch: Turn one stitch into two by knitting into the front and back of the loop.
Bind-off: How you securely take stitches off a needle when finished knitting.
RS: Right side or front of garment. WS: Wrong side of garment.
Gusset: Because thumbs have a joint and need room to move, we build in an extra triangular patch of fabric called a gusset. To shape a gusset, we increase stitches at regular intervals to accommodate the added width of the thumb. This photo is a good demonstration of what a knitted gusset looks like.

The Goal:
This is how your mitt should look when you are finished. We will start from the bottom cuff and work our way up. The thumb fits comfortably on either hand, so you will knit two identical mitts.

Once you fold the sides in and sew the seam, your mitt will look like this.

Let’s Get Started!

Knit the Cuff:
Cast on 36 stitches. Work in k1, p1 rib for 2¾ inches. End with your last row being worked on the WS. How do you know which is the RS? The cast-on tail is hanging from the right-hand corner.

Knit the Hand:
With RS facing, knit 6 rows of stockinette stitch. I use tally marks to keep track of my row count.

Set Up Thumb Gusset Increases:
Row 1: k16, place a marker, increase 1, k1, increase 1, place a marker, k17 (38 stitches total). You will then increase 2 stitches every other row as follows:

Row 2, 4, 6, 8, 10: Purl row.
Row 3: k16, increase 1, k3, increase 1, k17 (40 stitches)
Row 5: k16, increase 1, k5, increase 1, k17 (42 stitches)
Row 7: k16, increase 1, k7, increase 1, k17 (44 stitches)
Row 9: k16, increase 1, knit 9, increase 1, k17 (46 stitches)
Your work should look like this:

Purl 10th row and remove markers. Turn work over to RS.

Shape Thumb:
With RS facing, k27, increase 1 stitch on the next (28th) stitch.

Turn work. With WS facing, p11, increase 1 stitch on the next (12th) stitch for a total of 13 stitches.

Turn work. Begin working back and forth in stockinette stitch on these 13 stitches for 4 rows. Your work will look a little wonky on the needle.

Loosely bind off the 13 thumb stitches leaving a 10-inch tail. Your work will look like this.

Knit Remainder of Hand:
Row 1: With RS facing, join yarn from ball and increase 1 stitch on the first stitch on the left side of thumb gusset/flap. Knit to end of row. You should have a total of 36 stitches on the needle with a gap in the middle.

Row 2: Turn work, purl across the row, joining the two sides.

Next 6 rows: Continue in stockinette stitch. If you would like longer mitts for more coverage over fingers, add 4-6 more rows of stockinette stitch at this point.

Ribbed Closure:
Next 6 rows: k1, p1 rib.
7th row: Bind off stitches in rib pattern. Leave a 15-inch tail.

Finishing:
Thumb: With RS facing and starting from the top, use the mattress stitch to sew the seam. Turn fabric to WS, pull tail through work, and weave in the end.

With RS facing and starting from the top, use the mattress stitch to sew mitten sides together. Turn mitten to WS, pull tail through, and weave in ends.
.

The founders of Modern Daily Knitting, Ann Shayne and Kay Gardiner, generously donated copies of their Skill Set Beginning Knitting book and downloads of their Skill Set app to the knitting club students. I highly recommend the app as a one-stop “shop” for learning or tuning up your knitting skills. They have a nice section on seaming using the mattress stitch.

Please drop me a note in the comments section if you have questions.

Related Knitting Posts:

How to Knit a Hat and Make a Pom Pom

What to Knit for a Baby: a Hat, a Sweater and a Blanket

A Birthday Tribute for My Mother: Knitting Neck Warmers with Mom’s Stash

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How to Spatchcock a Turkey

November 26, 2020November 11, 2021 ~ Judy's Chickens ~ 15 Comments

Different times call for different measures.

This year we do not need this 18-pound centerpiece for the table.

In fact, being #saferathome means my husband and I will be on our own for the Thanksgiving meal. And I am okay with that. If the pandemic has taught me one thing, it is how to manage my expectations.

Meanwhile, we still need 8-quarts of poultry stock and 7 pounds of turkey meat to make our twenty-quart pot of Bruce’s Turkey and Sausage Gumbo. My adult children and their families look forward to getting their Thanksgiving gumbo in to-go containers every year and it is my pleasure and honor to do this for them. It is my family I am most thankful for in my life.

Since it is 2020 and we have been trying all sorts of new things in every aspect of our lives, I decided it was as good a time as ever for my husband and me to try our hand at spatchcocking a turkey. He was game!

What does spatchcock mean and why do we do it? Spatchcock is a butchering technique where you remove the backbone of poultry. This allows you to open and flatten the chest cavity for faster and more even roasting.

When the bird is turned over, it looks like this.

I cooked this turkey in a 400º oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes. The meat was super moist and the skin was crisp.

The bird weighed 16.5 pounds to start. Once I removed the innards, the wingtips, and the backbone, it weighed 13.5 pounds. After it was roasted and my sweet husband took all the meat off the bones, we had 7 pounds of meat. Each breast provided us with two pounds. The bones all went into the poultry stock that had been simmering all day. I started the stock with frozen rotisserie chicken carcasses from the freezer. Read about that here.

How to spatchcock a turkey.

A Mennonite farmer once told us any job is possible if you have the proper tool. The proper tool for this job is a pair of poultry shears. This is crazy, but we had a pair of these shears in our house and I never knew what they were for. In fact, I almost got rid of them because they were not good at cutting paper when I couldn’t find the scissors I wanted!

Poultry shears have sharp, curved blades helpful for getting into hard to reach places when deboning meat. They remind me of pruning shears – the handles help you get a good grip so you can squeeze down hard as you cut. Plain scissors will work, but there will be a little more huffing and puffing involved.

How to Spatchcock a Turkey

Defrost the bird. Remove the neck and gizzards from inside the two cavities, one on each end of the turkey. Wash the bird inside and out. Pat dry.

Lay the bird breast-side down. The wings should be on top.

Remove the backbone with poultry shears. First, one side of the spine

and then the other. CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

Save the backbone for the turkey stock.

Flip the bird over and press down on the sternum, aka the breastbone, located between the breasts, as if to do CPR. Repeat, moving your hands down along the sternum, until you no longer hear crunching as you press.

We practiced spatchcocking two different sized turkeys during the week. The smaller one splayed out flatly with just the chest compressions. The larger one needed a little more help to flatten it. My husband turned the breast over and used a meat cleaver to cut into the sternum to split the chest open a little more.

How to Cook the Bird

We cooked one in the oven and the other on the grill. I’ll show you the oven method first.

Preheat oven to 400º.

Arrange the bird on a roasting pan. Rub olive oil all over it, top and bottom, and season with a generous amount of salt and garlic pepper. I use McCormick’s Garlic Pepper.

The hottest part of an oven is the two back corners. Place the roasting pan in the oven, so the thick breasts are in the back.

I cooked the bird for an hour and fifteen minutes and then started checking the meat’s temperature every ten minutes. I checked the temperature in many spots — the thickest part of the breast, the thickest part of the thigh, etc. As long as every section registers at least 165º the turkey is safely cooked. I shoot for 160º because, after many years of cooking, I understand the concept of “carryover” heat and know that as the turkey rests, the internal temperature will climb to 165º. The concept is well described in this post.

I let the turkey rest on the counter for about 30 minutes and then poured off and saved the drippings for my poultry stock.

Before I added the drippings to the stock, I poured them into a fat separator to remove the fat.

When my husband and I spatchcocked the other turkey earlier in the week, we cooked it on a grill using indirect heat.

Don’t ask me what got into me; all that frilly seasoning was unnecessary! The flavor profile was a FAIL; too sagey and lemony.

Having said that, it sure was fun to decorate!

And it sounded lovely in all of its crackly glory as it roasted in the grill.

That turkey was 13.5 pounds before I opened the sack. It was done in 75 minutes. It was as moist as the oven-roasted turkey.

So, that is the end of my spatchcocking saga. I’ve got my eight quarts of gelatinous poultry stock and seven pounds of turkey meat.

Later this week, I will gather all the ingredients for Bruce’s gumbo and get busy chopping. For now, I’ll rest on my laurels

knowing this is in my future.

The recipe that is trending on my blog this morning is Karen’s Foolproof Make-Ahead Gravy. It is delicious!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! I am grateful to all the folks who read my blog, make the recipes, and write to share their experiences. Thank you. You give me joy!

If you need last-minute instructions on how to cook a few traditional sides and desserts for Thanksgiving, check out Thanksgiving Week on the Menu.

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Roasted and Mashed Cauliflower

October 24, 2015November 12, 2020 ~ Judy's Chickens ~ 13 Comments

What do you do when you walk into a farm stand and see the most gorgeous, pearly white cauliflower you have ever seen in your life?

You buy two, ignoring your husband’s raised and questioning eyebrows. They are each ten inches high. He knows there is no room in the fridge, but you can’t help yourself; their color and texture are gorgeous. My mother always said, “Buy what you love and you’ll always find a way to use it.” She was talking about decorating her home and purchasing clothing accessories, but I feel the same way about vegetables.

I found the cauliflowers at my favorite Mennonite farm stand, Garden Patch Produce located at 1515 Buffalo-Cerulean Road in Cadiz, Kentucky. Do not bother to Google it as this electricity-free community of farmers adds up purchases with tally marks, so you can be sure they don’t subscribe to any form of electronic or print advertising. Note the “Bargain Table” along the back wall. It is full of yesterday’s vegetables at half price. There is no refrigeration in the building, so they don’t sell yesterday’s produce with their fresh produce.

To Roast, Blanch or Saute the Cauliflower? That is the question.

That is the question I ask when I look at any vegetable when I’m getting ready to cook dinner.

Regardless of which cooking method you choose, you’ll first need to prep the veggie. In this case, after washing the cauliflower, cut it in half and carve out the center core. As you do this, the florets will detach from the stem. You’ll need to chop the large florets in half for even cooking.

One of the extra-large cauliflowers yielded three pounds of florets. It took two two-pound cauliflowers from Kroger to yield the same amount.

To Roast Vegetables:
Out of habit, and because it is easier, I decided to roast one of the cauliflowers. I roast most vegetables in a hot 425º oven for about 30-45 minutes. I season them with these three ingredients that you may recognize from my blog posts A Simple Everyday Salad Dressing and Easy Roasted Salmon.

Chop the florets so they will all be about the same size for even cooking.
Mix florets in a large bowl with 1/3 cup of olive oil and 1 teaspoon each of sea salt and garlic pepper. Toss until florets are well-coated. I tend to be heavy-handed with olive oil, and 1/3 cup is the minimum amount I would typically use.
Bake on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet at 425º for about 40 minutes. Toss once or twice while roasting to encourage even browning.

Roasted cauliflower should be called Disappearing Cauliflower or Gone in Sixty Seconds Cauliflower. When you roast vegetables at high temperatures like this, they caramelize as they cook and their natural sweetness emerges. It becomes like eating candy; you can’t stop until they are all gone.

To Blanch Vegetables:
Officially, blanching is a method of cooking vegetables quickly by putting them in a pot of salted, boiling water for a short amount of time and then, if desired, plunging them into a bowl of ice-cold water, a technique known as “shocking” which halts the cooking process. I hardly ever do the shocking step unless I’ve lost track of time, allowed the vegetables to boil too long, and need to stop them from cooking any longer and changing color to blah.

Why and when would you blanch a vegetable?
1) To retain color. Blanching string beans, for example, “fixes” the color as bright green. Alternatively, if you were to boil them for 15 minutes, they would turn that army green color that may not be as appealing.

2) To achieve “fork-tender” texture. Blanching cooks vegetables quickly so they don’t get water-logged, mushy and tasteless. Blanched vegetables are usually firm, hold their shape, and if you poke them with a fork, the fork tines will slide in easily indicating doneness.

3) To loosen the skin off of a vegetable or fruit. Let’s say you want to peel a lot of tomatoes, or peaches, for canning purposes. An easy way to do so would be to boil them and then move them into a cold water bath. The skin will simply blister off.

4) To prepare vegetables for freezing. Blanching destroys enzymes that cause color, texture and flavor deterioration.

How I Blanch Vegetables
1) Fill a large pot with hot water. You’ll need enough water to cover the vegetables you plan to cook.
2) Add one tablespoon of salt to the water. Bring water to a full rolling boil.
3) Add washed and chopped vegetables, cover, and bring water to a second boil. It could take 3-5 minutes for the water to return to a boil. Once the water returns to a rolling boil, set your timer and cook for one minute.
4) Remove vegetables from heat and drain in a colander. Let vegetables stay in the colander for five minutes. Vegetables will continue to cook as they steam in the colander. The steam will also evaporate the moisture around the vegetables. If you do not wish for the vegetables to continue cooking, shock them in a container of cold water.

Mashed Cauliflower

I’ve been hearing a lot about mashed cauliflower lately and decided to try making it. I read about five different recipes and came up with my plan. I had to tweak the plan quite a bit to get it to taste right. Let’s just say I now know my chickens like smashed cauliflower!

Ingredients:

3 pounds blanched cauliflower florets
¼ cup cream cheese with chives and onion, or plain cream cheese
½ cup grated Parmesan
½ cup hot chicken broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt

Put cooked florets in the food processor. I could only fit about ¾ of the florets in the bowl of my processor. Add olive oil, cheeses, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Process until chunky and then add remaining florets to the mix.

Process until it looks like mashed potatoes.

Serve hot. You may need to heat it up before serving as the mixture tends to cool down quite a bit in the food processor. I used cream cheese with onions because I already had it in the refrigerator. You could use plain cream cheese and add chopped herbs instead. I used chopped garlic chives as a garnish.

Make it Whole30

Whole30 has a version of this that includes 1/2 cup of coconut cream instead of other dairy products. Additionally, any Whole30 recipes that call for ghee, I use olive oil instead.

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How to Knit Fingerless Mittens on Straight Needles

How to Spatchcock a Turkey

Roasted and Mashed Cauliflower

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