Peasant Thumb

Before I show how to pick up the stitches for the thumb I wanted to talk again about why I do the peasant thumb the way I do. The most common/popular way to do a peasant thumb (also called an invisible thumb or waste thumb) is shown at the top. You knit to the thumb opening, knit across the thumb stitches on waste yarn, and return those stitches to the needles and continue to knit with the regular yarn.




The way I do it is shown in the bottom of the 1st photo. I knit to the thumb opening, put the thumb stitches on waste yarn using a tapestry needle, and cast on the same number of thumb stitches using the backwards loop cast on. (If I'm doing colorwork mittens, I cast on using both yarns in pattern.) I prefer this method for two reason - it allows you to try the mittens on as you go to make sure they're the right length and I think it is easier to pick up stitches in pattern when knitting with 2 colors. While the first method is quite popular with knitters actually the second method of dealing with a mitten thumb is called the traditional method in Lizbeth Upitis' Latvian Mittens book.

If you do your thumb the first way, be forewarned that you will not get as many live stitches on the back of the thumb opening as on the front when you remove the waste yarn. This can screw people up in their stitch counts. The only place I've ever seen this phenomenon mentioned is Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia. In the photo below after the waste yarn was removed there are 8 live stitches on the front of the thumb opening but only 7 stitches on the back of the thumb opening. (The missing mystery stitch will be a half stitch on the upper right hand side of the opening in the photo.)



My goal is always to make the colorwork pattern match up on the inside of the thumb as shown below to keep the feeling of a true invisible thumb. Of course this isn't always possible if the pattern itself doesn't give the right number of stitches to keep the colorwork pattern seamless.

I'm off to see if I can get some good photos of how I pick up the stitches.

Peasant Thumb, Step by Step, Part Two

I've put the stitches from waste yarn back onto dpns. To pick up stitches on the other side of the thumb hole, I take a dpn and insert it into the right side of each stitch directly above the cast on edge. Sorry I couldn't get a better photo of this. Don't pick up the stitches too far above the cast on edge or you'll get too much bulk inside the thumb.



All the stitches are picked up EXCEPT for any stitches that are picked up on the sides of the hole.



Here I am picking up and knitting only one stitch along the edge of the thumb hole. The tendency is to pick up lots and lots of stitches near a hole but this always ends up looking bad even if you go ahead and decrease them on the next row. I prefer to pick up the minimal amount of stitches and deal with any looseness or holes by using my favorite reverse duplicate stitch on the inside of the mitten.


All done. Again the pattern is Chapter 5, Pattern 9 from Anna Zilboorg's out-of-print book Magnificent Mittens.


And a side view.

Peasant Thumb, Step-by-Step, Part One

Thanks for all the nice comments about Miss Bubbles! Because she is older and came from less-than-ideal conditions, we're busy trying to get her healthier and giving her lots of love and bunny compliments.

I've heard from new mitten knitters who want more info regarding peasant thumbs for gloves and mittens. I'm going to divide this into two blog posts because of all the photos.



Most charts will have either a solid line or a rectangle like above showing where the thumb will be placed. I vastly prefer patterns that have two different placements for the thumbs on each hand so I can make sure the beginning of the row is at the outside of the hand next to the little finger. That way I don't have to look at any color jogs in the pattern when I'm wearing them. Don't be afraid to move peasant thumb placements on the chart to make the mittens perfect for you.

When you get to the line on the chart that shows the thumb placement simply put the number of stitches for the thumb on waste yarn. Some patterns will tell you to knit across those stitches in waste yarn and then go back and knit the same stitches in pattern but I prefer keeping the thumb open so you can try on the mittens in progress and get the length perfect.

BTW, the chart in the photo is upside down because I'm working the Zilboorg mittens (from the out-of-print book Magnificent Mittens) the opposite direction. That is another benefit of a peasant thumb - it is worked the same in either direction.



After you put the thumb stitches on waste yarn, return to your working needle and cast on the same number of stitches you just put on waste yarn. I cast on using the backwards loop cast on and I cast on in pattern, using both colors of yarn. If you cast on with only one color of yarn you'll unfortunately have a really long float when you rejoin the row.



Once you rejoin the row you just continue knitting around. When you get to the stitches you cast on using the backwards loop cast on, you will REALLY appreciate it if you did that cast on loosely or it will be a serious pain to knit those stitches.



Now you just finish knitting to the top of the mitten. I try on the mitten and generally begin the top decreases when the mitten reaches the top of my fourth/ring finger.

Tomorrow I'll talk about picking up the stitches and actually knitting the thumb.

Peasant Thumbs

There are four main types of thumbs used for knitted gloves and mittens. Each day this week I'm going to discuss one type of thumb. I don't believe there is one type of thumb that is best for every hand. I think the thumb that works best for you mainly depends on the angle from your wrist bone to your bottom thumb knuckle.

Today's thumb is the easiest thumb to knit. I call it the peasant thumb but it is also called the invisible thumb, set-in thumb, simple thumb and stocking thumb.



To do the peasant thumb you simply knit to the desired location, knit the thumb stitches on waste yarn, then transfer the stitches back to the left hand needle and knit over the waste yarn stitches. (You can also use the method I show HERE for the peasant thumb to make it easier to try on the glove or mitten for the best fit while you're knitting.)

To remove the waste yarn I first take a dpn and put the top stitches (row above the waste yarn) on the dpn by carefully picking up the right hand side of each stitch. Then I do the same thing with the bottom stitches and then I remove the waste yarn by cutting or pulling it through all the stitches.

Another method to achieve the same end result is called the set-in thumb by Sheila McGregor in Traditional Scandinavian Knitting. In this method, used for traditional Norbotten mittens, you don't put in the thumb at all. When you have finished knitting the tube you have the recipient try it on. Mark where the base of the thumb is (bottom thumb knuckle), carefully snip a thread in the center, take each side of the thread and rip out enough stitches until the thumb is wide enough, put the live stitches back on needles and begin knitting the thumb.

I have long, narrow hands and I like the fit of the peasant thumb very much. DH has wide hands with a wide angle from his wrist to the bottom thumb knuckle and he intensely dislikes the fit of peasant thumbs.

I’ve read that a peasant thumb affects the glove's durability because of the more limited ability to move the thumb. The peasant thumb is used often in traditional Latvian and Estonian designs and one advantage is that any color knitting pattern can be seamlessly extended up the thumb.

The knitted items shown above are Selbu mittens I made with graphs from Traditional Scandinavian Knitting and Liidia's gloves from Folk Knitting in Estonia.