Animal mittens

I am hoping to find a pattern that my mother used when I was a child (many,
many moons ago). She made me mittens that were animals like puppets. She
made me a skunk pair and a squirrel pair. They didn't have regular thumbs
or fingers but had mouths. I found the box a few years ago but no pattern.
I think they were Bernat patterns. Any help would be most appreciated.

Thank you!
Mamie

I remember those mittens from my childhood, too. If you find the pattern,
I'd love to see it too.

Katherine

Irishwasherwoman wrote:
I am hoping to find a pattern that my mother used when I was a child
(many, many moons ago). She made me mittens that were animals like
puppets. She made me a skunk pair and a squirrel pair. They didn't
have regular thumbs or fingers but had mouths. I found the box a few
years ago but no pattern. I think they were Bernat patterns. Any
help would be most appreciated.
Thank you!
Mamie

In article ,
Katherine wrote:
Irishwasherwoman wrote:
I am hoping to find a pattern that my mother used when I was a child
(many, many moons ago). She made me mittens that were animals like
puppets. She made me a skunk pair and a squirrel pair. They didn't
have regular thumbs or fingers but had mouths. I found the box a few
years ago but no pattern. I think they were Bernat patterns. Any
help would be most appreciated.

I remember those mittens from my childhood, too. If you find the pattern,
I'd love to see it too.

It's fairly easy to fake it. Just knit up to where you would start the
thumb. Put half the stitches on a holder and cast on the same number
across the middle and join; knit the part that covers the fingers.
Then pick up the other stitches and also pick up from the cast-on, and
knit another part as if for the fingers only shorter because it only has
to be long enough for the thumb. Choose colors according to the animal
you want.

=Tamar

I haven't made animal puppet mittens but have made people puppet mittens.
Those I made with the little finger separate like gloves but the remaining
fingers together like mittens. Then the thumb and little finger are like the
arms of the puppet and you put yarn hair, eyes and mouth on the mitten part
as though that was the head. (Does that make sense??) My granddaughters love
them.
JCT

Richard Eney wrote:
In article ,
Katherine wrote:
Irishwasherwoman wrote:
I am hoping to find a pattern that my mother used when I was a child
(many, many moons ago). She made me mittens that were animals like
puppets. She made me a skunk pair and a squirrel pair. They didn't
have regular thumbs or fingers but had mouths. I found the box a
few years ago but no pattern. I think they were Bernat patterns.
Any help would be most appreciated.

I remember those mittens from my childhood, too. If you find the
pattern, I'd love to see it too.

It's fairly easy to fake it. Just knit up to where you would start
the thumb. Put half the stitches on a holder and cast on the same
number across the middle and join; knit the part that covers the
fingers.
Then pick up the other stitches and also pick up from the cast-on, and
knit another part as if for the fingers only shorter because it only
has to be long enough for the thumb. Choose colors according to the
animal you want.

SOunds simple enough. Can I come and visit you so you can walk me through
it? g

Katherine

JudyTurpin wrote:
I haven't made animal puppet mittens but have made people puppet
mittens. Those I made with the little finger separate like gloves but
the remaining fingers together like mittens. Then the thumb and
little finger are like the arms of the puppet and you put yarn hair,
eyes and mouth on the mitten part as though that was the head.
(Does that make sense??) My granddaughters love them.

I have done those mittens, too. Cute, aren't they? I had them as a child,
with little yellow braids. g

Katherine

In article ,
Katherine wrote:
Richard Eney wrote:
Katherine wrote:
Irishwasherwoman wrote:
I am hoping to find a pattern that my mother used when I was a child
(many, many moons ago). She made me mittens that were animals like
puppets. She made me a skunk pair and a squirrel pair. They didn't
have regular thumbs or fingers but had mouths.

I remember those mittens from my childhood, too. If you find the
pattern, I'd love to see it too.

It's fairly easy to fake it. Just knit up to where you would start
the thumb.

By this I mean knit up to to where you would put the slit for an inserted
thumb, up at the webbing, not at the base of the thumb. But you knew
that.

Put half the stitches on a holder and cast on the same
number across the middle and join; knit the part that covers the
fingers.

Decrease and bind off as usual for a mitten. Cut yarn.

Then pick up the other stitches and also pick up from the cast-on, and
knit another part as if for the fingers only shorter because it only
has to be long enough for the thumb. Choose colors according to the
animal you want.

Sounds simple enough. Can I come and visit you so you can walk me through
it? g

It might be a long trip.

If you can get Leisure Arts leaflet 2275 by Beth MacDonald (copyright
1992) you'll get ten designs, all slight variations of the same basic
mitten. The pattern says to use button eyes, but I embroidered them
with yarn instead.

The reason I had to fake it was that although the pattern says to
swatch for gauge, it never actually gives either a gauge or a needle size!
It does say to use 33 sts for the cuff ribbing, and then to decrease
1 to 5 stitches for the hand (depending on how small the child is).

Oh, also it's a two-needle pattern and I prefer round knitting for
mittens, so I adapted it to round knitting.

The hardest part for me is making them small enough. I just couldn't
believe how small preschoolers' hands really are. But their parents
loved them, because it was so much easier to put them on. The girls
loved them too, even the too-big ones. I made a flamingo pair and a
rhinoceros pair. Figuring out how to add on a rhino horn took a while!

Some people like to sew red felt onto the inside of the mouth, add
tongues, etc.

=Tamar

Hi Mamie,

Welcome as I don't remember seeing your name before today. Did you try doing a
google search using puppet mittens?

Nora

Thanks for all your help everyone! I was able to think through Richard's
instructions, but in the meantime I happened to buy "Stitch and Bitch
Nation" which has an alligator pattern in them. These mittens are nowhere
near as cute as the ones that I had (they were more intricate), but they're
going to have to suffice for now since Christmas is just 2 weeks away!

Mamie