Knit Fingerless Gloves with a Thumb Hole on the Addi Express Kingsize

I had been wanting to make something with the Addi Express Kingsize again for a while, and fingerless gloves feel like the perfect autumn project to me.

The construction is really simple: we just knit a tube, close both ends afterwards, and then join the tube lengthwise. We simply leave a small opening for the thumb.

The nice thing about this method is that we do not have to do anything complicated on the knitting machine itself. No increases or decreases, no tricky thumb shaping, and really nothing that should cause too much frustration.

If you are still fairly new to circular knitting machines, you might want to take a look at my two practical guides first.

In “Circular Knitting Machine Practical Guide #1: Projects, Yarn Choice & Limitations”, you will find the most important basics about suitable yarns, good project ideas and the limitations of circular knitting machines.

In “Circular Knitting Machine Practical Guide #2: First Projects – Beanie & Cowl”, things get a little more practical and I show you a couple of easy projects to get started with.

For these fingerless gloves, I therefore assume that you already know some of the basics and mainly focus on the actual construction and on how to finish the knitted piece neatly.

Materials

For my fingerless gloves, I used a batik acrylic yarn with a yardage of 360 m per 100 g. According to the manufacturer, it is suitable for knitting needles in sizes 4 to 4.5 mm.

I would not use a very thick yarn for this project. The gloves end up being double-layered, so a bulky yarn could make them quite thick and heavy.

A gradient yarn works especially well here. The very even stitch pattern created by the knitting machine really shows off the colour changes beautifully.

You will need:

• Addi Express Kingsize
• your main yarn
• some waste yarn
• a marker yarn in a clearly contrasting colour
• crochet hook
• scissors
• measuring tape

Size and Fit

With the measurements used in this tutorial, you basically get a kind of one-size fit.

The knitted fabric is very stretchy, so it works for quite a wide range of arm sizes.

If you have very slim arms, you can increase the yarn tension slightly. This makes the fabric a little tighter and the finished tube narrower.

For wider arms, do the opposite and work with slightly less yarn tension.

In that case, I would also consider making the shorter version with 50 rounds (about 20 cm total length) or 60 rounds (about 24 cm total length). Arms get noticeably wider towards the elbow, so very long fingerless gloves need to stretch more around the upper part.

The exact finished size will always depend a little on your yarn and on your own yarn tension.

A Few Tips Before You Start

Waste Yarn and Marker Yarn

For projects like this, I usually work with three different yarns: waste yarn, marker yarn and the actual yarn for the project.

The waste yarn is used right at the beginning and again at the end. In between the waste yarn and the main yarn, I knit one round with a clearly visible marker yarn.

This makes finishing the edges much easier later on.

Once the stitches are secured, you can simply pull out the marker yarn. The waste yarn then more or less falls away by itself and does not have to be picked apart stitch by stitch.

Take It Slowly After Changing Yarn

Whenever you change yarn, I recommend cranking the first few rounds a little more slowly.

Also make sure to keep pulling the yarn down in the centre of the knitting machine. This gives the newly knitted stitches enough tension so they can be picked up cleanly by the needles.

Especially straight after a yarn change, it can otherwise happen quite easily that individual stitches are not knitted properly or that the yarn does not sit correctly.

After a few rounds, you can go back to your normal speed.

Yarn Tension Makes a Big Difference

With a circular knitting machine, the yarn tension has quite a big influence on how much the finished piece contracts.

As a rough rule: the higher the yarn tension, the tighter the fabric and the narrower the finished piece will be.

So your finished measurements may be slightly different from mine, even if you knit exactly the same number of rounds.

Try to Keep Your Tension Even

Try to keep the yarn tension as even as possible throughout the whole piece.

If you can, I would knit the whole tube in one go.

When you stop and start again later, the yarn tension can change slightly, and that often shows in the finished fabric.

If you do need to take a break, just make sure to guide the yarn in roughly the same way when you start again.

Let’s Get Started

We begin with waste yarn and cast on all stitches on the Addi Express Kingsize.

If you are still unsure about the cast-on, take a look at my post “Circular Knitting Machine Practical Guide #2: First Projects – Beanie & Cowl” first. I show and explain the cast-on there very slowly and step by step.

Now knit about 5 to 7 rounds with the waste yarn.

Then switch to your marker yarn and knit exactly one round.

Now switch to your main yarn.

For my fingerless gloves, I knit 70 rounds.

This gives you fairly long gloves. If you would prefer them shorter, simply knit fewer rounds.

As a rough guide:

• 70 rounds = long fingerless gloves (about 28 cm)
• 60 rounds = medium length (about 24 cm)
• 50 rounds = shorter fingerless gloves (about 20 cm)

After the final round with your main yarn, switch back to the marker yarn and knit exactly one more round.

Then knit another 5 rounds or so with waste yarn.

Cut the yarn and place the end into the centre of the knitted tube.

Now crank about two more rounds without any yarn.

The knitted piece will gradually come off the machine.

Stretch the Knitted Piece into Shape

Straight off the machine, the tube usually looks quite bunched up at first.

So give it a good stretch lengthwise.

This helps the stitches settle into place and makes the overall stitch pattern look much more even.

Closing the Ends

First, we are going to close both open ends of the tube.

Lay the tube flat in front of you.

The tail of your main yarn should come out at the left-hand edge.

On the opposite side, you will see small horizontal strands between the stitches of the marker yarn.

Those are exactly the strands we need now.

Pick up the first horizontal strand with your crochet hook.

Then work back and forth from left to right, pulling each next horizontal strand through the loop already on your crochet hook, just as you would with a slip stitch.

Continue like this all the way across the edge.

Once you reach the other side, pull the yarn tail through the final loop to secure everything.

Now you can pull out the marker yarn.

The waste yarn should then come away from the knitted piece almost by itself.

Repeat the same process on the other end.

Side Seam and Thumb Hole

Now we close the tube lengthwise.

Measure about 5 cm down from the top edge.

This is where we start with the crochet hook.

Pick up one strand of the edge stitch that points towards the opening and connect it with the corresponding strand on the opposite side.

Again, work alternately from one side to the other, pulling each new strand through the loop on your crochet hook.

Work your way up towards the top edge.

Once you reach the top, pull the yarn tail through the final loop to secure the seam.

Now we leave the thumb opening.

Measure another 5 cm down from the section you have just closed.

Leave these 5 cm open.

Below this opening, insert your crochet hook again and close the remaining side seam in exactly the same way, all the way down to the bottom.

Make sure you stay at the same height on both sides as you work.

If you accidentally shift by one stitch, the seam can quickly start to twist, and you will be able to see that in the finished glove.

So every now and then, check that both sides are still lining up evenly.

And that is the first fingerless glove finished.

Work the second one in exactly the same way.

Adjusting the Fingerless Gloves

If the gloves are too long for you, simply reduce the number of rounds.

You can also make the thumb opening a little larger or smaller if 5 cm does not fit your hand comfortably.

And as mentioned above, you can use yarn tension to influence how wide or narrow the finished gloves will be.

Once the first glove is finished, you can also try it on and check whether the thumb opening feels comfortable. That way, you can still make a small adjustment when working the second glove if needed.

Finally, weave in any remaining yarn ends on the inside.

Finished

And that is really all there is to it.

I like this version because it is very quick to make on the knitting machine and you do not need any complicated technique for the thumb hole.

Especially with a nice gradient yarn, the finished gloves look really effective even though the actual project is very simple.