Stick people shouldn't poke each other with sticks

Ok, here's the deal. Lots and lots and LOTS of people have questions about the fingerless glove pattern "Fetching." We're talking, lots. So, I am doing a tutorial. I am going to go on to assume you know how to knit, purl, cable, cast on, and use dpns (or your preferred method of knitting in the round) and am just going to get right down to the parts that confuse people.

1.) Modifying the pattern to fit you. This is something lots of people want to do. I'm going to make it really really easy, but in order for it to work, I need you to do something. Check your gauge. In pattern. So that you know exactly how many stitches you get per inch. Now. in the original pattern, you cast on 45 stitches. That's with a gauge of 5.25 stitches per inch. Which is fine if your hand is bout 7 and 3/4 inches around (allowing for 10% negative each, so they're not floppy) but it doesn't work for a lot of yarns. So if it's too big? Take out stitches in sets of five. Meaning if your gauge is 4.5 spi, and your hand is 7 nd 1/4 inch around, then you need to cast on 35 stitches.

2.) The thumb, part one: waste yarn. I actually don't need to do a tutorial! There's already one. Go here and click on "help" on the left side, and then click on "fetching/dashing thumb." It shows you how to do the waste yarn but not how to put them onto the needles. I'll show you that below. Here's a little pic I made on the computer to show you what the stitches will look like with the waste yarn in.
3.) The bind off: keeping it from rolling. If you don't mind about whether you have the picots or not, then I would suggest binding the whole top off in purl. It keeps it from rolling. I would also suggest going up a needle size for the cast off row so there's a little give.

4.) The thumb, part two: Picking up the stitches from the waste yarn. Ok, I like to start out on the left side, but you can start from the right side, just do the exact same thing. This is what your glove should look like:

Pull the waste yarn out of the stitch on the bottom of the opening, and then the one on the top, so it looks like this:

You don't need to put a needle into those stitches yet. *Then, pull the waste yarn out of the next stitch on the top, and then put your needle through that stitch while the waste yarn is still in it, so that it looks like this:

Then put a second needle into the stitch on the bottom of the opening that the waste yarn end is coming out of (on the left) so that it looks like this:

Pull the waste yarn out of the two stitches you just put on the needles.

Repeat from the * for the next 5 stitches. At this point, your glove should look like this:

Go ahead and pull the yarn out of the stitch on the top of the opening. Then the yarn is just going through what looks like one stitch on the top, and one stitch on the bottom. The stitch on the top, however, doesn't need to be on the needle. If you look at the stitches, the waste yarn isn't the only piece of yarn going through that stitch. So, you can pull the yarn out of that stitch. Now, put the needle on the bottom through the final stitch on the bottom of the opening and pull the waste yarn out. It will look like this:

With 6 stitches on the top needle and 7 on the bottom.

Now, just follow the directions for the rest of the thumb, which read as follows:

Attach yarn and k the 7 sts on lower needle; using a second needle, pick up and k 2 sts in space between upper and lower needle, k first 3 sts from upper needle; using a third needle, k remaining 3 sts from upper needle and pick up and k 2 sts in space between this needle and lower needle. 17 sts.

This is very simple. Just knit the stitches on the first needle, and then with a second needle pick up 2 stitches as follows - put the new needle into the stitch directly to the left of the stitches on the bottom needle, like this:

Knit that stitch through the back loop, and then repeat that step with the next stitch up. K 3 stitches from the top needle onto that needle, then with another needle k3 and then pick up two stitches in the same manner on the other side of the opening. Ta da!

Then, just finish the thumb directions. Easy as pie, right?

If none of this helped you, and if you're on ravelry, then check out this group which is all about fetchings, or go to this thread in the techniques section on the topic of the thumb, or search for your problem in the techniques section.

Leave me a comment to let me know if I helped you or not, ok?