My first pair of mittens! I made a couple mods to this pattern (directions below).

I added a pocket on the wrist/arm section to the outside of one mitten to fit a transit card and changed the thumb a bit. I really liked the Subway Mittens with the pocket on the hand, but I disliked the button/flap closure and the CTA card is too wide to comfortably fit on a mitten hand. To solve button dislike, the pocket is two overlapping sections, similar to the construction of a pillow case with an “envelope closure.” It can’t fall out this way w/o the bulk of a button.

To make the pocket:
Long/bottom half
CO 16 or 18 stitches (what ever you think will fit your card better)
St st for 2.5”
2x2 rib for half an inch
BO

Short/top half
CO 16 or 18 stitches (what ever you did for bottom half)
St st for half an inch
2x2 rib for half an inch
BO

Piecing
(Stretching to fit your transit card and holding pocket in place with safety pins is very helpful in this part!)

• With working yarn and tapestry needle, sew the two sides and CO edge of larger/bottom part of pocket to wrist of mittens.
• Pin short/top part of pocket so the ribbed part overlaps the larger/bottom by about 1/4”. Sew into place. This overlap allows the card to stay in place but make it easy to take it out when necessary.

I sewed the pocket on the left-hand mitten because that is the side the scanners are on Chicago buses, so my friend can just wave her wrist in front of the card scanner when getting on the bus. The mittens are interchangeable without the pocket mod. I guess they still are if she doesn’t mind having the pocket on the inside of her right wrist.

The second change I made was at the thumb. The pattern calls for you to knit 7 stiches (on top and bottom) onto waste yarn and only work with those to make the thumb. I found that this left huge holes on either side of these live stitches. To alleviate this I picked up surrounding stitches (about one or two, where ever I felt would leave a gap) when picking-up the live stitches. I decreased stitches from my total picked-up stitches to get the proper count requested from the pattern. This still leaves some holes when placed on the hand, so I left a long tail on both my CO and BO ends and wove them into the gaps with a tapestry needle. I think doing this will also reinforce that stretched area by the thumb and help stop any ripping issues with use.

Time it took to knit:
These mittens went really fast and I am making another of the fingerless type for a holiday present. I did the first mitten in 2 days and the other took me more time because I just didn’t work on it as much as the other. I highly rec. this pattern for any quick/last minute gifts.