Mitten help needed urgently please.

[pyjama princess]

As many of you know hubby is going through treatment for bowel cancer. Every 3 weeks he has the cancer drugs directly into a vein in the back of his hand. He's been finding that immediately after treatment the area on the back of his hand where the needle was inserted is very painful. He has to wear warm clothes to leave the cancer centre but today he couldn't tolerate a glove on his hand he had to have it hanging off his fingers. Over the weeks I've tried various ways of adapting gloves to ease the pain. But now I think he may be more comfortable with a large loose mitten instead of a glove so I'm going to make him some. I prefer crochet but think it will be to 'open' and not warm enough. I can knit so will attempt that.
So...........
1. Can anyone point me in the direction of a pattern?
2. It needs to be a large mitten that is loose at the wrist. All the gloves I've tried have had elastic at the wrist and it's too painful pulling it on. So can you advise me on how to adapt the pattern to make the wrist bigger.

For a few days after treatment he needs to keep his hand warm otherwise it sets off pain in his hand and up his arm so I'd like to knit one mitten today - the second one doesn't need to be finished until his next treatment when they'll put the drugs in the other hand.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[notmorecraft]

Can you sew? Use an oven glove pattern and some fleece fabric, would be warm and loose, you could cut up an old fleece sweatshirt. Hope everything goes well for him xx

[EssexAnne]

When my aunt badly hurt herself in a fall, I used an old scarf and turned it over on itself and sewed up the side seam. It was long enough to go round her neck and she tucked her hand in like a giant pocket/mitten.

[RozMinis]

When my aunt badly hurt herself in a fall, I used an old scarf and turned it over on itself and sewed up the side seam. It was long enough to go round her neck and she tucked her hand in like a giant pocket/mitten.

That was what I did for the first few months after the accident. I still have to wear protection where the break was in my thumb so invented a way to make a glove type thingie that covers two thirds of my thumb. I often feel I am the only idiot who wears a glove in the middle of a hot summers day, though it tends to be an open crochet pair with the entire left thumb worked.

Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/ is a good place to find patterns for both crochet and knitting. You could make the cuff and hand looser by using larger hook/needles, then revert to a smaller size for the rest.

Roz

[Julie]

I bought side opening (Velcro) padded mittens. Mark also wasn't allowed to breathe cold air and needed a mouth less balaclava. You can't even imagine the websites I had to go on to find one of those, seems it's a bit of a niche market !

[Lioness]

I also wonder if sewing a pair of mittens might be easier/ possibly more comfortable than knitted one. Fleece seems a good idea and you could line them with a (stretchy) cotton fabric. I would suggest cutting up an old t shirt.

Or what about a large pair of ski mittens? You may find something in a sale

[pyjama princess]

Can you sew? Use an oven glove pattern and some fleece fabric, would be warm and loose, you could cut up an old fleece sweatshirt. Hope everything goes well for him xx

Notmorecraft you are an absolute star! Thanks so much for this suggestion. I'm not the greatest sewer but I do have a sewing machine. It took me longer to find an old fleece and set the machine up than to actually make them. So hubby is now in bed with one hand out of the duvet with a rather fetching fleece 'oven' glove on LOL! I didn't line it and he said it was warm enough.
Thanks everyone for your input - I knew I could rely on the forumites to help out.

[pyjama princess]

'Oven Mitten' worked a treat all night. He now has it next to him on the sofa and pops it on if his hand gets a bit chilly. I'll have to make a few spares and hand them out at the cancer centre to anyone else suffering LOL!

[Little Jan]

Glad you got the glove sorted
You would think by now there would be somewhere you could get
The extra things cancer suffers need
But as you made it yourself it will mean more to your hubby

Dad had his IV in the side of his chest and had to keep his arm away from it
But only about five inches ,it made his shoulder ache
So I made him a thick pad with a Velcro strap that kept his arm away from his chest but meant
he did not have think about it.

[notmorecraft]

Pyjamaprincess, glad I was of help xx

[RozMinis]

Oh bless, glad his hand is now warm and toastie. It is amazing just how awful one can feel when cold. I'm sure the other cancer patients will be delighted at the idea of having something to keep them warm too.

I was very lucky with my cancer, had the hysterectomy which removed it and everything else. I was also dead lucky in that it was only stage 1, and that Mr Farag had gone to the trouble of learning the vaginally assisted technique, something that was very new six and a bit years ago. I hardly knew I'd had anything done, no pain, just a little tender. Didn't even have to have radiotherapy. I thank my lucky stars each and every day. Still have a thumb too after the all night session Mr Caufield and his team.

Roz