Anti Sucky Thumb Thingy

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Two years ago I was crocheting thumbless mittens so my youngest son could have his “natural soother” available when we were out for walks on cold days. (He wouldn't keep his mitten on because he wanted his thumb). But now he's almost 4 and still sucking his thumb...Hard. So I want to curb him of this habit a little bit and have come up with a crochet pattern for this problem!

Make several, so you can change them when they get soiled, or to replace when you can't find it because the wearer has decided to "keep it safe" in his treasure box, dropped it behind the couch, pitched it into the corner of the room or hidden it up his shirt. (Just some of the ingenious ways DS2 has tried to dispose of his thumb cover today!)

Anti Sucky Thumb Thingy

Materials
Crochet hook : F/5- 3.75mm
Large scrap of your stashed cotton yarn ( I used a neutral color so it is less noticeable if he wears it out)

Start
Chain 3, sc 7 st into first ch and pull chain tight (8 st total)

Ch 1, and sc in the round until the thumb piece is the desired length, just above the fist knuckle.
(My example is 2 inches long, approximately 10 rounds)

Next row: ch1 and sc 4 st turn work
Repeat last row until you have a strap long enough to reach around the palm of the hand.
(My example is 7 inches long, stretched. Approximately 17 rows)

(* REMEMBER: cotton stretches, so stretch out the strap tight as you measure, or the strap will become too loose as it is worn and be in the way and useless)

Finishing
Sew the strap to the open side of the thumb piece and tie in ends tightly. For an older child to wear in the daytime, you could pre string on some shank button google eyes and add into two stitches(to the nail side of the thumb piece) and tuffs of hair to make it into a fun finger puppet reminder to keep their thumb out of their mouth.