As Sandy roared up the eastern seaboard, the daytime temperature in my neck of the woods dropped noticeably.
Gone were the 83ºF days of late mid-autumn, only to be replaced with days that have a more austere edge to them and cooler temperatures.
I first felt the impending winter in my fingers. I was walking my dog, Clooney, and trying to answer my cellphone, but to no avail.
I had sensibly put on a pair of gloves (as well as a coat, scarf, and hat), but gloves with fingertips are only sensible if you don’t have a smartphone. My phone, as smart as it is, cannot be answered with the swipe of a gloved finger.
In that moment as I failed to get my glove off in time to answer the phone, I realized why Ravelry has a Fingerless Gloves Fanatics group that is (as of this writing) 9075 members strong, and it was to Ravelry that I turned in seeking a super easy and quick to make pair of fingerless gloves that I could turn out in what remained of the afternoon.
A quick search of Ravelry’s pattern database brought me to Pam Daley’s free Fingerless Gloves pattern from her Learn to Be a Hooker series.
Having located a pattern I could use, I then had to track down some yarn.
I started by scavenging through my stash, and I came across this ball of yarn I purchased in California, circa 1999:
Using a Wraps Per Inch tool I picked up at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival in 2010, I determined that the yarn of undetermined weight was a very heavy worsted, bordering on an aran:
Because the yarn I was using was a bit heavier than what was called for in the pattern, I reduced the number of stitches in a row from 24 to 21, and the number of rows from 26 to 24. While I made errors from which I learned in the first glove, the second glove took all of 30 minutes (if that) to complete:
While I will have to gather the top of the gloves with either a knitting elastic (of which I have a bunch somewhere in my yarn annex) or a slip stitch around the top edge in order to get a less drafty fit, the pattern itself was easy to follow, and had I used an actual worsted weight yarn, I probably would have gotten a better fit.
However, even with the fit tending toward the large side for me, these fingerless gloves made my afternoon walk with Clooney much more comfortable, and I was able to answer my phone.
I totally see why you would enjoy making the gloves and the colours are awesome. What I do fail to understand though is why more people don’t answer their smartphones by swiping them with their nose, assuming they aren’t wearing a full balaclava.
In making the first pair I attempted for my neighbor: I too used the learn as you go method… Used the weight of yarn suggested but not a sock yarn. So made first, then second with the needed changes then frogged first and created the pair on the third attempt! Great success… now on the ones I am making for myself… I have a totally different yarn and though using the same measurements – thinking of this pattern as a jumping off point and amending as I go! I suppose that my fiber has little give means I will not have to consider a finished edge… also my lower cuff has an open sort of granny-esque edging 🙂
And just an aside – personally i had never ‘thought about’ using my nose but now that I have – not so appealing to Me. Will post my fingerless lovelies when my pair are complete….. Stay warm Dearie this is just the beginning<3
Have missed reading your daily posts during the week that Sandy was a houseguest – but fared so much better that it seems many of my neighbors did or still are! Feel like I live a charmed Life!