Monica Knits

Whirligig Gloves Promise of SpringThe late winter colors of sky blue, brilliant sunshine, snow, dried grasses and leafless trees evoked the sense of spring awakening. The effect was both uplifting and fascinating and inspired Fair Isle style gloves in 4 cheerful colors: sky blue, cream, rust and yellow. Read on ... for Independent Designer Pattern (IDP) and yarn information.

You may find one or more of the following twelve tips helpful for knitting fingers of gloves. Included are techniques to prevent holes and tips for fit and needle sizes. Read more ..... for tips.

Traditionally, fingerless gloves were used by fishermen to provide dexterity for removing fish hooks, while providing warmth to the rest of the hand. Nowadays they are welcomed by keyboard users--allowing fingertip control, coupled with warmth. Just last weekend, I noticed that our favorite teller at the grocery store was wearing a beautiful pair of black and pink fingerless Valentine's day gloves. When I commented on them, she said that she needed them to keep her hands warm. Read more ... for fingerless glove knitting instructions.

For the 4-color gloves, the finger decreases were modified from the method of thirds used in the Mohair Gloves. The main reason was that the Palette yarn was thicker than the mohair. The number of stitches decreased in each row is the same as the earlier method until 9 stitches remain on the dpns. From the photo you can see that this point is about 1 row above the fingertip. The yarn is cut, leaving a 10-12" tail which is then drawn through the 9 loops. The loops are pulled to the inside of the thumb or fingers and then the circle is drawn tight (from inside the glove) to create a "star" fingertip. Read more ... for details. Click on the thumbnail to view a larger image.

These fingerless gloves were knitted with alpaca yarn so soft, it feels like you are caressing a kitten or puppy. Not only was the yarn a pleasure to knit, but the gloves are luxurious to wear. They were designed as fingerless gloves to allow me to wear them while typing at the computer. Alpaca yarn was selected for its warmth and a stranding technique was used to provide a further layer of insulation and greater warmth. The room in which our computer is housed is cold--good for computers, not so good for typing! The gloves provide the perfect mix of comfort and style, while keeping the fingers cozy. The photo on the right shows the stranding technique.

This two color cuff was knitted in 2 x 2 ribbing with the knit stitches in charcoal grey and the purl stitches in light grey. This cuff has 52 stitches and is 2-1/2" long. A stranding technique, with a float of 2 stitches was used and a fingertip yarn guide was used to manage the 2 colors of yarn. Read more... for additional information.

Watch a video on knitting with 2 colors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-0ApmvvhTA

A picot bind off was selected to complement the fine yarn and slim arm of the long mohair gloves. Ribbing would have been too bulky and would have detracted from the silhouette; lacy bobbles supplied grace and drama. Read more .... for further details and related links.

In the previous step, the fingers were knitted and completed. This optional step is for the long glove, which measures 9-1/2" from the wrist to the bind off row. Arm knitting begins from the provisional cast on that was located 4" up the arm from the wrist. In this step, progressively larger diameter needles were used, rather than increasing the number of stitches in the rounds. There are a number of advantages to this approach, the first one being that as the needles size is increased, the knitting becomes faster. Read more... for additional advantages and detailed instructions

Step 3I knitted this series of samples in a lighter colored yarn to make it easier to demonstrate how the provisional stitches are picked up for the thumb. In the dark blue mohair gloves, although the waste yarn could be easily seen, it was difficult to see and photograph the loops that were picked up, so I ended up picking up the stitches from the inside (purl side) of the glove. These images show how you would pick up the thumb stitches on the stockinette side of the glove. Read more ... for stepwise, illustrated instructions.
Click on any thumbnail to view a larger image.

There are many combinations of stitches that can be used to knit the fingers of a glove. I created a series of diagrams, with three different examples (patterns), to explain how fingers are created in knitted gloves. This is definitely the case where a picture (or several) is worth a thousand words. Using the approach outlined here, you will be able to create custom fitted fingers appropriate to the number of hand stitches on your needles.    Read more