Lady Violette's Lace Up LIke a Corset Raspberry Gauntlets
I have just finished designing and knitting this pair of gauntlets which cover the arm from wrist to elbow and are laced together like a corset which allows a flirtatious bit of skin to show through. These are made to fit with negative ease and it took me a couple of tries to get the sizing down (small enough) as I wanted a good tight fit with stress across the lacings to give me the best looking laced up effect.
This was an experiment. I was not sure if it would turn out! But I love them and will now make them again and carefully document the process so I can share it. The yarn I used is left over Manos del Uraguay Wool Classica and required less that one full skein. I recommend winding one skein into two balls of equal size before starting a pair of these so you are sure to end the first one before you have knit over 1/2 the skein’s worth of yarn. The same way one divides a skein of sock yarn.
I used Brown Sheep’s Lamb’s Pride Bulky for the Lacings. The stitches at the end of the gauntlets are left live on purpose. I laced the Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky yarn through them so I could try on the gloves for fit and it looked so cute that I decided to leave them live and utilize the lace effect of those stitches rolling a bit and creating a tiny ruffle on the end.
These must be made to measure for the person they are for. You need to make them a very tight fit. I made these up as I knit and did not write down the pattern but they turned out really well after some initial struggle with the sizing, so I have bought some more yarn and will make another pair and document the pattern, then post it. I will then be able to give exact directions for making personalized measurements.(I do get mad at myself when I don’t document the pattern the first time through. But I get carried away with the process and don’t take good notes. It is actually easier for me to write a pattern when I make a thing the second time as I am doing it very deliberately so that someone else will be able to understand it. Now that I am posting it on my blog I will take pictures as I go to illustrate the process as well.
I find it hard to know if I am doing something correctly when I don’t have an in process photo to check my progress against. Most knitting patterns only give you a finished photo to look at. I want to provide a few pictures of the step by step process of a garment underway …. so I am going to experiment with that on this little gauntlet.
This is a nice small project as it can be done quickly, doesn’t require a huge investment in yarn and is fairly easy to make. Then there is the added cuteness factor!
I used size 7 and size 6 needles. Manos del Uraguay Wool Classica for the main part of the gauntlet and Brown Sheep’s Lamb’s Pride Bulky for the lacings. Any yarn of the similar weight should work and you could use ribbon for the laces instead of bulky yarn. I had intended to use ribbon, but when I did my try on with the Brown Sheep’s Lamb’s Pride Bulky yarn lacings I liked the way the yarns look together so much that I decided to leave it in.
I will post the pattern and a photo of the gauntlet on a model soon.
The cost to make a project is always a concern so I called The Weaving Works in Seattle where I often buy my yarns to check on the current cost of these yarns. Brown Sheep’s Lamb’s Pride Bulky costs $8.15 per skien. Manos del Uraguay’s Wool Classica costs $ $15.25 per skein in solid colors as I used here or $17.25 in varigated colors. My cost to make the gauntlets pictured was $15,25 for the ball of Manos. I used a bit of leftover yarn from my little Lady Violette Vintage Violet Clutch Purse for the lacings. The cost of yarn for that purse was $8.15. You can make both the gauntlets and the purse for a total yarn cost of $23.40! Not bad is it? I will post this information as “Cost of Knitting” with an additional photo of both projects shown together for those who are interested.
