Violet Shetland Woll Gloves - A Handknitting Work in Progress Using Five Double Pointed needles Per Glove.
What an undertaking making gloves is! I’m finally through the palm and have begun the fingers. I worked the little finger first. Next, a bit more on the palm to get up to the beginning of the fingers, then each finger one by one. Each finger is knit as a little cylinder of about 12 stitches that are divided up onto four needles with 3 stitches on each that you knit with the fifth needle. When the finger is the desired length, you insert a darning needle threaded with the end of yarn into the remaining stitches, gathering them up at the tip to close off the finger.Then you weave the end of thread/yarn invisibly and securely inside the end of the finger where it will not show.
It is quite a feat to maneuver all these needles at once without creating an immense tangle of yarn and needle danger! But it is fun and challenging in a weirdly interesting way. I am glad to be accomplishing it. I will forever more appreciate and understand the way knitted gloves are made!
I’m not delighted with this wool. It is rough and scratchy like a loofah treatment! I wanted a strong yarn to make a tough pair of gloves for my first pair. I was afraid I might destroy a more fragile delicate yarn if I was ripping out my knitting and redoing it to get the proper effect. Sure enough I have had to reknit some sections several times to get the construction method right.
One Advantage to Making Your Own Gloves is Being Able to Try Them On As You Knit to Adjust The Fit to be the Way You Like It. And It Is Admittedly Fun Trying to Keep All the Wicked Looking Knitting Needles In Place
This takes way more time than it is worth! Of course! It is no wonder people seldom knit their own gloves anymore! Unless you want something really special. I am only interested in doing it again if I can design and make unique and beautiful gloves. This time around is only for learning purposes – to become familiar with the construction methods.
We have learned how to make the gusset for the thumb and divide the stitches for the individual fingers, etc. All worthwhile knowledge that is only understandable once you have gone through it preferably with a teacher and other students also struggling. I initially tried to understand and make a couple of patterns for these things on my own, but both of them were missing crucial steps in the explanation! No wonder they didn’t work!
After knitting the thumb gusset I removed the needles from the thumb section to use them on main the hand section. I held the live thumb stitches ~ so they would not unravel ~ tied off on the contrasting colors of yarn ~ in this case pink and red ~ while I continued to work on the hand.
As I struggle with this challenge I am reminding myself of all the beautiful vintage glove designs I am hoping to make once I accomplish this skill! There are a lot of beautiful vintage glove patterns still in existence. That is my goal. I know it looks far off as I struggle here with my initial attempt!
Note: I am using 6″ double pointed needles here. they are too long. I must get some shorter ones for my next serious attempt of glove and sock knitting. These are too unwieldy for knitting tiny circles of stitches like fingers and toes. I am searching for a set of short 3 ~ 4 inch long DPNs in a selection of sizes. They are hard to find. four shops in my city are out of them and several online stores are currently back 0rdwred. Any tips on finding good quality double pointed knitting needles will be appreciated.
PS: This is serious business for which one needs the best tools!
