Lace Gloves – WIP (work in progress)

So I have cast on and started knitting the lace fingerless gloves that I have been designing with the midnight pacific merino lace yarn which I hand dyed. I am knitting them from the hand up, so I’ve got so far are little bands which fit around my hand, and tiny little thumb tubes. I will work the increases and decreases, and adjust or embellish the lace pattern as the mood suits me, as I go. The turned ‘hem’ which I’ve incorporated at the hand opening was the trickiest part so far – with the dark, and rather thin yarn, it was very hard to align the ‘live’ front stitches with the cast-on stitches behind in an even manner to knit them together. But it turned out OK anyways.

Another thing that is a first for me with these gloves is that I am knitting them both at the same time, on a long circular needle – a 47″ long US#1 circular needle. But after the fussy cast-on, and the hem was done, it’s gotten easier as I learn how not to tangle my yarns up, and as I get into the swing of the gloves. And the color, which I was initially unsure about, seems very nice in the knitting. But I think that the next time I knit something really fine and lacy I want to do it in a lighter color, a yellow, I think. Yellow lace tank-top? Or Yellow lace cardigan? Something like one of these lovely designs in Lace Style, perhaps?

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lace gloves : design stage

I love stitch dictionaries. Since receiving ‘A Treasury of Knitting Patterns’ by Barbara Walker from the library, I have been obsessed with the multitude of possibilities that it contains. I flip through it every night before bed, finding new stitches that I love, and fantasizing about the garments they will inspire.

Since I have probably 400 yds+ leftover merino laceweight left over from my butter clam scarf, I decided that a perfect canvas for experimentation would be a pair of fingerless gloves; simple enough tubes stretching from hand to elbow. So armed with Barbara Walker, I measured, designed, and knit a couple of swatches.

As I have a limited amount of yarn, and I will be hand dying it, I will knit both at the same time, from the hand up to the elbow. I am not sure exactly how the hand will be covered; will there be tiny individual fingerlets? The gloves must definitely have a distinct thumb tube. The main idea is to have a lace pattern on the top of the arm, extending over the top of the hand, and stockinette stitch on the palm, and the underside of the arm. That way increases can be handled within the simple stockinette underside, or with a row of yo’s along the border of the lace. At and above the elbow, I want to switch the pattern to an all-around ribbing of some kind – maybe a lacy rib, or perhaps a chunkier, more solid one, but something with significant stretch to hold the glove up.

The final (and sometimes most difficult) question is color. I plan to dye the yarn prior to knitting … but I’m kind of tired of making dye tests, so I think I’ll just wing it, and well, we’ll see what happens!