FO: Steamroller Gloves for Knit for Victory

You know when you see photos from the 1940s and think, "Gosh, didn't everyone used to have really long hands?" No? Me neither, so I have no idea why the fashion was apparently for crazily, almost comedically, long gloves.

 Pattern Used

I get that they are probably intended to look elegant and are actually practical (no cold wrists), but they do look a little like they have been flattened by a steam roller, don't you think? I should have been prepared for this, as I knit a pair of fairisle mittens a few years ago and they were just as long. It's not just long ribbing at the cuffs, but the pattern extends to where the cuff would end on most modern gloves.

Palm view of glove

Checking the tension on the finished gloves I can now see that although the number of stitches per inch is about right, I got fewer rows per inch than recommended so that must be why they are extra long. However they definitely couldn't be much narrower without ending up too small to fit around my hand. In my defence I did a gauge check when I started knitting which seemed right and I have no clue how to fix the number of rows per inch without also decreasing the number of stitches per inch!  The original yarn was 'fingering' weight and I used a 4 ply so maybe this is what made the difference. Nonetheless I'm pretty chuffed with these gloves and enjoyed knitting them, despite two major glove goofs:

#1 Almost knitting two right hand gloves. I was so chuffed with myself to be speeding through the colourwork on glove number two that I was nearly at the fingers before I realised that I had neglected to make the simple changes required to make the pattern work for a left hand glove. Noooooooooooooo!Rrrrrrrriiiiiiipppppp.....

#2 Running out of wool with only 2 fingers of the 2nd glove remaining to knit.

Cat photobombing a rather awkward glove modelling photo

Of course the length was the reason that I ran out of the main yarn. Knowing that I'd be unable to purchase another ball in Glasgow and would have to get one online (this wool came from K1 Yarns in Edinburgh) I thought I'd see if anyone on Ravelry had some in their stash they could sell or trade as that might be cheaper. I wasn't precious about dye lot, and luckily one Ravelry User, Chloe aka  mysparklyshoes, had 3 balls in her stash. When I messaged her to explain my predicament and that I only needed one ball at the most, she kindly offered a half ball she also had, in return for a charity donation.

This was truly the perfect solution and I received the wool in a couple of days so I could finish the gloves plus I got to know another lovely blogger  (at Sparkly Shoes are Faster) who is a fellow fan of Kate Davies' patterns. Thank you so much Chloe! You really came to the rescue. And aren't Ravelry users the best?

My last colourwork project was a fairisle jumper which was not only torturous to knit but it hardly ever gets worn. I'd never knit such a big fairisle project again but these gloves were really pretty enjoyable to knit as they were a more manageable size and knit up pretty quickly.

The grey and purple yarns were at one point intended for a beret of some kind but I've had them in my stash for 2 years and this seemed like the perfect project. I absolutely adore the vivid indigo but I think it works best in highlights to really show it off. Although I considered making it the main colour I thought it might lose some of its impact. I used a mid blue and a green from my stash to add the other colours. You can read more about my project here.

You can see that the tension is slightly better on the left (2nd) glove but it doesn't really bother me too much:

 Gloves in use - I'm actually on a see-saw though it's hard to tell from this photo

I have to confess that they are a wee bit creased after they were disrespectfully shoved back into my coat pockets damp after a rainy walk

And yeah, I've finished my Knit for Victory project within the allotted time frame in addition to using yarn and a pattern already in my stash to make something I actually need. Colour me smug.

Do you like knitting fairisle and are you knitting along for victory?

K x