My old shop bought fingerless gloves have definitely seen better days so I thought it was time to knit myself a new pair. I also fancied trying my hand at stranded knitting and gloves seemed like a sensible place to start.
It turns out stranded knitting isn't as scary as I thought! Saying that, I could not get the hang of holding a colour in each hand so I
carried everything with my right, picking up and setting down strands
when needed. This resulted in a tangled mess which needed untwisting
after every round, but hey, I got there in the end.
The pattern is "Kites" by Simone Bechtold and a free Ravelry download - gotta love a free pattern! I think it's a great beginner project for stranded knitting as the triangle pattern repeat is clear to follow and the gloves themselves involve minimal shaping which makes them easy to customise. (I made a couple of modifications which can be found on my ravelry project page) I also love how simple yet effective the thumb detail looks, I haven't seen anything like that on gloves before.
My only real difficulty with this project was choosing my colours as colour possibilities are endless! Ultimately I knew I wanted my gloves to match my orange winter coat I bought last year so I went with a funky combination of orange, green and a pinky-purple. The orange and green are both J.C. Rennie Unique Shetland yarn in colourways 1016 cantaloupe and 207 stonehenge and the purple is Jamiesons of Shetland Spindrift 563 rouge.
I'm really pleased with how my gloves have turned out. At first they were a bit on
the snug side (I have fairly large hands) but after a wash and a few wears they've stretched comfortably. I can see gloves these being surgically attached to my hands all winter!
Ooh they're lovely - the colours seem very you! I think I only learned the two handed method effectively because I went to a class on it, otherwise I'd probably still be tangling myself up every time more than one colour was involved!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Elise! So impressed you can do it two handed. I'll have to practise my technique as it must make progress so much quicker!
DeleteThey look fab Jo! I keep meaning to try stranded knitting, but then get distracted by other patterns that I already know how to knit - I'm torn between wanting to try something new and wanting knitting to be something relaxing that I don't have to think about too much! I'll keep a note of this as a good beginner pattern in the hope that I'll get round to it soon!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ruth! Yeah I get what you mean, sometimes it's nice to have a mindless project where you don't have to consult books or youtube for new techniques. You could easily make these though as you're a good knitter. :)
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