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Beware the Savage Jaw of 1984
Tuesday, December 06, 2005 I took a little break from knitting Grandma's Christmas present to make myself some fingerless mitts. Normally I prefer mittens over gloves, but for some reason I didn't have either last winter. Instead, I wore a pair of dayglo pink and black fingerless gloves that I got back in 1984. I shit you not. I got them when I was in sixth grade, at the height of the Madonna/Dayglo craze. They'd been kicking around in my underwear drawer for twenty years before I thought, hey, I think I'm gonna wear those! So that's what I did last winter, but sadly, they're starting to unravel. I've been keeping an eye out for replacements, which I thought wouldn't be so hard since Urban Outfitters has been hawking fingerless gloves for the last couple of winters, what with the '80s being "in" again. Unfortunately, the gloves they sell are itchy and expensive.  So I thought maybe I should make my own. I'd never knit gloves before (I find all those fingers intimidating) but mitts could be a possibility. Then I remembered an article from an old issue of Interweave Knits that had step-by-step instructions for gloves. After some searching, I found it in the Winter '03 issue. The easiest version is fingerless mitts with no thumb gusset. I upped the ante by actually knitting a gusset (I'm such the intrepid knitter!) and made these tasty cherry red numbers. I used KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Cherry Blossom. It's one of those patterns where you have to measure your hand and calculate everything with your gauge, so theoretically the gloves should have been a perfect fit. Alas, nothing ever works out that way for me, so part of the way through the first mitt I decided to full them a little in the bathroom sink when I was done. Worked like a charm. The mitts are warm and bright and they actually fit!Now I'm making a pair of avocado green tipless gloves with a ribbed cuff. They're coming out well, but I just got to the point where I have to start knitting individual fingers, so who knows how they'll end up. Of course, I will definitely let you know. posted at 12:01 AM . link .   .
(2) comments
2 Comments: i like the fingerless mitts because i need my fingers free but i have small fingers and can't find gloves that fit well... used a pattern from alterknits to make a laceup fingerless glove for this winter and i absolutely love them!! i have thought about fulling them (they are 100% merino) as they are a little big, and the yarn is fuzzing the more i wear them, but i don't know how. any tips?
By You can try fulling them by hand, which is what I did with mine. Fill your sink with water as hot as you can stand, add a little wool wash, and then do what you're not supposed to do when washing a wool sweater: agitate, agitate, agitate! Rub those suckers together. Mash them up. It actually takes a lot of effort to full wool by hand, so keep at it and eventually the fibers will start to meld together. If you're afraid to do this to your gloves, try it on a wool swatch first. You can also alternate hot and cold water, which helps speed the fulling process along. Once they seem to be the right size, roll them in a towel and lay flat to dry. If they're not small enough when they dry, you can start the process over. Good luck!
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