Crochet: The Anatomy of My FingerLess Glove

So why do we love these unfinished mittens so much? I think mostly because they allow us to dial a cell phone and use an I-Pad - all while keeping our hands warm at the same time! In this post I explain my process for making fingerless gloves. Its not a pattern, but I do paint you a pretty good picture of how its done. 

What You'll Need:
-2 ply or finer yarn, something in a nylon blend, baby yarn works, sock yarn is great.

- Size D, E, F & G crochet hooks

- 3 inch yarn needle - sharp

- Buttons to decorate

It all Starts with the Cuff

The number of rows in the cuff determine the overall size of the finished glove. Fewer rows makes for a smaller glove; more rows a larger glove. To make the cuff, I use a single strand of wool, cotton or acrylic nylon blended fine yarn and a D or smaller hook. I want my cuff to be of a finer yarn and smaller stitch than the body of my glove.  I start my cuff by chaining 15 and work back and forth on this chain in a rib stitch (work in back loop) completing on average 32 rows or 16 'ribs' (this would be a size large glove). I then join the last row of rib stitch to the first row to form a ring or the cuff for te glove. This concept for creating a ribbed cuff is not new. This method has been used in knit and crochet garments for centuries. Just take a look at the sweaters in your closet. 

Joining last row to first

32 rows of rib st

finishing cuff; row of sc

To finish the cuff I work a row of sc and then a row of slip st on one end of the cuff; this is also the starting row for the body of the glove. So, if my cuff has 32 rows of rib stitch, then the body of my glove will begin with 32 sc. I now break the yarn and start with a different yarn for the body.

Oh, and you need to make two cuffs - exactly the same. That’s the hard part.

The Body

The Body: row 1: sc, row 2: sl st, row 3: sc, row 4: hdc. 
For this glove I used a fine baby yarn for the cuff and the 
same baby yarn combined with a strand of nylon sock
yarn for the body.

I start by choosing the color and texture of yarn for the body of the glove. The type and color of yarn I use determines the pattern I will choose for the design of my glove. Since I don't want the end result to be a pair of boxing gloves, I have to find a happy medium in ply. I generally use an F or G hook for the body. The finer your yarn, the smaller your hook, the smaller the stitch and the smaller the glove.

Some of my designs are done in the round, others are joined rows which creates a seam I need to be careful to hide. If I'm crocheting in the round, I mark the first (starting) stitch to keep track of the starting point and count my rows. Since I don’t follow a pattern when creating gloves - and since I do have to create two gloves to make a pair - I must remember stitch for stitch what I did on the first glove to create its mate. So, since trying to remember at my age is difficult, I keep a notepad on hand and take notes as I work. Works for the most part.

The stitch you choose determines a tighter or looser fitting glove. Crocheting in both loops creates a tighter work; crocheting in the back loops only makes for a flatter, looser work with more stretch; a sc makes a tight fit with less stretch, where a hdc creates a thicker glove with more stretch. It may be necessary for you to inc or dec to give the glove proper fit and shape. And that’s fine. I generally do two dec in each of last four rows (around the fingers). Count your sts and count your rows, keeping track of which rows you inc and dec in.

When you create without patterns your free to simply crochet whatever stitch you want. There's no right or wrong method here. Begin with a basic idea of what you want and let your project evolve from there. Eventually your stitches will transform into designs. The more you crochet in this manner, the quicker the designs will flow from your brain to your fingers. These designs will become your style and a trademark of your work. 

Finishing the thumb hole.

The Thumb

The thumb hole is created by chaining eight and skipping five sts in previous row. When I get to the ch sts of the thumb hole in the next row, I always sc over them regardless of what stitch I'm using in the design; sc over the ch sts. This keeps the glove between the thumb and forefinger in proportion. Sc two or three rows around the thumb hole to finish it off.  

The Hard Part

The finished product

Its difficult to create two exact replicas of anything even with a pattern. But its not impossible, it just takes practice and working in a consistent tension. If I'm really stressed out, I'll crochet super tight. If I've had to much coffee to drink I'll crochet really fast, so I might as well keep drinking coffee and finish the other glove.  I create a lot of doilies with thread, so I do normally tend to crochet tighter than most. If you tend to crochet consistently tight, try using a hook one size larger for glove making. And breathe.

Weaving in Loose Ends

Sometimes it takes me just as long to weave in all the loose ends as it did for me to crochet the pair.  The many different colored yarns I use determines time spent weaving.  To weave, I use a sharp, 3 inch long needle and weave in as much of the end as possible. Generally there are a dozen loose ends on each glove that need to be woven in. 

You can see my latest creations in FingerLess Gloves at: www.ArtisticNeedleWork.com


 Best Regards,

-Denise

at Artistic NeedleWork