Little Arrowhead Fingerless Gloves

Little Arrowhead Fingerless Gloves
I went with Legos for the photo this time.

As promised, I'm adding more fingerless gloves to the repertoire. And the Little Arrowhead pair has a couple of nice features, including a simple repeating lace pattern and the fact that both gloves can both be knit from the same pattern (so no left hand, right hand mumbo jumbo!). I should note, however, that these gloves are designed with a slightly looser fit in mind (as you can see from the pictures, they're not stretching tight over my hands or anything), and if you want them to be snug, you may want to knit them a size smaller than I give directions for. In fact, if you have itty bitty hands and want really tight gloves, I would even recommend casting on 45 stitches instead of the small size's recommended 54, omitting those 9 stitches from your second dpn. Remember, however, that this will make your cast-on and cast-off edges tight, and you'll have to take extra care to cast on and bind off such that you can still get your hands in these bad boys!

I just realized why I like this color.
It's the same shade we painted the house!

Sizes: smaller (for a hand roughly 7 1/2" - 8" in circumference at the base of the thumb) and larger (for a hand roughly 8 1/2" - 9" in circumference at the base of the thumb) - directions for larger size will follow those for the smaller size in parentheses

Yarn: Schoeller + Stahl Baby Micro (51% Virgin Wool, 49% Acrylic; 106 yards [97.5 meters]/25 grams); #04 Light Blue - two skeins

Needles: One set of double-pointed needles (dpns) in size 3, one set of dpns in size 2

Notions: Tapestry needle

Gauge: 26 stitches = 4 inches

Using your size 2 dpns, cast on 54 stitches loosely (63 stitches) and distribute among your dpns as follows: 18 stitches on your first needle, 18 stitches on your second needle, and 18 stitches on your third needle (for the larger size: 18 stitches on your first needle, 27 stitches on your second needle, and 18 stitches on your third needle). Join in round, and then we'll knit the following ribbing row:

Ribbing Row: * k2, p2, k1, p2, k2 *

Knit this row 4 times and then switch to your size 3 needles. Now, it's time to begin on the pattern, which is a variation on Little Arrowhead Lace from page 193 of Barbara G. Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, and goes like so for both sizes:

Row 1: knit

Row 2: * k2, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k2 *

Row 3: knit

Row 4: * k3, yo, sl2 together knitwise-k1-p2sso, yo, k3 *

Knit rows 1 - 4 ten times, and then it's time to begin gusseting in the thumb. So let's proceed as follows:

Row 1: knit until you have 17 stitches left on your first needle, yo, and then knit across the rest of your first and second needles. Knit 17 on your third needle, yo, and then knit until end of round (both sizes).

Row 2: knit until you have 18 stitches left on your first needle, and then (k2, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k2) six times (seven for larger size). Knit until end of round.

Row 3: same as row 1

Row 4: knit until you have 18 stitches left on your first needle, and then (k3, yo, sl2 together knitwise-k1-p2sso, yo, k3) six times (seven for larger size). Knit until end of round.

Work rows 1 - 4 four times (five times for larger size). At this point, you should have 26 (28) stitches on your first and last needles. Knit across first 8 (10) stitches on your first needle and then transfer these 8 (10) stitches and the final 8 (10) stitches on your third needle to a scrap piece of yarn, to hold for working later as the thumb. And now, we'll resume our original pattern, joining the mitt back in the round at the thumb break. I've copied the pattern below again even though there are no changes. Naturally, that means it's still the same for both sizes.

Row 1: knit

Row 2: * k2, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k2 *

Row 3: knit

Row 4: * k3, yo, sl2 together knitwise-k1-p2sso, yo, k3 *

Knit rows 1 - 4 four times, knit row 1 again, and then switch to your size 2 dpns and complete four rows of your ribbing row (* k2, p2, k1, p2, k2 *). Bind off loosely in pattern. And finally, using your size 3 dpns, pick up your thumb stitches again, taking care not to put a seam where the break in the stitches occurs (where you rejoined your glove in the round after removing the thumb stitches from your dpns). Knit around, picking up two extra stitches at the break, and completing 5 knit rows in total. Switch to your size 2 needles and knit two rows in a * k1, p1 * ribbing. Bind off loosely, and tuck in ends. Lastly, make another, if you'd like two. Stick with one if you're going for a Michael Jackson thing, and/or suffer from One Cold Hand Syndrome*.

* Note: this syndrome has not been medically proven.