Wool For Market

 

I've spun four skeins of wool, which I'll roll into balls before Saturday's market. I ummed and arred about dyeing them but eventually decided to leave them natural. 

Spragues Revisited

 

I'm running out of time to prepare for the market, so I didn't want to try a new glove pattern and risk it not working. I used this Spragues pattern by Galt House of Yarn that I used last year. This time round I know that 'spragues' is an old English term meaning alert or lively, thanks to Diane. 

Here's the whole batch of gloves together:

Another Pair

 

I've completed another pair of fingerless gloves for the market basket.  I can't see a name on the pattern I used. The variegated wool probably distracts from the lace and cable pattern a bit. 

A Pair

 

Well, it's been a bit of a slog, but I now have a pair of well-fitting fingerless gloves with a Celtic knot pattern on the back of each hand. It's just as well that I made the second glove as a test knit because I did find mistakes in my reworked pattern. I made corrections on the paper version as I went along and will now go back to the computer and make changes there. 

Wave

 

The pattern for these gloves is called Nalu, which apparently means 'wave' in Hawaiian. So I thought the blue/green yarn would be appropriate. The pattern is well written and the shape of the gloves ideal, so I thought I'd combine this pattern, by Sparrowhawk, with the Celtic Knot cable that I used last week. I unravelled the horrible gloves that I made using a pattern from Start Knitting and amalgamated the two patterns:

This is the first glove, a huge improvement on the original. I did have a false start when I placed the thumb too low, but I got there eventually.  I'm going to write out the new version now, so that I can test the pattern when I knit the second glove. I don't want to go through the whole thought process again when I want to make another pair. 

Colour

 

I dyed three different coulourways to knit into fingerless gloves. I dyed each one separately, in the microwave, then rinsed them all together once they were cool. I started knitting with the blue/green one:

 After my difficulties with the last pair of gloves, I thought I'd stick with a tried and tested pattern. It's Nalu, by Sparrowhawk, which I've knitted several times before. 

A Better Size

 

I had another go at Celtic Knot Fingerless Gloves from Start Knitting, adding 16 stitches to the original pattern. They do fit better. I like the cabled pattern, but there are other aspects of the design that I find less pleasing. The gloves are knitted downwards and the cast off ribbing doesn't hug the wrist well. And then there's the thumb. The pattern uses a waste thread method to make a place for the thumb. That's clever, but it leaves a loop of thread at the base of the thumb:

I sewed the loop down when I threaded in the yarn used for the thumb, but it doesn't seem satisfactory to me. I also prefer a thumb with a gusset. I might be able to reuse the cable pattern, but won't knit the pattern again as it is.