Free PDF Pattern for Knitting Fingerless Gloves
Harpist Martha Dahlen is offering her pattern for knitting fingerless gloves FREE for our customers. Here's how she describes the gloves.
Last winter, my harp teacher mentioned that he had received a pair of fingerless gloves; they enabled him to play outdoors, but he said he used them only as a last resort because they were so cumbersome. I saw the problem: the bulk of yarn on the palm side would interfere with finger movement. And I took it as a design challenge: How to make a pair of gloves that were warm yet allowed the fingers to move freely? My first thought was mohair, which is really light... but it's not really warm. My second thought was, what about regular yarn for the back of the gloves, but mohair on the inner, palm side?
I knit up a pair just that, and sent them to my harp teacher. He reports that they are "fantastic," allowing free finger movement, just as I envisaged! With that endorsement, I would like to share the pattern here, in case there are other knitting harpists (or indeed, any musicians!) in cold regions who might like a pair of such gloves.
PATTERN
For these gloves you need two types of yarn: one which is warm (e.g., wool, wool/alpaca blend); and one that is very thin, very lightweight---ideally, I think, mohair. The strategy is to start the gloves with the wool. After binding off the thumb stitches, add in the mohair and use it only for the palm--with double strand knitting for a few stitches to anchor it to the back of the glove.
DIFFICULTY LEVEL
These gloves do not have individual fingers, and the thumb is simply an increase of stitches that are bound off. You need to be able to increase, add stitches, bind off and sew a side seam to use the pattern.
