Dragon Claw Fingerless Gloves

One of my very bestest good friends is in China right now, studying Kung Fu at the Wudang Temple. One of the techniques she is studying is called Dragon Claw, which I'm sure is as badass as it sounds.

When I blogged about my Tooth and Claw socks, she admired them and thought that maybe someday she would make herself a pair. When I read that, I knew that what she really needed were fingerless gloves, for some real dragon claws.


I initially imagined them in a bright red, since red is an auspicious colour in China. When I came upon this shade of green from Madelinetosh, however, I forgot all about the red. Not only is it one of her favourite colours, it is also called "Jade" which seemed perfect for bringing her luck in her studies. The shades in this yarn do not disappoint. As has been my experience with tosh sock, the yarn is lovely and soft and strong and the colours have such depth and life to them. Exquisite.

The gloves knitted up quickly, and I finished them a month or so ago -- I've been keeping them pretty quiet until the package finally reached her, halfway around the world. Now that she has them, I can brag about how great they are.


I unvented a ribbing pattern to match up with the main stitch pattern for the gloves, and kept the ventral side of the glove pure stockingette. They are a bit snug on my arm, since she is much slimmer than I am, but they still fit so comfortably that I would wear them, and joyfully. I used a larger needle for the ribbing and one repeat of the stitch pattern at the wrist end, and knit them plenty long for the arm.

Also great: they actually used less than half of the skein of yarn, so I could even make another pair, or use it for something else. Awesome.

Finally, a photo of the badass girl herself, sporting her new Dragon Claw gloves in China -- yeah, she could totally kick your ass.

Veyla

Ysolda has started a new little collection of knitting projects, her second, called Whimsical Little Knits 2. I love her style and was immediately sucked in by the little lacy fingerless gloves, called Veyla.


I could have dug out some ivory sock yarn to make a classic lacy glove, but instead I dove into the stash for some leftover Dicentra laceweight alpaca in a fiery, racy red. Since it was too thin, I separated it into two balls and then wound them together, to double it up. The result is a completely airy featherweight fabric, lighter than air and twice as soft.

The pattern was easy enough, despite looking as though it might be somewhat complicated. I blocked the lace cuff before picking up stitches for the hand, to make sure I got a nice sharp lace from it. Ysolda suggested blocking after completion of the glove, which I think wouldn't open the lace up enough. After I finished them, I did block the hand while keeping the cuff dry, which seemed to work well enough, and evened out the stitches admirably.


Sewing on a handful of buttons was the final touch. I also had the buttons in my sewing stash, so overall, this was (in a sense) a free project, as well as a nice distraction from the cotton cardigan (which I finally picked up again last night.)

Sparrow Gloves

I am pretty confident with most types of complicated knitting. Lace, no problem. Stranded knitting and fair isle, old news. When it comes to intarsia, however, I am lost. I've tried it a handful of times, and always end up with something puckered and warped, with messy edges and me swearing late into the night. I will never, for example, make a true argyle sweater.

So when it came to making a pair of gloves requested by my HLM, with sparrows on them, I just made the gloves all black, and did the picture in duplicate stitch, after the fact. Lazy, but effective. And with less swearing.


They ended up matching pretty well, despite my lack of notes. The thumbs are a bit funky, but other than that, the gloves look great. I actually surprised myself a bit when they were finished: I saw one sitting around, before the sparrow was stitched on, and for a second didn't realize it was one I'd made. It looked just like a plain black store-bought glove that would be sitting around here. A compliment, in a weird way.

Now I'm looking around to see what's next on the list... *rubs hands together*

Basic Black

There comes a point in the knitting of a glove when the thing starts to look like a porcupine that got into a fight with a ball of yarn. Once you have the stitch holders tangling with the double-points and the yarn is squiggling around everything, you can get irritated to the point of wanting to toss the thing aside and go back to mittens. The secret is to try it on when you start to get annoyed. It feels like little wool hugs, all the way up and down your fingers. Then you smile and slide it off and keep knitting.

This pair is a special request by my HLM -- my own design, hence the scribbled notes on the back of an envelope. Not enough scribbled notes, mind you, to ensure that the second one will closely resemble the first.

Knerdy Knucks

So Knitty has this little pattern for fingerless gloves called Knucks, with the idea that those of us who aren't yet brave enough to get knuckle tattoos can emblazon them across the gloves, instead. There are some great ones on ravelry, though I am surprised by how many people make the gloves, but don't take the opportunity to put a cool message on them. Of course I only had one good idea for what to embroider...