1/15/12: My first Knitty pattern and first pair of gloves. Have been searching for ages for a glove pattern that will fit my large hands and it appears as Ringwood will work for me. Yes!

Began Ringwood Gloves KAL on the Knitty KAL group.

1/16/12: I chose to use Brown Sheep Company’s Nature Spun Sport Weight in Spiced Plum. The gauge on the yarn label came very close to the pattern’s original yarn choice (Madelinetosh Tosh DK). See here:

Madelinetosh Tosh DK is 20-22 sts = 4” on size 6 needles
Nature Spun Sport Weight is 24 sts = 4” on size 5 needles

And yesterday and today I spent some time knitting up a swatch. I haven’t worked much in the round on dpn’s (except for the sleeves on a sweater), so wasn’t quite sure on how to make my swatch. Should I go to the trouble of knitting a tube using dpn’s or should I knit a flat swatch using a circular needle and leave long loops in the back? I’ve heard from different sources that knitters tend to have a different gauge when working in the round, namely because they are exclusively creating knit stitches--no purl stitches. That is why the flat swatch on a circular needle is a good choice.

However, I know from experience that I knit at a considerably different gauge when I am using dpn’s. Probably caused by my jumbling! So after much pondering, I decided that the best thing for me was to knit a tube on dpn’s and use that as my gauge swatch. A little extra work but I think it is well worth it. I am an avid gauge lover and I like to make sure I know my exact gauge before I start any project.

So I went and took a look at the pattern’s gauge information. It states: “22 sts/32 rounds = 4” inches square in stockinette stitch.” Which makes it 5.5 sts per inch and 8 rnds per inch. Because it is important to leave yourself a good border around your gauge swatch, I casted on 44 stitches and knitted 38 rounds.

After binding off the swatch, I steam-blocked it, measured the number of stitches over 3” (I wasn’t able to measure over 4” because 44 sts didn’t give me enough room. I would prefer to count over 4” but what can a person do?), and the number of rounds over 3”.

I came up with 17 sts and 25 rnds = 3” square in stockinette. Which makes it 5.6 sts and 7.6 rnds = 1”. Very close to the original pattern’s gauge. When I was looking at my numbers I thought the sts per inch was fine but wasn’t too sure about the rnds per inch. To figure out if I needed to change my needle size I decided to do some math to bring the rnds per inch more into perspective. I imagined I was going to knit 50 rounds. How many inches would that be in the original pattern’s gauge?

50 divided by 8 = 6.25”

And how many inches in my Nature Spun gauge?

50 divided by 7.6 = 6.5”

As soon as I saw that small, quarter-inch difference I knew my 7.6 sts per inch will be just fine.

So it looks like I have found the right yarn and needle for the pattern and will be starting on the real thing this evening. Cannot wait!

1/21/12: Been doing some glove knitting every day since I started. Managed to make three fingers so far and will be picking up stitches for the index finger.

The fourth photo from the bottom shows how I hold my live stitches (such as the thumb). I slip my live stitches onto a scrap of thin, smooth yarn and secure the yarn by making an overhand knot and slipping a safety pin through this knot. It has worked very well with this project and past ones as well.

3/10/12: Finished! Gloves have been on back burner throughout February because of sewing commitments. Which is a shame, because when I went back to these at the beginning of March I noticed that I only had four more fingers to do. I was so close! Anyway, they’re done and I have some great fitting gloves all set to wear to church, the grocery store, and on walks.

Tips and Hints: When weaving in the ends, insert a lip balm stick (aka Chapstick), into the finger so you have something to grasp on to while sewing. Also, when sewing the gaps between each finger close, sew from the public side. You’ll get a much better result.