If you have seen the Hobbit movies, you certainly were drooling over Oin’s gloves like I was. The detail to match the cable in his gloves to his beard was pretty spectacular to me! I have departed from the original in the cable, but I think that it makes it just a little more special. The remainder of the glove is worked over in simple seed stitch to give you some texture and looks vaguely chainmail-like. I worked the sample using my Control Freak Cabling without a Cable Needle method. See the tutorial here: https://youtu.be/kcEXZUOnrYQ if you are unfamiliar with this technique. It’ll speed up your cabling immensely and save you from dropping stitches.

The gloves are worked in an unconventional manner, but it will allow you to try everything on as you are working so they will fit you perfectly. This method will also allow the large cable motif to fit on any hand-size perfectly. The work will begin by casting on provisionally around the base of the fingers. Then work straight to the thumb area. A second provisional cast on is made for the thumb opening and the gusset will then be worked from the top down. At the base of the hand, you can determine the desired length of the forearm and work to that point. A simple cabled cuff is worked to keep things snug on your arm. Then the fingers are picked up from the provisional stitches and worked in the pattern; working them from the bottom up allows each finger to be worked to the exact length needed.

The sizing on this pattern span from a small woman up to a large man. Make sure you check your palm measurement to ensure you are casting on for the right size! This unisex pattern looks just as great on a man as it does on a woman.

Size: Circumference in Inches (Circumference in Cm)
Extra Small: 6 ½” (16.5)
Small: 7” (18)
Medium: 7 ½” (19)
Large: 8 ½” (21.5)
Extra Large: 9” (23)
Extra-Extra Large: 9 ½” (24)

Yarn: 375 (400, 425, 450, 475, 500) yards/350 (365, 390, 415, 435, 460) meters of sock weight yarn.

Techniques: Knitting in the round, provisional cast-on, cabling, chart reading, basic decreases and blocking.

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