My old shop bought fingerless gloves have definitely seen better days so I thought it was time to knit myself a new pair. I also fancied trying my hand at stranded knitting and gloves seemed like a sensible place to start.
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It turns out stranded knitting isn't as scary as I thought! Saying that, I could not get the hang of holding a colour in each hand so I carried everything with my right, picking up and setting down strands when needed. This resulted in a tangled mess which needed untwisting after every round, but hey, I got there in the end.
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The pattern is "Kites" by Simone Bechtold and a free Ravelry download - gotta love a free pattern! I think it's a great beginner project for stranded knitting as the triangle pattern repeat is clear to follow and the gloves themselves involve minimal shaping which makes them easy to customise. (I made a couple of modifications which can be found on my ravelry project page) I also love how simple yet effective the thumb detail looks, I haven't seen anything like that on gloves before.
My only real difficulty with this project was choosing my colours as colour possibilities are endless! Ultimately I knew I wanted my gloves to match my orange winter coat I bought last year so I went with a funky combination of orange, green and a pinky-purple. The orange and green are both J.C. Rennie Unique Shetland yarn in colourways 1016 cantaloupe and 207 stonehenge and the purple is Jamiesons of Shetland Spindrift 563 rouge.
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I'm really pleased with how my gloves have turned out. At first they were a bit on the snug side (I have fairly large hands) but after a wash and a few wears they've stretched comfortably. I can see gloves these being surgically attached to my hands all winter!