Free Pattern-Short and Sweet Fingerless Gloves

Here's a cute pattern I came up with last year. Enjoy. :)

Short and Sweet Fingerless Gloves

By Sarah Cleary

©2011

Notes

These little wristlets are cute and super-quick! They are worked in one continuous piece–

narrower around the wrist and flaring slightly to accommodate the wider width of the

hand. Shaping is accomplished by using slip stitches and single crochets in the same

row–there are no increases or decreases. You will make the main body panel, then work

around all four sides in picot and slip stitches alternately. The last step is to stitch the

opposite sides of the panel together, leaving a space for the thumbhole.

Stitches Used

Ch = chain

sl st = slip stitch

sc = single crochet

sc (sl st) blo = single crochet (slip stitch) in the back loops only of the previous row

sc flo = single crochet in the front loops only of the previous row

Picot Stitch (working into row edges) = chain 3, join with a sl st to next row edge, repeat

to end.

Glove (make two)

1) Ch. 26

2) Working into both loops of the chains, sc into the second chain from hook and in each

ch across (25sc)

3) Ch 1, turn. Sc blo in the next 12 sc. Sl st blo of the next 13 sc.

4) Ch 1, turn. Sc flo across

5) Ch 1, turn. Sc blo across

6) Ch 1, turn. Sc flo across

Repeat 3-6 until there are 33 rows (or until desired width), ending with an even-numbered

row (wrong side)

Turn work 90 degrees. Working into row ends, picot stitch accross.

Turn work 90 degrees. Sl st into the opposite sides of the bottom ridge loops of the

starting chain.

Picot stitch accross the top.

Fold work in half with the wrong side facing out. Using sl st, join the front loop of the st

nearest you to the back loop of the one opposite. Do this for 10 sts. Sl st over the next 9

sts (thumbhole) and join the remaining 6 sts.

Fasten off and weave in ends.

Book Review–Little Crochet

Little Crochet by Linda Permann

For some reason it's really hard to find baby/children's pattern books that I like. Actually, I'm having that problem with most crochet pattern books lately, but that's another post. Mostly what I don't like are the projects themselves (how many frilly layette sets do you need, and who uses them, anyway?) and the pictures (make it look awesome, or I won't want to make it). Anyway, I really like this book. Linda has come up with some very cute patterns in a great variety, including things that you don't see everywhere. There are 24 patterns in the book, and so far I've made (or at least attempted) eight of them. There are leg warmers, booties, a mobile, a jingle ball, and nice variety of clothing items. Definitely something for every gifting need here.

So, here's what I love:

1) As I said, a great variety of patterns!
2) Yummy pictures. I see way too many books with poor-quality photos (and I mean poor color, poor staging, etc). That's not a problem in this book. The baby models are adorable, and the projects themselves look so cute and well-made that immediately you start dreaming of making your own.
3) Cost. I was more than happy to pay $21.99 for the half-dozen patterns that I immediately knew I would make, plus the few more that grew on me later.
4) There are lots of stitch charts and detailed schematic drawings with lots of measurements. SO important!

What I didn't love:

1) I was glad for so many schematics and measurements because for a couple of these patterns I thought the sizing was really goofy. I have two little children myself, and I know that sizing children's clothes is a seriously sketchy project to begin with, but the leg circumference suggested for even the smallest size in the Cozy Crawlers Leg Warmers and the chest circumference sizes for the Boatneck Sweater just seemed way off to me, especially when I compared my own child's measurements. Careful here.
2) Typos. I found a few awkward ones. The Star Booties pattern says that gauge is not important even though it obviously is. Fortunately the finished sole length is given, so you can work around that. The other typo was sort of a major one in the Sock It To Me Sweater Vest, which called for the wrong stitch at some point. I looked for errata online but didn't find any.
3) An awful lot of the patterns call for counting the turning chain as a stitch. I can't stand this, especially for patterns worked in the round, because joining to the top of the turning chain just never looks good. This was an issue for me in the Star Booties pattern. I ended up disregarding the directions and doing it my own way. Even then, my stitch count was ALWAYS off, but it's a simple enough pattern that it didn't REALLY matter.

Overall, though, I heartily recommend this book. It doesn't matter if you only have a couple hours to make an emergency gift or if you have weeks to plan something truly special, you will find great ideas!

New Technique for Seaming

Don't you hate how when you go to seam a garment, you end up with weird holes and spaces in your fabric because there just isn't any good place to stick your needle? Unless, of course, you do a border of single crochet around all your pieces, but that uses more yarn and time and sometimes just looks clunky. I recently figured out a way to make a better seam, and it starts with how I work the rows in the first place.

I was working on Linda Permann's Boatneck Sweater from her book, "Little Crochet" (review forthcoming). It's a simple, basic little sweater pattern worked entirely in double crochet. What I figured out was, if you link the first dc of a row to the turning chain, and link the last two stitches of a row together, you diminish the gap between these two elements and stabilize them, giving you a more closed, stable edge to work into when you seam.

This is called "linked double crochet" and works like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boTGA70BqK8 This is not me in the video, by the way; it's just a good video I found.

I'm going to keep playing with this idea, because it saved me a lot of time in sc edgings and I was fairly pleased with the results. :D

Book Review–The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet

The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet 
by Margaret Hubert


The title of this book is no misnomer! Wow, Margaret Hubert has done a great job giving us a reference book that crocheters of any level can appreciate. With lots of beautiful pictures and clear explanations, she covers everything from the first basics to advanced techniques such as broomstick lace, hairpin lace, and a few I had never heard of. There is even a section on Tunisian crochet. She covers details like seaming, blocking, and other finishing techniques. There are patterns interspersed throughout the book that provide practice in the stitches and concepts just illustrated. The front of the book even has some interesting articles about the origins of crochet.

Like a dictionary, this book is a great place to start, but for deeper learning you'll need to supplement with other books. As an example, the Tunisian crochet section is great for just learning the basics and a few stitch patterns, but to really get good at it you'll want to invest in something that goes deeper and provides more thorough instruction. The same is true of finishing details like sewing on buttons or linings; you'll need an additional source to really get to the bottom of things like that. If you are new to yarn, this book doesn't go into the different types or talk about weights and fibers. Personally I would have appreciated a whole section just on yarn and how to choose, but there are plenty of other resources out there for that; no one book is going to cover EVERYTHING.

So, this book is definitely worth the $25 it costs. There are wonderful tidbits in it that I've never seen before in other dictionaries or beginning books, and the fabulously clear pictures make understanding each new concept very easy. Add it to your library!

Passing it on

The other day my three-year-old daughter asked me to help her crochet something. Of course she has seen me do it constantly for all of her young life, and has often wanted to play with my hooks and play with my yarn (kitten-like), but has never asked to make something. So I took her in my lap, gave her a large hook, held the yarn myself, and showed her very slowly how to make the hook go around the yarn and through the loop. She grasped the concept right away and we made a necklace of chains, with her doing the hook work very nearly all by herself. She was SO proud, but I think I was prouder. :)