July = Yellow

I bought a skein of yellow Tanis Fiber Arts wool  last summer when visiting relatives in Montreal.  It was July, the Tour de France was on, the weather was beautiful, so I easily succumbed to the appeal of yellow wool.  Sadly, upon return to Victoria the newly rolled-up wool spent an uneventful year stashed awaiting the perfect project.

Last July I found Star Athena’s «Tour de France » sock pattern and first made a pair for socks for myself, then altered the pattern to make a pair of fingerless gloves for Mom last Christmas.   I love this pattern because of the cables and moss stitch representing mountains and cobbles.  Very fun to make!

So July 2011 rolled around and it was finally time to put the beautiful yellow wool to good use.  I don't know why it took me so long to put this pattern & wool together.  I should have seen  before that Tour de France = Yellow, so therefore sock pattern = yellow skein.  July was the perfect month to start this project because that's when the Tour is on.

I have finished the right glove and took a few pics this week while visiting the beach in Deep Bay.  Still working on the left glove but it should be finished soon.  

New Gloves

Wool gloves are a real treat!  They keep my fingers warm when I'm biking, or just make them feel better when they feel old and arthritic.

I knit my first pair of fingerless gloves around 10 years ago as a challenge.  It was the next step up, a natural progression from knitting socks.  The fingers, after all, are just a smaller version of knitting a sock leg, and there is no pesky heel to turn.

I have made many pairs of gloves, either with full fingers, cut-offs, or fingerless mittens.  I have given them all away or (sadly) lost them.  So with time on my hands, last weekend was the perfect time for a new project.

I bought a skein of wool from the internet in the fall to make a hat for my Mom.  However, when I received it, it didn't really scream "hat" to me so I stashed it away.  I decided to use it now because I thought the pattern might be interesting in gloves.  The stripe pattern would show thin stripes in the body and larger stripes in the fingers.  It's fun to knit with hand-dyed wool because of the variations in colours.  Subtle changes in colour reveal patterns, one stitch at a time.  It's like reading a mystery book, where clues are revealed one at a time.  This one is called a multi.

This project also marks the first time I have written out a pattern.  I have posted the instructions in Ravelry .  I have written it out in an effort to save myself time in the long run.  No more trying it out and re-measuring.

Since spring is taking its sweet time in returning this year, I'm sure I'll be able to wear these many times before putting them away for the summer.