January 20, 2014 - OMG I GET TO TEST KNIT THIS! I have been wanting to do this pattern since Poetry found it and asked me to make them for him at some point. He’s a huge League of Legends fan and loves Arcade Sona and despite them being worn by a female character he will totally rock them if my test knit turns out well.

I had a hard time finding yarn in the right weight and the right color. Ironically, I was wearing a shirt in the perfect color, so I just went to the yarn store and said, “I’m looking for Aran weight, maybe worsted, in THIS COLOR.” It’s not a perfect match…still a little dark, but it’s the closest I’ve seen. I knew I wanted a wool yarn, but am usually not a fan of acrylic. However, this is pretty decent. It’s fairly soft yet still holds some shape, the color is vibrant, there’s wool for warmth, and it’s machine washable. All good things!

As for the actual interesting info: the creator said the gauge we were to aim for is 22 stitches by 26 rows is 4”x4”. My first swatch on size US 6 needles was about exactly 4” wide if I laid it perfectly flat but was 1/4” too short. So I switched again on 7’s, and the width was only slightly over 4”, but the length was perfect. Since I’m doing these with Poe’s arms in mind, I’m going to err on the side of being a little larger is better.

I did the first 9 rows of the cuff, but began nodding off (long day at work!) so I didn’t want to make any mistakes on row 10. Normally I would consider doing these 2-at-a-time, but I would rather be careful for this project.

I have a feeling I’m going to like them and will want to knit them again!

February 3, 2014 -- FINISHED ONE!

Okay, it’s MOSTLY finished. I am going to take it in to work and have a male coworker try it on. I’m mostly concerned with the cuff at the elbow might be too tight, and I think I bound off the thumb a little tight. So at the moment I still need to weave in the ends, but I’m going to see tomorrow and go from there.

It’s big on me, but I have incredibly small hands, and I’m making them for a guy who has long skinny hands and arms. So I think they’ll look better on him.

I was a little worried about my pattern in the folds. As others have said, I too was over thinking them at first. After I just relaxed and kept on knitting, they began to look better. Just had to have a little faith and let the pattern do its thing.

Some notes: I used the cast on at http://curiousknitter.blogspot.com/2009/09/jeny-stretchy-... (see the second video link for the tutorial I used) because it sounded stretchier than a normal provisional cast on. It’s not bad, and definitely a useful cast on for later when I got to the fingers.

This was knit on 7s using the magic loop method. I considered doing them 2-at-a-time but decided against it in case I made mistakes, and to avoid the temptation to make them look alike by putting in the same number of folds in the same places. I want them to look naturally scrunched when worn, not matchy-matchy.

My total row count for the sleeve to the wrist is 120 rows. I did a few folds spaced to more than the 10 row repeat (I think I once went 15 rows before making a fold) but probably won’t do that for the second glove. I’ll just work with different lengths of folds.

I did the thumb increases for the left hand, and then ended up making the right glove with it. It still looks great, though!

I did a knitted cast on for the part where you separate the thumb from the rest of the hand. I’m not sure it was the best cast on for the job because I ended up with a strand of yarn that wasn’t part of the cast on stitches. The instructions say to cast on 4 stitches, but then p1, k4, repeat. However that would be an extra purl and not enough knit stitches, so I cast on 4, knit them, and continued the pattern. I may have been doing something wrong here, but the end result worked for me. I’ll try to document it better on the second glove.

I used DPNs instead of scrap yarn to hold the fingers, and moved them to my circular. I don’t have DPNs in 7s, so I slipped the stitches onto 8s to hold them and used my 7 circ to actually knit the fingers…again, using magic loop.

The index finger had 12 (original) stitches (a purl, 4 knit, and another purl on each side) with the 4 cast on between the two purl stitches at the thumb side for a total of 16 stitches to start, and then another 4 cast on at the between-fingers side for a grand total of 20. I started the round, cast on the 4 using the same method I used for the initial cast on, finished the round, but did not count that as my first row for the finger. I then did 3 more rows, then one more row as part of the binding off procedure.

For the middle and ring fingers, I actually picked up 6 stitches from the just-completed finger next to them, respectively. I picked up a purl, 4 knit, and another purl to keep the ribbing pattern balanced as it split with the fingers. It made these two fingers a little big, but the pattern looked good. I might knit them on 6s for the second glove.

The pinky had the remaining 9 original stitches, with 6 stitches picked up to connect it to the ring finger. For some reason my pinky finger looks almost 1 row longer than the other fingers, even though I kept close count. I think it’s just how I stretched the yarn, though.

I mentioned I still need to weave in the ends…I have a few holes where I attached the yarn, so I think I can close those up when I finish the glove.

The second glove should go much faster. I’ve just been so busy at work that I’d come home and crash out when I wanted to knit. I’m very happy with how this one turned out! Because the worsted yarn makes my arms look huge, I think if/when I make a pair for myself, I’ll use a sport or DK weight, and maybe make them just past my wrists. But the cosplayer in me is saying I need to make my own pair like Sona’s FIRST, so I can get creative on the THIRD pair I make! Silly costume stickler traits!

February 16, 2014 FINISHED!!!

I would have completed them faster but work has been crazy so I’ve been just coming home and collapsing. I could knit maybe 4 rows before nodding off. But I finally sat down and managed to push through.

I think I over-thought the arm folds of the second glove again. I don’t like it as much as the first glove, but it still looks good. I’m my own worst critic. Poe probably won’t even notice.

The hand came out a THOUSAND times better! …if you ignore the fact that I had to rip out the first two fingers two times because I kept grouping the stitches wrong. I almost had a great-looking right-hand glove, except the first one was a right-hand glove. But I got everything sorted and after all that practice my picked-up stitches really looked good.

They’re big on me, but again they’re for a male friend so I’m sure they’ll fit him better. I would describe the end result to be a men’s medium/women’s large. I have tiny hands and my arms are on the short side, so I think I’d get DK weight yarn and go down a needle size for myself. I might have to shorten the palm for myself too. But I absolutely love the result!

I think for someone who has never made gloves before, I’d classify this as an intermediate pattern, but fur someone familiar with making gloves it’s a beginner. Just because the pattern and design are “easy”, though, it still makes a cool pair of gloves! All my co-workers love them!