Colour work fingerless gloves

One of the less bizarre patterns from Knit Nordic by Eline Oftedal

I knit these colour work Scandinavian fingerless gloves for my Mum for Christmas, last year if I remember rightly. I’d completely forgotten about them, but then went home for a visit last week and saw them hanging up in the hallway. Mum is the best person to knit for, because she adores handmade gifts and often uses them to decorate the house, as well as wearing them regularly. The downside is that she’s kept hold of some exceptionally questionable hand-mades from me through the years. Whenever I try to persuade her to part with ugly, badly fitting or poorly made gifts from years gone by, she clutches them to her bosom and tears up, whilst uttering aghast, “but you MADE it”. Yes Mum, but if it’s feckin’ ugly I give you permission to reuse the yarn or fabric and let that hideous baby go.

Luckily, these gloves don’t fall into that category.

I used thrifted 4ply yarn, held double (as ever!) with Drops Kidsilk, bought from Knitted Home. The resultant fabric is perfect for gloves, lightweight but warm, with that snuggly halo of yarn you get with mohair. Exactly what my mum, who feels the cold, needs for autumn and winter.

The colour work sections were enjoyable, not too complicated once I got my head around the chequered pattern on the palm. I like gloves with a proper thumb, rather than a right-angled tube, you just have to remember to knit a left and right glove or you spend a long time frogging and trying again. Insert eyeroll emoji here, especially when you’re holding yarn double with mohair.

There’s not much to say about these, other than they’re a great gift for someone you love! Colour work is complicated and time-consuming enough that I would only knit these for someone who will appreciate it. Given Mum was using these as a hanging decoration in the hall, I think she fits the bill.

The pattern is from a book, called Knit Nordic by Eline Oftedal. It’s a book of patterns based on four traditional Scandinavian colour work designs. The patterns are a little on the random side (colour work hot pants, tie, or poncho anyone?) but the charts could be applied to a variety of projects with a bit of knitting maths.

Whilst I love longer gloves in theory, they don’t really work for my life. I often find they bunch up around the wrist because the arm section won’t fit under other sweaters or coats. You could cut this pattern short at the white block, to create a shorter fingerless glove, or take several of the colour work sections and combine them together, to create the design you wanted at the correct length. I need a pair of gloves and it’s ridiculous as a knitter that I don’t own a pair of handknit gloves myself!