YARNS

Simply Shetland
Silk & Shetland Lambswool

Designs by:
Anne Featonby

She Ewe Knits

Guest Designs:

Lorraine Condotta
Twisted Traditions

Copyright © 2004 She Ewe Knits

Fair Isle Wrist Warmers

Materials:

2 skeins of Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift, in contrasting colours.

Designate one colour as your background colour, and one as your pattern colour.

Gauge:

8 stitches/inch

Needles:

3 mm double-pointed needles, or size required to obtain gauge

Size:

56 stitches = 7" circumference -- adjust to your own sizing!

Meaure your hand around the palm -- multiply by your gauge = no. of stitches to cast on.  In my case, I wanted a 7" circumference, so I am using 56 stitches!

Knit 30 rows of k2p2 rib.  I did mine using the background colour only -- and when finishing the second glove was anxious about having enough to finish!  So, if you are going to make gloves any larger than what are described here, I'd recommend doing the rib in stripes, to even out the amount of each colour of yarn used.

After completing your ribbing, start the fair isle pattern work -- you can adjust it up or down to suit your sizing!

Working from the bottom of this chart -- grey is your background colour, white is your pattern colour. When working the blocks of 4 stitches, I did the first round knit, and the second round purled -- it is a little more work bringing the yarn forwards and backwards all the time, but it gives a nice detail. 

On the chart above, the centre 26 stitches are the top of the glove -- more patterned than the other area of the glove which is the palm.

The row where the red stitches are -- ignore this row and start the row above.  When you get to the stitches which have a red block below them -- do these stitches first in another colour spare piece of yarn as a place holder -- then pass the stitches back to the left hand needle and knit as shown on the chart.  Use the 10 stitches marked to the right, for your left-hand glove.  Use the 10 stitches marked on the left, for your right-hand glove.

When you get to the two plain rows of background colour (prior to the 10 row checkerboard) -- knit the first round, and purl the second round -- it gives a nice defining line between the main part of the glove, and the checkerboard band.

Finish off by knitting a full round in the background colour only, and then cast off in purl (using the background colour).

Thumb:  Unpick very carefully the ten stitches that you knit using your spare different coloured yarn, placing them on double-pointed needles -- picking up two stitches at either side of the opening, for a total of 24 stitches.  Knit these 24 stitches in an XOX pattern, alternating colours on each row.  Measure your thumb as you go along -- and finish up with two rows of the block patterns to give you the 4 stitch blocks as described above -- the first row knitted, and the second row purled.  Do a full round in the background colour, and cast off purl wise!

Tidy up any ends and you're done!