Taking Up The Gaunlet

Recently I moved into a lovely new office with a real window at work. I love the sunshine on my desk on a pretty day, and watching the rain during a storm, but recently the only thing to see out my window has been grey, drizzly, foggy, overcast ... you get the idea. Please know that I am NOT complaining about my nice new office at all, but I have been a little chilly. Those of you who know me know I am never chilly. I am under most circumstances a walking radiator, but my hands have been cold at work.

My boss has also had this problem, and the other day I noticed she had started wearing gauntlets at work. As most knitters know, when you see something created with yarn, your mind automatically starts thinking about how you could make that. So even though I am in the middle of a project and hate to stop to do something else, I decided to take a break from that to quickly make something for me. Although I give away almost everything I make, I think I'm keeping these.

Digging through my stash, I found three skeins of Lanna Grossa Elle #005 that I had bought at my favorite yarn shop, Knit Happenz. The needle recommendation for this yarn was for a size 9 needle, but the yarn seemed way to bulky for that and I ended up using a 10.5. All of my bamboo needles were too long for this project, so I found an old set of acrylic ones. It ended up being a great choice, as the yarn worked easily on the smooth surface.

The pattern is simple enough for a beginner and easily done in a few hours. Each gauntlet uses about two thirds of a skein, so two skeins of this yarn are needed. Each skein is about 44 yards.

Cast on 20 stitches. (I always like to knit cast on)

*Knit 2, Purl 2* repeat to end

Repeat this on each row for 8.5 inches and bind off, leaving a very long tail.

Thread the tail through a large darning needle and stitch the two sides together for 4 inches. Leave a 2 inch space for your thumb and knit to the end.

Repeat for the second gauntlet and your hands are warm!