Flutterty

My office is ridiculously cold during the winter, and I needed a pair of hand warmers that covered the palm, but left plenty of room for my fingers to type. I had recently picked up a ball of King Cole Zig Zag in Surprise, and with how it stripes up really nicely, I knew I wanted a pattern that didn't take away from the stripes, but added to them.

The Jaywalker Socks from Grumperina have a style that really shows off self-striping yarn, giving it an extra flair that it doesn't have with just plain stocking stitch, as well as being easy to remember. And with a little work, I adapted it to work with fingerless gloves.

Once I got down into the pattern and was knitting along, a friend pointed out that they were really My Little Pony colours. And with yellow, pink, purple, and white/purple, I totally thought of Fluttershy and Rarity. Therefore, Flutterty.

These are snug on my wrists, which feels great, and you can easily adapt the size by increasing or decreasing the number of stitches by 8 when you cast on. Then it's just two more (or less) extra stitches - one at the beginning and one at the end of the repeated lace pattern.

You'll need to know how to knit in the round (either on circular or double-pointed needles), how to increase stitches by knitting back and forth (kfb), how to increase stitches by picking up the stitch bar below, how to decrease stitches by slipping two, knitting one, and then pulling the two slipped stitches over s2k1ps2so), and how to pick up stitches.

Items needed:

• 1 ball of 4-ply sock yarn - self-striping looks fantastic
• 2.75mm/12 (US)/2 (UK) circular or double-pointed needles (or whatever you need to get tension)
• Two stitch markers, plus three additional markers if you need to keep track of the lace pattern
• Row counter
• Scrap yarn
• Tapestry/sewing needle

Tension

In lace pattern: 5 inches/12.5 centimetres = 50 stitches and 50 rows

In 1x1 rib: 5 inches/12.5 centimetres = 31 stitches and 50 rows

Pattern

Cast on 52 stitches.

Join together, placing stitch marker at join.

Knit 10 rows in knit 1, purl 1 rib.

Start lace repeat as follows:

Knit front and back in the stitch.

Knit 4.

Slip 2 stitches, knit 1, then slip the 2 stitches over the 1.

Knit 4.

Knit front and back in the stitch.

Repeat the pattern three more times until you reach the end of the row.

On each even row, knit.

Repeat these two rows until you have knitted 20 rows, reaching Row 30.

Start the thumb gusset:

On the start of Row 31, pick up one stitch using the bar method (picking up the bar underneath the row and knitting into the back of the loop), place new marker, then continue with lace repeat until the end of the row.

For the right glove: At the start of each row, use the bar method to make one right before the marker.

For the left glove: At the start of each row, use the bar method to make one right after the row marker.

Continue the lace pattern and the thumb gusset for 19 rows, reaching Row 40.

At Row 41, slip the thumb gusset stitches onto your scrap thread, and continue the lace repeat until the end of the row.

Knit 9 more rows in the lace pattern, reaching Row 50.

Knit 10 rows in knit 1, purl 1 rib.

Cast off.

Carefully transfer thumb stitches from scrap yarn onto needles.

Pick up two stitches.

Join together.

Knit 5 rows.

Cast off.

Sew in any loose ends and wear!