Kraftmas Day 11 - Crochet Fingerless Gloves

As the snow was falling outside over the past few days, I thought about how lucky I am to be able to sit inside all cozy with my cup of coffee and crafts. Of course, when I went outside to brave the weather in order to get in a quick workout, I also thought about the need for gloves and a hat. Then there was also the fact that my mom showed me a super cute crochet magazine with a hat that I really would love to make! Alas, I decided to start off with something seemingly more simple - some festive fingerless gloves. Why fingerless? Because I saw some at the mall the other day that were really cute and I knew I'd be able to duplicate.

Unlike my mom and older sister, I am no crochet master. I can do a single stitch and double stitch, but that's about all I remember ever learning. So I set off looking for a pattern that was "Easy." Now, if you  have never crocheted before, when you look at a crochet pattern it's pretty much a foreign language. Not having my Crochet Ninjas at my disposal (e.g. mom and sis), I decided to YouTube it. Lucky for me, I found an awesome video by Meladora's Creation for Crochet showing you step-by-step directions for a set of angel stitch fingerless gloves using a size 5.0 hook, one color of yarn, and some patience.

Here I am making my gloves, which I made in beige.

Here is the right hand of the finished glove set! Now, I really liked them plain however I wanted to make them a little for festive for the holidays. After all, this is Kraftmas!

Luckily, I also had red and ivory yarn that I intended to use for the hat pattern that my mom showed me. First, I took the red and did a row of single stitches around the top.

Next, I braided three long pieces of yarn, one each of red, ivory and beige. After I finished the braid, I weaved it through the bottom of the glove, leaving the ends long and hanging on the side of the glove.

 

Finally, I made pom-poms for each of the ends of the braid. To make the pom-poms, hold the end of the yarn between your thumb and index finger.









Next, wrap the yarn around your index, middle and ring finger over and over. I made 15 loops around my fingers.









Once you've finished wrapping the yarn around your fingers, take a separate piece of yarn (any color) about 12" in length. Pull the wrapped yarn carefully off of your fingers, and tie the single piece of yarn around the "ball" of yarn you've made right in the center. Make sure it is nice and tight!












Then, using fabric scissors (you need a really sharp pair), cut through the center of the loops to separate them.









You can see that you have a big pom-pom now, but it is pretty shaggy. To make it smaller and rounder, you need to shave off the ends, cutting them down as small as you prefer. I made mine pretty small since they were going to go on the ends of the gloves.

 

Finally, I tied them onto the ends of the braids!

 

And here you have it! You're own pair of fingerless gloves to wear for the holiday season!