But I have managed to squeeze in one last F.O. for the year. And I must say I am proud with how I culminated my knit year!! :o)

Of course, soon to come will be my year in review on the "what I've learned in 2007" post ;op and what I plan to do for the new year (very short list).

In the meantime here are My 1st Pair of Gloves!!You all do know that gloves are the new socks! ;oD

~ Project Details ~

Pattern: I searched and searched for an easy to read glove pattern. I originally had wanted to do the Urban Rustic gloves (which is what initially determined my yarn selection), but changed my mind once I realized how much grafting was involved because they are knitted flat. I also wanted more of a cuff on my gloves.

Desiring a more traditional glove making experience, I recalled tagging a pair of gloves in my Weekend Knitting book.

The Garter-Cuff Gloves by Deborah Newton. I liked the fact the fingers were knitted in the round from the bottom-up versus grafting them or knitting the fingers top-down. But more importantly the pattern wasn't greek to me, despite the heavy mods I made to it.

Size: Custom fit for me!! :op I never had to really get to know my hands before until now! Hence, "Handology". Trivia: Anyone know the correct term for the study of hands??

I went for the small, but mainly because of my yarn substitution I had to make some adjustments, so the size really is not in the book, but doesn't veer too far off from the small size. I do wear a size 7 in gloves (general rule of thumb is that your glove size is about the same as your shoe size. My foot is a 7.5)

Time: Originally I started this project for NOROvember, but then put it aside because...life happens :o). This indeed is designated as my NOROvember project! And I had to finish this in December for my own peace of mind....because Hey! Noroanuary just wouldn't sound right! ;op Haha!

This really is a weekend project as the book suggests. Overall hours spent on this I would 'guesstimate' about 3 days or less for some (I knitted at snails pace on those fingers Haha!).

Needles: Harmony US3....have I said lately how much I lurve those Harmony needles?!? You just wait until they are no longer on back order and a full set will be all mine!! :oD

I magic looped the gloves one at a time. The body really could have been done two at a time, but I was trying to conserve and keep my yarn in tact to see how much I would have left over. And I will be making a cute companion for my gloves very soon! ;o)

Yarn: NORO Shinano (discontinued) Color #8, 1.25 balls.

I really enjoyed this yarn!! Loved the subtle striping - as if to creep up on you in purples, turquoises, pinks and even orange would pop up ever now and then! And I really like the tweediness about it too!

(had to get Knittilicious infamous glove pose in here! ;op)

The softness of this yarn is very similar to Silk Garden, but softer. In fact, they are like cousins in terms of weight and fiber content (minus the small amount of mohair). Shinano is 65% wool 35% silk = really warm on the hands!

There was no vegetation in this yarn, unlike the Silk Garden or Kureyon lines.

The one thing I did not like about this yarn were the freakin' slubs!! Ugh!This had to be one of the main reasons why they discontinued this yarn. There were several of them and drove me crazy! Despite that, I really like this yarn and wish they hadn't stopped producing it or at least bring it back (because I love the tweed look about it) new & improved without these yarn burps.

Cost: I got two balls from a Canadian seller off of Ravelry for $15 bucks including S/H. I only used 1.25 balls on the gloves so that would be a little over $8 dollars for the pair.

What I learned: How to do gloves!! :oD Making digits were the main thing for me.

And the eternal mystery of how do I close up those dreaded "holes" in between each finger?!?

Okay Okay! As Aimee had to drill in my head "there will be holes"!! :o)

That is fine but some knitters just make it seem so seamless! How on earth?!?

Well by the time I got to glove #2 I made sure to pick up more than enough stitches in between the fingers to close any gaps and did K2togs for the entire round to get back to the size I desired. You can also close any potential openings while weaving in your tails from the fingers, by tightening up those gaps at the same time. Another remedy is to use duplicate stitches if you see any looking wonky. If anyone knows of anymore tricks please let me know!!

I am still not perfect at this technique by any means and have to Thanks Aimee & Cristi for guiding me thru the fingers! We had fun eating some good JoJo Chinese, drinking P.rosecco champagne and knitting all night long like we were grown or something!! LOL

I also learned that in tight knits such as this one, on 'K2togs' I do best American style since I am a continental knitter. The "wrapping" vs. scooping the K2togs makes it much better in that tight squeeze. I learned this the hard way, and once I figured that out, my progress speeded up tremendously! I was so glad for that light bulb to go off! :o)

Modifications: There were lots of these! I did everything but re-write the pattern! LOL

Because I knew I was not using the same weight of yarn called for in the pattern, gauge was not happening....I was a good knitter and did one anyway. The Shinano is thicker than the one called for in the pattern. I CO for 30 sts vs. 36 because I wanted a snug fit around my wrists. I didn't realize how tiny my wrist are!! I tell yeah! My Handology was kicking in from the very beginning! I continued evenly for 8 rounds and only did one round increases (6 total 3:3) to come to 36 sts total.

I also did not do as many rounds of garter for the cuff as called for and only did 11 (22 in total K/P).

I did a little math and figured out where I needed to do the provisional thumb (Fetching really trained me up!). For the left hand I did a K11, K5 for provisional thumb and K20. For the right hand K2, K5 for provisional thumb, K remaining stitches.

As far as the fingers themselves, I did them in order rather than how the book had you hopping from one to the other. My index and pinky fingers I started with a group 4 stitches for the palm and back of hand and my middle/ring were 5s to have the total of 36 stitches.

I generally backward looped 2 stitches in between each finger and found myself picking up twice as many stitches to ensure I had no gaps.

As for as the tips, I did my decreases as *K1, K2tog, K1* instead of K2tog all around (which would of had a more pointy tip). My tips were more rounded out with the "star" look.

Verdict: I do recommend this pattern for beginners, and I know there are a ton more better out in e-land! Let me know about them! :o)

The key is to consistently try them on and make sure they fit YOU!

I definitely would make more gloves again for myself, but would find it challenging to try and do it for someone else, unless their hand was readily available for fitting.

If it wasn't for the variegated yarn hiding my multitude of 'knit sins' I would not have been pleased with the outcome of the gloves overall.

This yarn literally MADE these gloves and I love them! I wore them out already today!