I-Cord Gloves - 1st Installment

Are you ready to knit a pair of gloves from the fingers to the cuff?  Using i-cord fingers?  If so, then today is your day!  Here is the 1st installment of my I-Cord Gloves serial pattern.  Like serial books, which are published one chapter at a time, serial patterns are published over several short installments.   The i-cord finger technique comes from Meg Swansen and her excellent book, "Handknitting with Meg Swansen".  Please note:  this pattern is still in the prototype phase -- i.e. I haven't finished the gloves yet.

I-Cord Gloves: Serial Pattern: Installment 1

Size
Women's Small [Women's Medium, Women's Large]

Finished Sizes
Hand Circumference: 7 [7 1/2, 8] inches

Materials

• Yarn -- Koigu or a comparable yarn. 
• Needles --  Double pointed needles in the size you need to obtain gauge.  I used US3.  Optional: If you want to knit the body of the glove using 2 circular needles instead of double pointed needles, you'll also need 2 circular needles in the same size as your double points.
• Notions -- crochet hook, blunt tapestry needle, scrap yarn

Gauge
7 stitches equals 1 inch in stockinette stitch knit in the round.

Abbreviations and Techniques

M1 -- “Make 1” stitch. Before knitting the next stitch on the left needle, use the right needle to pick up the loop of the stitch in the row below -- back to front -- and place it on the left needle.  Knit this loop to add a new stitch.

Directions

Fingers
Each finger is knit individually as an i-cord tube.  These fingers are really fun to knit and are very portable.  Drinking a cup of tea?  Knit a finger.   Stuck in traffic?  Knit a finger.  Watching your kid's soccer game?  Knit a finger.  Waiting for the water to boil?  Knit a finger.  Before you know it, you'll have all 10 fingers ready to go!  Label each finger as you go – it’s easier than you think to mix them up!  Deb suggests skewering them -- in order -- onto a spare DPN.

For more information on knitting i-cord fingers check out this previous post.

Finger Alternatives
If the i-cord finger technique is not to your liking, several experimenting knitters have suggested alternatives.  Please pop over to their blogs for details.   

• Purly Whites uses the turkish cast on to get each finger started and then knits the finger in the round using 2 circular needles.
• Cara uses the i-cord technique to get each finger started and to increase to the final number of stitches.  Once she's past the last increase row, she switches to knitting the remainder of the finger in the round.

It's so important to take all patterns with a grain of salt, adapting them to fit your personal knitting style and preferences -- experimentation and adaptation are two keys to success.

Pinky (Make 2)

• Cast on 6 (6, 6) stitches onto a double pointed needle
• Knit 1 row of i-cord as follows: slide the stitches to the other end of the needle and knit one row.
• In the second row of i-cord, increase 5 (5, 5) stitches as follows: k1, [m1, k1] 5 times => 11 (11, 11) stitches.
• For large gloves only:
• Knit 1 row of i-cord
• In the next row of i-cord increase 2 stitches as follows: k3, [m1, k3] 2 times, k2 => 13 stitches.
• Continue working i-cord on 11 (11, 13) stitches until the tube measures 2 (2¼, 2½) inches or until the tube is the length of your pinky.  Because there are so many stitches, the i-cord tube will not close.  If you inspect the back of your tube, you'll see a ladder of horizontal bars.  Have no fear, this is correct and you'll see why shortly.
• What does that ladder of horizontal bars remind you of?  The ladder you get when you drop a stitch?  Exactly!  Here's how to close up the gap in your i-cord finger:
  • Before you begin, put the 11 (11, 13) pinky stitches on a piece of scrap yarn
  • Starting at the tip, find the first horizontal bar and twist it into a loop
  • Insert a crochet hook through the loop, hook the next horizontal bar and pull it through the loop
  • Continue working your way up the ladder until you get to the top.
  • This new loop becomes the 12^th (12^th, 14^th) stitch, joining the other 11 (11, 13) on the piece of scrap yarn.

Ring Finger (Make 2)

• Cast on 5 (5, 6) stitches onto a double pointed needle
• Knit 1 row of i-cord
• In the next row of i-cord, increase 4 stitches as follows: k1, [m1, k1] 4 (4, 4) times, k0 (0, 1) => 9 (9, 10) stitches.
• Knit 1 row of i-cord
• In the next row of i-cord increase 5 stitches as follows: k2, [m1, k1] 5 times, k2 (2, 3) => 14 (14, 15) stitches.
• Continue working i-cord on 14 (14, 15) stitches until the tube measures 2½ (2¾, 3) inches or until the tube is the length of your ring finger.
• Put the 14 (14, 15) ring finger stitches on a piece of scrap yarn and close the i-cord gap as you did for the pinky ending with a total of 15 (15, 16) ring finger stitches.

Middle Finger(Make 2)

• Cast on 5 (5, 5) stitches onto a double pointed needle
• Knit 1 row of i-cord
• In the next row of i-cord, increase 4 stitches as follows: k1, [m1, k1] 4 times => 9 (9, 9) stitches.
• Knit 1 row of i-cord
• In the next row of i-cord, increase 6 (8, 8) stitches as follows: k2 (1, 1), [m1, k1] 6 (8, 8) times, k1 (0, 0) => 15 (17, 17) stitches.
• Continue working i-cord on 15 (17, 17) stitches until the tube measures 2¾ (3, 3¼) inches or until the tube is the length of your middle finger.
• Put the 15 (17, 17)  middle finger stitches on a piece of scrap yarn and close the i-cord gap as you did for the pinky ending with a total of 16 (18, 18) middle finger stitches.

Index Finger(Make 2)

• Cast on 5 (5, 6) stitches onto a double pointed needle
• Knit 1 row of i-cord.>
• In the next row of i-cord, increase 4 (4, 5) stitches as follows: k1, [m1, k1] 4 (4, 5) times => 9 (9, 11) stitches.
• Knit 1 row of i-cord.
• In the next row of i-cord, increase 8 stitches as follows: k1 (1, 2), [m1, k1] 8 times, k0 (0, 1) => 17 (17, 19) stitches.
• Continue working i-cord on 17 (17, 19) stitches until the tube measures 2½ (2¾, 3) inches or until the tube is the length of your index finger.
• Put the 17 (17, 19) index finger stitches on a piece of scrap yarn and close the i-cord gap as you did for the pinky ending with a total of 18 (18, 20) index finger stitches.

Thumb(Make 2)

• Cast on 5 (5, 5) stitches onto a double pointed needle
• Knit 1 row of i-cord.
• In the next row of i-cord, increase 4 stitches as follows: k1, [m1, k1] 4 times => 9 (9, 9) stitches.
• Knit 1 row of i-cord.
• In the next row of i-cord, increase 6 (6, 8) stitches as follows: k2 (2, 0), [m1, k1] 6 (6, 8) times => 15 (15, 17) stitches.
• Continue working i-cord on 15 (15, 17) stitches until the tube measures 2 (2¼, 2½) inches or until the tube is the length of your thumb.
• Put the 15 (15, 17) thumb stitches on a piece of scrap yarn and close the i-cord gap as you did for the pinky ending with a total of 16 (16, 18) thumb stitches.

What's Next
In the next installment, we'll join the fingers and the thumb to the body of the glove, preparing for the thumb gusset shaping.