Pictured are a pair of colorwork fingerless gloves I made some years ago. At the time I was working at an office building and I noticed that sitting next to the window in the winter things got a little chilly in my cubicle. I decided to knit myself some light fingerless gloves as they would allow me to keep my fingers free for working on the keyboard but would also allow me to keep my hands warm. As I was looking for a pattern I found the pattern for the colorwork fingerless gloves above and fell in love with the design.
Despite that, it wasn’t all happy knitting. I love the intricate color work pieces you see in patterns for Fair Isle knits, but every time I’ve made a piece using a colorwork pattern it’s given me anxiety.
Part of it is the actual creation of the pieces, always double checking I’ve done everything I need to do in order to get the pattern to look right and not have half the pattern two stitches off. I worry about the tension when I’m knitting more than when doing a solid color piece and worry about the tension on the yarn I’m carrying as well, concerned about making it too tight or two loose.
The other part is actually using the piece. Maybe it wouldn’t worry me so much if I had just made a sweater but whenever I use the hand warmers pictured or think of making colorwork patterned socks I always get anxious about the yarn strands that were carried to make the pattern. It’s ridiculous and I know it but I’m always thinking “what if I yank on the threads and mess up the pattern? What if I catch my fingers in the carried yarn and pull the whole thing out of shape?”
I have never done this and I’m relatively certain that I never will but the worry leads me to put the items aside “for a special occasion”, which usually means it’s now going to be enshrined in the storage box I’ve placed it in. The fingerless gloves are really warm, but after that year using them in the office I haven’t touched them. Every once and a while I’ll pull them out with the conviction that I should wear them but I always end up making excuses all the way until it’s too cold and I need real mittens. And that’s a real shame.
