We’re wrapping up the Classic Elite Yarns Sebastian Gloves Knitalong this week. How are your gloves coming along? I’ve finally finished one of the ribbed cuff gloves and I’ve started a cable cuff glove too.

Cable Cuff Clarification – First up, if you’re knitting the Cable Cuff version of the gloves and haven’t started knitting from the second chart yet, there was a missing line in the instructions. After you finished knitting the 16 rows of the Cuff Cable Chart, BEGIN FOLLOWING CABLE CHART OVER 18 STS BEGINNING WITH ROUNDS 4 TO 8, THEN WORKING CHART RNDS 1 TO 8 TO COMPLETE GLOVE. Some of you may have picked up on this omission. But some may have started with round 1 of the second chart. But no worries. Your gloves will still look great. You’ll just have an extra twist in your second middle cable crossing. You can see an example of the extra twist here.

Change to Smaller Needles for Fingers – After you’ve knit the last Reverse Stockinette Ridge and placed the stitches on waste yarn, be sure to change to your smaller needles. I missed this step in the directions, but it’s not the end of the world. By knitting the fingers on smaller needles, this will create a more dense and durable knitted fabric. This is exactly what you want on the finger tips which is where my gloves wear out first. I’ve mended the fingertips of these gloves so many times. I love them and will keep mending them until I run out of yarn. So keep your yarn scraps from the gloves for future mending.

Use Short DPNs – If you never knit glove fingers before on double pointed needles, you may find a shorter needle such as the Knitter’s Pride Dreamz 5″ DPNs to be easier to work with. You’ll only have 3-5 stitches on each needle, and longer DPNs may feel more awkward and just get in the way.

Shaping Finger Tops – Once you’ve knit to the top of a finger and after threading the tail through the remaining stitches, I like to tighten up the stitches from my last round before pulling the tail tightly to close up the top. I find this creates a more tidy looking finger tip.

Closing Up the Gaps – Once you’ve finished all of the fingers, you may find some gaps between each finger. Since you left nice, long tails at the beginning of each finger, with just a couple of stitches, you’ll be able to easily close up those gaps. Before weaving in your ends and cutting off the extra yarn, try on your gloves looking for any other gaps that you want to close up.

Embellish Those Gloves – I really like the look of the cable pattern without any embroidery. But I’ve seen others do some really nice embellishing too. Have fun with this part; you’re almost done!

Thanks again to everyone who have been sharing their glove progress with us. It’s great to see so many knitting along. Feel free to leave any questions in the comments below. And if you’re on Ravelry, we’d love to see a picture of your finished gloves in the Sebastian Gloves thread.

Happy Knitting!

– Dena

So is everyone ready to get started knitting their Sebastian Gloves? I’ve been working on the Ribbed Cuff Version and have really been enjoying having a portable knitting project again.

First off, I’d like to answer a couple of questions people have had on social media this past week. Some of you may be having the same questions.

1. “I’m not very good at knitting on double pointed needles. Would it be possible to magic loop these?” Absolutely! I would suggest knitting the gloves using your favorite small-diameter circular knitting method. I started out knitting my glove on DPNs, but once I got to the cable portion, I found it easier to knit on two circular needles. With this cable pattern, I didn’t like having a cable cross between two double pointed needles. With two circulars or the magic loop method, it’s easy to have each cable portion on a separate needle.

2. “I don’t want the cable pattern on the inside of the glove. If I recall, cable draws the fabric in compared to the same number of stitches in stockinette. If that’s true – is there a way to figure out how much I’d need to reduce the number of stitches on the inside without knitting it, measuring it, and pulling it out?” Kristin Nicholas‘s response to this question: You would have to figure out your stockinette gauge and substitute in. You would also have to adjust the finger stitch numbers for pickup. The reason I put the cable on both sides is because if a glove is the same on the front and back it can be worn on both hands. The gloves I have that are either right or left handed always wear out on the right hand first. You can swap the gloves between hands so they will wear evenly and you won’t have to re-knit the fingers so often.

3. “Is there a fingerless version of these?” or “Wonder if I could make these as mittens instead of gloves?” If you want to make a fingerless version, there has been suggestions to bind off after the last reverse stockinette ridge or to stop knitting the fingers at the first knuckle. If you want to make mittens, I would suggest skipping the last reverse stockinette ridge and continuing the cable pattern. Follow a basic mitten pattern to shape the top. But you’ll have to do some extra work figuring out how to end the cable pattern.

Now let’s get knitting! Below, you’ll find some notes, links to video tutorials, and tips as you knit the gloves.

Cast On – I just used my go-to Long Tail Cast On. Unless I need a really stretchy cast-on edge, I use this most of the time.

Needles – If you’ve never used DPNs before or need some tips, check out our Knitting in the Round on DPNs video.

Changing Colors – If you’ve never changed colors in your knitting, check out our video on How to Add a New Color to Your Knitting.

Ribbed Cuff – For the first row of ribbing in the ribbed cuff, I would suggest knitting all stitches. If you do the ribbed pattern on the first row, you’ll get a messier transition between the color change (see photo at the right). I ripped back and reknit this row. Check out our tutorial on how to knit clean stripes in ribbing for more explanation.

Knitting Cables – I love cables because they add a lot of fun texture and look a lot more complicated than they really are. If you’re a cable newbie, watch our How to Knit Cables video before starting the cable section. One of my favorite tools to use to keep track of where I’m at in a cable chart is highlighter tape. Really, it’s awesome. You can see it in use here. But sticky notes work really well too.

Marking the Thumb Gusset – Later in the glove, you’ll need to measure from the beginning of the thumb gusset, to where you knit the last reverse stockinette ridge. For ease of measuring later, I would suggest slipping a locking stitch marker in the middle of the cable pattern of this row. It’s easier to see where the thumb gusset begins.

Knitting the Thumb Gusset – You’ll be using a Make 1 stitch (M1) to create the thumb gusset. For a refresher on how to knit Make 1 Increases, watch this video.

Once you’ve knit the thumb gusset, you’ll hold the thumb stitches on waste yarn and continue knitting the rest of the glove hand. You’ll need to knit until the hand measures a certain amount from the beginning of the thumb. Don’t make the mistake that I made and measure from where you put the thumb stitches on waste yarn. You’ll need to measure from the beginning of the thumb gusset. So I had several rows I had to unknit. And unknitting cables is definitely harding then knitting them. Learn from my mistakes.

That brings us to the last reverse stockinette ridge. We’ll pick up there next week. Now take a moment, slip on your glove, and take a picture. Looking good so far I bet. Share your progress on our Ravelry page here. I’d love to see everyone’s color choices and gloves so far. I’m knitting the small size, which is a little snug for my hand.

If you get stuck, please post your questions in the comments.

Happy Knitting!

– Dena

We loved Kristin Nicholas’s Sebastian Gloves the first time we saw them. But we were blown away by the incredible response they got when we featured them on the cover of our Fall 2012 Catalog. Their cheerful cuteness were hard to resist.

Last week, Kristin Nicholas kicked off a two-day Sebastian Gloves knitting class. But not everyone is fortunate enough to live close enough to WEBS to take our classes. So we’re starting a knitalong today for the Sebastian Gloves! If you’ve never heard of a knitalong (also known as KAL) or participated in one before, they’re a fun way for a group of knitters to virtually knit a pattern together. We’ll offer tips, answer your questions, provide tutorials on techniques used in the gloves. You’ll share your progress, ask questions when you get stuck, and definitely post photos of your finished gloves.

If you’ve never knit gloves before, a knitalong is a great excuse to try a new kind of project. You’ll find lots of help and encouraging words here.

This week of the knitalong you’ll be collecting the supplies you’ll need to get started.

Step 1 – Purchase the pattern. You have two options. The Sebastian Gloves can be found in the Classic Elite Yarns 9209 Color by Kristin Book 1 pattern book which we currently have in stock. Or if you prefer a digital version, you can purchase the Sebastian Gloves PDF pattern on our website too.

Step 2 – Purchase the yarn. The yarn used for the gloves is Classic Elite Yarns Color by Kristin, a 50% wool, 25% alpaca, 25% mohair worsted weight yarn. If you’re knitting the Ribbed Cuff version, you’ll need 1 skein each of 4 colors. If you’re knitting the Cabled Cuff version, you’ll need 1 skein each of 3 colors. In my Ribbed Cuff gloves, I’m using the 4 colors pictured at the right, with the Turquoise Sea color as my main color.

Step 3 – Decide which color will be your main color and contrast colors. Especially if you’re going to knit the Ribbed Cuff version, I recommend drawing a quick map of the glove and where each color will appear in the glove. This will save you time later to prevent you from knitting the wrong color. Believe me, it happens.

Step 4 – Check your gauge by knitting a swatch. Some people swatch, some people don’t. Sometimes it depends on the type of project you’re going to knit. Check out our blog post on Checking Your Gauge if you’re not sure if you think you need to swatch or not. If you do swatch, use the color that appears the least in the gloves you’re knitting.

Step 5 – Get together the other materials you’ll need. After you determine which size needles to use, you’ll need a set of double pointed needles in that size (larger needles) and then a set about two sizes down from there (smaller needles). The recommended sizes are US 5 & 7. You’ll also need a cable needle, stitch holders, and some waste yarn.

Note: if you prefer to knit gloves on two circulars or use one long circular needle for magic loop, go right ahead. I’m finding using two circular needles easier to use when knitting the cabled portion of the gloves since I don’t like it when a cable crosses between two double pointed needles.

Step 6 – Decide which size you’re going to make. This pattern is written in small, medium, and large sizes for women.

Step 7 – Share your color combination and questions. Please share your color choices in the comments below or in the Sebastian Glove KAL thread on Ravelry. And if you have any questions, ask away. That’s what we’re here for.

We’ll start knitting the gloves next Sunday. Then the knitalong will wrap up a week later, which leaves plenty of knitting time left if you’re making them as a gift for the holidays.

I can’t wait to see which color combinations people are going to come up with. This is a great project for trying a color you may not normally use. Have fun with your color selection.

Happy Knitting!
– Dena