I could not find a decent free crochet fingerless gloves pattern that was not a) bulky or b) boxy or c) worked in decorative but not overly ornate stitch. I wanted fitted, sleek, feminine and above all QUICK gift gloves so I came up with these.

They are worked in the round for minimal finishing in the herringbone half double crochet stitch which slants to the left, when worked in the round this creates a long lazy spirals of stitches up the gloves making a simple but attractive background for a good variegated yarn. The gloves are edged and the top of the glove tapered slightly to help minimise the effects of stretching with repeated use.
For a glove made of sock yarn they are deceptively warm as the herringbone half double crochet stitch is quite dense and squishy.

Estimated time to make pair of gloves: 2 evenings @ 2-4hours per glove depending on your sph. I do about 800 stitches per hour... I am not amazingly fast and count my stitches every other row! This mean each glove took roughly 4 hours for me.

Yarn Used: Violet Green Socrates Hand-Dyed Merino in Flora (4ply/Fingering), pattern uses approximately half a skein (170yds ish) + 10yds (over estimated) of Rowan Pure Wool Aran in Black (685).

Hook size: 3.5mm (E)

Size: One – Medium female hands 3-4” palm width, measured from the top of the thumb increase straight across palm. Minor size adjustments can be made by going up a hook size or so, if necessary using a sport weight or dk yarn for larger gloves and down a hook size for smaller. Major size adjustments will need a guage swatch and some stitch math, but given how simple the pattern is I am sure you can wrangle it on your own... when I have time I will work out child and man versions!

Gauge: Aproximately 5sts and 4 rows in herringbone half double crochet per inch.

Finished dimensions: aprox 7.5” long from wrist cuff to finger cuff. 3” wide at cuff and palm. 2.8” width at finger cuff.

Pattern notes: American notation used Half Double Crochet = UK Half Triple Crochet. A herringbone half double crochet stitch is used, but since the gloves are worked in the round this creates a long spiral effect in the fabric. Joins are left to the taste of the hooker – I prefer not to join into the Ch2 at the start of every round and instead work a hhdc into the same stitch as the chain is on to join to. Others may prefer to count the Ch2 as the first stitch and join with a slip stitch into that... it depends which leaves the least gap for you.

Pattern Clarification: A few people have contacted me about line 23 of the pattern that calls to 'work into the chain' (basically slip 6 stitches). Working into a the chain is just a old fashioned way of saying slip the stitch: its something my aunty said when she taught me to do it.

If you get really confused there is a good video here: http://www.nexstitch.com/v_slip.html which shows exactly what to do.

If you can’t get the videos to play then there is a good photo tutorial here: http://www.stitchdiva.com/custom.aspx?id=95

Key:

hhdc – herringbone half double crochet.
Start as for a double crochet: Yarn over the hook, insert into next stitch, yarn over and pull through = 3 hoops on hook. Pull the first loop on the hook through the second hoop on the hook = 2 loops on hook. Yarn over and pull through both loops on hook. Pictures can be found here: Crochet Cabana – Herringbone Half Double Crochet

hhdc inc – herringbone half double crochet increase. Work two hhdc into the same stitch.

hhdc dec – herringbone half double crochet decrease. Do not yarn over at the start of the
stitch. Insert into next stitch, yarn over and pull through = 2 hoops on hook. Insert into the next stitch along and yarn over and pull through = 3 hoops on hook, picked up over two stitches. Complete the stitch as for a hhdc.

Sc – single crochet
sl st – slip stitch
CC – contrast colour for edging, yarn used in picture Rowan Pure Wool Aran
MC- Main colour for body of glove, yarn used in picture Violet Green Socrates Sock Wool

Instructions

START: Chain 30 in CC (Black Aran), join with sl st, start working in the round.

BODY OF CUFF
1. Join MC (Socrates Sock) ch1, sc 30, sl st to join.
2. Ch2, hhdc all around, sl st to join, 30sts total
3. Repeat row 2 11 times, 12 rows of hhdc total.

WORKING THE THUMB GUSSET
16. Join ch2, hhdc, Hhdc inc, Hhdc to the stitch before last, Hhdc inc, hhdc. 32 sts in total.
17. Repeat row 16. 34 sts total.
18. Repeat row 16, 36 sts total.
18. Repeat row 16, 38 sts total.
19. Repeat row 16, 40 sts total
20. hhdc for 4 stitches, hhdc inc, hhdc till 5 sts before end, hhdc inc, 4 sts hdc. 42 sts total.
21. hhdc all around, join sl st, ch1.
23. Work into the chain for 6 sts (basically slip 6 stitches) place marker, ch 2 and hhdc in same st, hhdc round till you are 7 stitches from the end of the row, hddc and sl st to join marked stitch where you began the hhdc row.

--> This will leave you with 30 hhdc stitches joined in the round and 12 stitches left spare for the thumb.

WORKING THE PALM AND FINGER BODY OF MITT
24 - 28. Work 4 rounds of hhdc, 30 sts total in each round.
29. hddc dec, hhdc rest of sts. 29 sts total
30.hhdc dec, hhdc rest of sts. 28 total.
31 – 34. Work 3 rounds of hhdc, 29 sts in total.
35. Change to CC, work into the chain around (slip every stitch). 28 sts in total, join and bind off.

WORKING THE THUMB – read all instructions first as you will have to work out how many you decrease by in row B based on how many you picked up in row A.
A. work hhdc across 6 slipped stiches, through the front sts only, pick up and hhdc a couple of sts near the body to close any gaps (use your best judgement here, I suggest 2-4 depending on your tension) and hhdc last 6 sts.
B. hhdc around, decrease over picked up sts, hhdc to end. Work row B over TWO ROWS until you have only 12 sts left.
C. Work 2 rounds of hhdc and join.
D. Change to CC and Work into the chain around (slip each stitch).


Firecracker Gloves by Tamora Burn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.