Gloves Step 6-7: Pinky Finger & Upper Palm

6 - LITTLE FINGER
K8, place next 50 st on waste yarn*, CO 3 to bridge gap, K to end of round (18 st)

* This is where it gets annoying with the waste yarn, as you put it on and take it off about a million times. I have found that if you have a circular needle same size / smaller, use that as your waste yarn. It will make further steps much less annoying and tedious.

Now, there are two ways you can do your fingers:

a - Fingerless gloves: Arrange sts evenly on 3 needles and work until little finger measures 1" long. Work 3 rounds in Seed Stitch. BO loosely in Seed Stitch.


b - Fingered normal gloves: Work little finger until half-way up your finger nail. Then use "three-row taper" to make finger tip.
Round 1: *K2tog* repeat around.
Round 2: Knit all stitches.
Round 3: *K2tog* repeat around. Break yarn and draw through remaining 5 stitches.



7 - UPPER PALM
Remember all those stitches I advised you to put on a waste needle? If you didn't, pick them all back up again and join yarn at base of pinky finger. Pick up 3 st along base of finger (53 st) and knit for four rounds.

If you look at your hand, the notch between your pinky and ring fingers is lower than the other fingers. (Picture on left) Adding a few rows here raises the palm to meet the other fingers (picture on right).

Gloves Step 4-5, Thumb Gusset & Palm

4 - Knit in stockinette stitch, working increase round every third round. (See below.) Work increase round 10 times - until there are 21 st between markers (85 st total).

Increase round: K to marker, slip marker, make 1, K to marker, make 1, skip marker, K to end of round. (Increase of 2 st each round, at start and end of gusset.)

It should make an ever-growing "V" shape in the glove body, so that a thumb will fit in it like shown below.



5 - K to marker, remover marker, place gusset sts on waste yarn, remove marker, CO 1 st to bridge gap, knit to end of round. (65 st)

Work even until Palm measures 3.75 inches above ribbing.

The glove is now starting to look like a glove and you can try it on to see how it fits! This is the best part of the pattern, as you can adapt to different sizes, but check the fit along the way. (John got tired of trying on his gloves, but I wanted to make sure they fit right!)

Apologies & Snow Day!

Okay, people, I know I just said that I would try to keep all my new posts on the main page, but I apparently had a very busy February. So if you feel like you have missed anything, feel free to click back to the New Year (I know my Resolution was posted late) and work your way forwards in time.

Again, sorry about that. We had a snow day today and I caught up on all the activities. Here is a sampling of the snow fun: It snowed about 8 inches, enough to swallow the puppies!

It all started Saturday with just a little snow. So little that John didn't even put on real shoes to walk the puppies.


Then it kept snowing... all day Sunday, it snowed. Harvey says it is very "un-kittenish" out there!




Maile had much fun romping in the snow! The first two pictures are her landing and tunneling her way out of a snow bank we might have thrown her into. She was a total mess when she finally came inside. So much ice was caked on her belly that I gave up trying to dry her in front of the fireplace and just gave her a warm bath to melt it all!


Even Inu joined in the rompage. Though she did not stay out quite as long as the little ice-ball we call Maile. :)


In the country, you have to plow your own area.

More fun in the Snow

John had to go to work, even though I had three snow days (I know! three!) so his toes got a little damp and cold. He swiped his co-worker's heater and dried his socks out with a very happy look on his face.


Speaking of not wanting to get your socks wet, these are my "tramping in the snow" boots (haha, get it? tramp?). The snow was actually deeper than my fleece-lined duck boots, so even wearing them, my pants would have gotten wet. Thus, I needed taller boots, and these were all I had. I couldn't help but guffaw at myself for the absurdity of it all.

Treadmill Puppies

Cesar Millan is right! Ok, for those of you who don't have satellite TV (and I am not being a TV snob, I just love the National Geographic channel!) there is this phenomenon called The Dog Whisperer on NatGeo. Cesar is a "dog psychologist" who "rehabilitates dogs, but trains people." Basically, people who are treating their dogs like babies or people (not treating them like DOGS) mess their dogs up, call Cesar, and then he comes and tells the crazy people that it's not a little furry, four-legged baby in their house... it's a DOG! (gasp!) You wouldn't believe how much that statement can really shock people. But Cesar is a good guy (read: adorable, Hispanic silver fox!) and he shows them the power behind Calm, Assertive Energy to control their dogs. (John and I call it "putting the SHH! on 'em" as that is Cesar's No-No noise he uses with the dogs. Cesar says it's just a noise, you can use anything you want. The shh! is just what his mom used on him and his brothers!)

So Cesar's abbreviated lesson is "Exercise, Discipline, and Affection... in that order!" And he often tells people who can't walk their dogs to put them up on the treadmill. It looks weird, but it is the same physical and psychological exercise as a walk around the block. Well, Inu is getting to be quite a chunker (she's gained the equivalent of a person gaining about 30 lbs!) and we were playing with diet and exercise ideas. Me, an avid fan of Cesar, put the puppies on the treadmill for about 1/4 mile each (20-30 min depending on dog's speed). Puppy Maile was unsure, but settled down really fast and liked the exercise. Fatty Inu was scared, but accepting of the authority. Then alpha-bitch Doge came along and I thought I had ended up deep-sea fishing with a bucking sailfish at the end of the leash! Good god, I thought she was going to choke herself! But Cesar says that the puppy is just protesting and you can't give up until they surrender, or else they win and you reinforce the behavior. So, choke herself she did. So there.

I tell you all this because I couldn't help myself -- I had to get a video of fatty Inu trekking along on the treadmill. It's too cute! (Sorry it's sideways. Apparently you can't rotate video clips.)