going topless...

so, I went to visit Lindsay (cover of 12 of our issues, the Miss Canada girl, modelled ‘Trapeze Artist’ in No 43 most recently) the other day - she is now the co-owner of ’ Lava Clothing’ - Kerri, (our covergirl of No 43) is her business partner. ‘Lava’ is an upscale, clothing store catering to the younger-with-money - they carry JLo, Ugg, and all the trendy stuff (seven for all mankind jeans at like $250 per pair)...anyway, I had made Lindsay a pair of the controversial ‘fingerless gloves’ or ‘topless mitts’ - whatever you wanna call them - using a yummy amethyst alpaca, and made them a bit longer because I noticed some shorter sleeve jackets appearing. She was ecstatic and kept saying, ‘omigosh! omigosh! wait till you see what we have coming in!!! but these are so much nicer!!’ Apparently, they are all the rage for Fall/Winter ‘08 ...
So, if you’re wondering what to make for craft market and Christmas gifts this year, get to it!!
Here’s my pattern...
Going Topless
Hand warmers, sleeves, whatever...thumb only, fits almost to elbow. Size, ladies 7.
MACHINE - 4.5mm. Level - Beginner
YARN - Fingering weight Alpaca. Finished weight for pair, approx 2 oz/50g.
GAUGE - Stockinette, T8, 27 sts and 38 rows to 10 cm/4 in.
Left Hand - 33-0-34 n’s. Arrange every other needle in work. Cast on WY and ravel cord. RC000. CAR. Holding about 20 inch tail to use for seaming side of hand, MC, T5, K5R. Bring all n’s to work. T10, K1R. T7, K5R. RC011. Pick up loops from first row onto EON. Remove ravel cord and WY. RC000. T8, K2R.
Hand transferred pattern is centred between #24-1 left.
Make faggotted lace stitch on #6 & 19, same stitch is transferred to the right on every second row and to left on every 4th row.
Make 2X2 cable on #14, 13 & 12, 11 n’s, turned same way on every 6th row, beginning on row 4.
At same time, at each side, dec 1 st, K8R, 9X.
Knit to RC089. Set up for thumb. CAL. Set to hold. Take out MC, put aside without breaking. Turn off row counter. Bring all n’s to HP. Move CAR. Return 8 n’s at right to UWP. WY, K10R. Leave the 8 sts in work. Cancel hold. CAL, turn on row counter. MC, knit in pattern to RC112. Drop stitch on either side of cable, ladder down to row 1 and reform to tuck rib by latching every second bar to purl stitch to define cable (this could be done halfway and again at top to make easier to handle).
K1R. Decrease 5 to 8 sts evenly across row. With garter bar, RTR (remove, turn, rehang), K1R, 5X to make 5 rows of garter stitch. Knit side facing you, manually knit loose row and chain off.
Thumb - Steam WY to set sts. Cut WY in half. Open the piece out, purl side facing you, rehang these sts on 16-17 n’s, crossing the two centre sts to prevent a hole. RC000. T7, K14R. K3R of garter stitch (RTR, K1R, 3X). Knit side facing, manually knit loose row, chain off.
Seam side & thumb, using tails to seam, half edge stitch on each side makes flatter seam.
Make other hand in reverse.

BTW, she (Lindsay) said they were multi-coloured as well, so if you're tired of making socks and have any of that variegated stuff hanging around...
Also see KNITWORDS No 35 for Sue Corcoran's 'Starving Artist Gloves' and No 45 for Margaret Heck's version for different ideas of how to dress them up!!