When your stash gives you lemons...

You make Lemonade Gloves!

In August of 2007, armed with only 3 skeins of this, straight size 7 bamboo needles, and this pattern, I hopped on a plane to Sweden. I wasn't coming back until January.
I thought to myself, "Intricate fair isle project, that should keep me busy for five months."
Apparently, the stress of packing for such a long trip had made me temporarily insane.

After finishing the fair isle portion.... on the plane.... I lost much interest in the project. To this day, it sits at the bottom of my stash, waiting to someday be completed.
So I had to find yarn. In a foreign country. Where I didn't speak the language.
Thank god I found this place.

It was called Marias Garn then, and it was amazing, as I'm sure it remains. They had dozens upon dozens of sock weight yarns. I had yet to try socks at this point, and so I bought two skeins of a gorgeous alpaca yarn and quickly whipped up a pair.

I was in love. How had I thought that such thin yarn would be tiresome or difficult? Sock weight yarn was my new best friend, and socks were my new calling.

I bought enough yarn for six more pairs, intent on making holiday presents for my family and friends. What a naive knitter I was.

I worked my way through two more pairs before leaving. I had grown sick of the pattern, sick of the self-striping yarn that I had thought was so amazing just months prior, sick of working the ribbing necessary for cuffs. I was sick of socks.

Nevertheless, I cast on for my fourth pair. These were a bright blue, with yellow and orange stripes. They were to be a present for Erin.

Less than a few weeks after returning to the United States, Erin's dog ate the first sock right off of the needles. I took this tragedy as a sign, and the sock yarns went into the bottom of the stash.

Now, more than two years later, my stash has grown substantially. What used to take up a shoe box now has a dedicated 50 gallon tub and several satellite baskets.

Having a large stash is a delight when the mood strikes, and I suddenly want a merino and silk mobius cowl. It is not a delight when I am packing to move across country, and throwing out tee-shirts and books and movies to make space in my compact car for my yarn.

So, I have been stash-busting. And the sock yarn that hasn't gotten more than a glance in two years had to be dealt with.

Luckily for me, the brand that makes this particular sock yarn apparently felt my pain. I had three colors left, and they had a pattern that requires three different colors!

I hadn't tried gloves before, mostly because I'm not a glove person. I am very much a mitten person, although these may change my mind on that score.

I love them. The pattern does have its flaws, notably that the edge rolls, hiding the delightful chevron pattern. To attempt to remedy this, I added a picot edging. You can see in the photo below that the left glove has picot edging and the right one doesn't. I added the edging on the right one after I took these shots.

I like the appearance, but now the edging sticks out in a funny manner. I have yet to block them, though, so I think that that will help.
Overall, the pattern was simple and easy to understand, and it reminded me of why I loved sock yarn to begin with.

If you're planning on making this pattern- I'd definitely recommend at least 6 rows of garter stitch at the cuff!