pot of gold

remember november? cast your minds back...

there was much knitting of hobbit-themed foot coverings (which, ironically, no self-respecting hobbit would ever deign wear), angst regarding a certain frustrating shawl, and irritation brought on by an online shopping debacle.

got a clear picture of all that?

well, there was also something else percolating in the still-warm sun of late november--a germ of an idea that had casually been dropped into my mind before taking root into something much larger and sanity-consuming.

one fateful day in mid-november an associate of mine questioned the feasibility of commissioning a pair of rainbow striped, rainbow dash-hued gloves (which i dare say you saw coming). the idea was discussed at length--time frames, custom dye jobs, yarn type, size, etc. at the culmination of our talk it was decided that i would seriously consider the matter, which i did.

obviously i accepted the challenge, which began my foray into the madness of dyeing seven small batches of candy colors, coercing the bf to perform gauge calculations, and knitting away as steadily as i could on two gloves at the same time. the momentum of a new project carried me through the thanxgiving holidays and into early december, but the unfortunate conjunction of xmas and the tedious process of knitting individual fingers caused me to misstep a bit and ultimately distract myself with other, less fiddly things. matters were compounded when the commissioner was otherwise engaged for a two-week period, forcing me to place the project on hiatus until the necessary fit-check could be complete.

once tossed in a drawer carefully set aside, it was hard to pick said project back up. it was almost as if my subconscious knew all the problems that were poised to descend. because wow, did they descend like a blow from above...

recall how i posted about binding off too-short fingers a while ago? and how i had to unpick all my woven ends and unravel my decreases to lengthen them? yeah, well, the fingers that resulted were still too short. and then again. and then i ran out of yarn in the sky blue color i needed (naturally). not only did i run out of blue, i also ran out of bare yarn to dye, necessitating a shopping trip before attempting a second batch. a second batch that didn't match the first. so i redyed it and called it good enough. cue one last flurry of knitting aaaaaaand, finally, finally, completion! the end knitting purgatory.

all that remained was to wait with bated breath for the final fitting... they fit. perfectly.

so there you have it--2.5 months of planning, trials, and tribulations, and now my first pair of gloves is done. dooooone. may this tactical oversight of knitting gloves for a person whose hands i do not have regular access to never be repeated!

...they sure do look nice, though.