Summer Gloving

Until the mid-sixties it was de-rigueur for a lady to wear a hat and gloves on most occasions, especially formal ones.  Many ladies, like my mother and grandmother, always had matching gloves and handbags for going to church.  Just watch films and tv series made before the 1960s and you will see most ladies, and gentlemen, wearing gloves with their outfits.  

There were a number of advantages to wearing gloves, apart from completing an outfit.  “Dish pan hands” could be hidden.  But the main one was hygiene; the wearer is protected from picking up other people’s germs.

Which is why I decided to emulate my mother and grandma during the recent unpleasantness.  However summer gloves are hard to buy, especially when many shops are shut.  So, as I had some cotton yarn in my stash, I made my own.

From the Facebook Archives: the Lockdown posts

25 August 2020

No sooner have I knit myself a couple of pairs of cotton gloves for Summer than Storm Francis arrives and it feels like Autumn. Sorry everyone.

Mrs Quilt  Do you have the tea dresses to go with them?

Bentonbag  Oh I wish, but I do have my cream jacket and matching hats.

Bentonbag  Actually, if I were to lose a stone or three there's a couple in the back of the wardrobe ... and I'm ok if I ever get invited to meet royalty or to a Buck House GardenParty.

Bess Cavalier  Sitting out Storm Francis in our micro-caravan in Sussex.

Nice patterns though.

Bentonbag The yellow is my mother's "2 needles" pattern, the white is the same but amended by me.  That network on the back is surprisingly easy to do: just knit 1 yarn forward knit 2 together on the knit row, purl next row then, knit 2 yarn forward knit 2 together on the next.  But you do have to have a row of stitches divisible by 3. 

To be honest I now regard patterns as rough starting points for stitch numbers ...

Bess Cavalier  I'm working on a hair snood using the pattern for the string bags I've been making. Again, provided it's divisible by the right number it works.