The Sportsman Fingerless Gloves

The Sportsman Fingerless Gloves by Keya Kuhn

Project Overview

The Sportsman Fingerless Gloves are an intermediate-level knitting pattern designed to create practical, stylish hand coverings that leave the fingers exposed for enhanced dexterity and functionality. These fingerless gloves are ideal for athletes, outdoor enthusiasts, and anyone seeking warmth without sacrificing finger mobility. The pattern is available as a downloadable PDF and accommodates multiple sizes from small to extra-large.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a pair of fingerless gloves—hand-covering garments that extend from the wrist partway up the hand while leaving the fingers completely exposed. The design provides warmth and protection to the palm, back of hand, and wrist area while maintaining full finger freedom for activities requiring precision and tactile sensitivity. The gloves are worked in the round using circular needles, creating seamless, fitted hand coverings.

Knitting Techniques Used

• Long tail cast-on: The pattern begins with a long tail cast-on method to create an elastic foundation edge suitable for wrist openings.
• Circular knitting: The gloves are constructed in the round using two circular needles (24 inches and 12 or 16 inches), eliminating the need for seaming and creating a continuous, seamless fabric.
• Increases and decreases: Strategic shaping is achieved through multiple decrease techniques (K2tog and SSK) and increase methods (M1L and M1R), allowing the pattern to create a fitted silhouette that contours to the hand.
• Bind-off finishing: The pattern concludes with a bind-off technique to secure the final stitches and create a finished edge.

Stitches Used

• Knit (K): The primary stitch forming the fabric base.
• Purl (P): Used to create textural variation and design elements within the glove construction.
• Knit front and back (Kftb): An increase stitch that creates two stitches from one, used for shaping.
• Knit 2 together (K2tog): A right-leaning decrease that reduces stitch count for shaping the glove to fit the hand.
• Slip, slip, knit (SSK): A left-leaning decrease technique that provides balanced shaping when paired with K2tog decreases.
• Make 1 left (M1L): An invisible increase worked from front to back, picking up the bar between stitches to add stitches without creating visible holes.
• Make 1 right (M1R): An invisible increase worked from back to front through the back loop, providing balanced increases throughout the pattern.

Materials and Yarn Specifications

The Sportsman Fingerless Gloves are designed to be worked with fingering weight yarn, which falls within the 3-ply and 4-ply yarn weight categories. The pattern was tested with Knit Picks Palette 100% yarn in the Wallaby colorway, though any fingering weight yarn may be substituted. Yardage requirements vary by size: Small requires 168 yards (50 grams), Medium requires 192 yards (50 grams), Large requires 200 yards (50 grams), and Extra-Large requires 230 yards (50 grams).

Needles and Tools

• US 2 (2.75 mm) circular needle, 24 inches: Used for the initial cast-on and working the lower portion of the gloves.
• US 2 (2.75 mm) circular needle, 12 or 16 inches: Employed for working the smaller circumference of the upper hand and finger openings using the magic loop or two-circular-needle technique.
• Darning needle: Used for weaving in yarn ends and finishing the garment.
• Waste yarn or stitch holder: Employed to temporarily hold stitches during construction, particularly when shaping the finger openings.

Gauge and Fit

The pattern is worked at a gauge of 7 to 8 stitches per 1 inch on US 2 (2.75 mm) needles. Achieving the correct gauge is essential for proper fit, as these gloves