Winter Drawing Glove

Drawing on tablets isn't always as smooth as it could be. The winter drawing glove greatly reduces the friction between the artists skin and the drawing surface which makes for smoother lines and a nicer overall experience. It has all the benefits of fingerless gloves like still being able to press buttons and using phones but it keeps the pinky finger to make drawing as smooth as possible. Its also longer than most gloves so your arm doesn't drag and the padded cuff at the end is nice to lean on when drawing on my desk tablet.

Not to mention the obvious part where sticking your hands out of the rug or dressing gown to draw in winter sucks. This makes that suck a little less.

I've done my best to explain every step in a fair amount of detail which makes this good for people who are fairly new to crochet, however if you have a fair amount of confidence then I have written a more traditional crochet pattern for you to follow instead. Its attached and ready to go when you are.

Step 1: Supplies

What you need

- 4 ply soft wool in colours of your choosing (I chose, grey, orange, cream and lime green)

- 4.5mm crochet hook

- Tapestry needle (Yarn needle)

- Stitch marker

Step 2: Making the Cuff

First you need to choose the colour for your cuff and chain 45 stitches.

I like mine to be quite padded so this is designed to be folded over 3 times, if you feel that will be too bulky for you then only crochet a chain of 30.

Now for the ribbed texture I used single crochet rib stitch, which is a single crochet that is worked into the back loop. I'll show you how to do it in the following GIF.

Step 3: Rib Stitching (or Back Post Single Crocheting) the Cuff

Turn your chain (Don' forget the turning stitch!) and work the rib stitch along the whole length of your chain. When you reach the end of your chain turn it and repeat. Do this until you have enough rows for the cuff to fit comfortably around your elbow (for me that was 24 rows). Leave a tail that is long enough to stitch the seams together, one that is one and a half times the length of the cuff should be enough.

Step 4: Whip Stitch the Cuff

Using your tapestry needle and yarn tail, whip stitch the two length seams together to create a tube. The whip stitch should run parallel to the ribbing. Turn the tube inside out once both sides are stitched together.

Step 5: Starting the Sleeve

Time to start the sleeve, so pick out your sleeves first colour and single crochet around the opening of your cuffs tube. Do this for 8 rows and then pick out the colour for your next stripe. Cut your old colour leaving a 5 inch or longer tail but don't fasten off. Its time to change colours.

Step 6: Changing Colours

Changing colours is always done half way through the stitch. This stops holes from showing up in your work. So follow the GIF and change the colour of your wool to the one you are going to use for the next stripe.

When that is done single crochet around the cuff for 8 rows.

Then change the colour, do 8 more rows.

Then we start shaping the sleeve a little to bring it in towards your wrist. We'll cover decreasing in the next step.

Step 7: Making the Sleeve Fit the Wrist

Change the colour and preform 2 separate decreases on every row for 8 rows. I'd be more specific but the number of stitches is entirely dependent on the size of your arm. Try and do one every half row.

The sleeve should now come in to touch your wrist.

If it doesn't then add two more rows and decrease 2 times every row for them too.

Step 8: Shaping the Hand

Flatten the glove and decide what side your thumb is going to go on. Add a marker so you don't forget.

Change the colour and single crochet around until you are around your mark. Then increase once (I forgot to do a GIF for that one so you'll need to google that one if you are not already familiar with it.) and continue to single crochet the round until you hit the side with the mark.

When you are there do another increase. repeat this for another 6 rows.

Change colours and do two normal single crochet rows with no increases.

Now to make a thumb hole.

Step 9: The Thumb Hole

Try on the glove and mark where the inside of your thumb lands. I've drawn you a picture so you can see exactly where I mean.

Take your hand out of the glove and single crochet until you hit the mark.

Then chain 6 to 8 stitches coming off of your glove.

Now skip 6 to 8 of the single crochet stitches below your chain and join it back into your glove.

Do 3 more rounds of single crochet. Just go over the chain like you would at the beginning. The third photo above shows you how the row above the chain should look.

You now have a thumb hole. You can single crochet around the inside of it once or twice to make it look more polished, but I find that a little uncomfortable.

The main part of the glove is also done now so fasten it off and lets make the pinky.

Step 10: Shaping the Pinky

Put on the glove and mark the inside of your pinky finger, like you did for your thumb hole.

Change the colour and slip stitch the opening sides of the glove together at the pinky mark. Your glove now has two holes, a big one where three fingers fit and a little one where the pinky goes. Single crochet around the pinky opening for 6 rows.

Change the colour again.

Single crochet around the pinky for another 4 rows. Your pinky should be 3 or four rows away from being long enough for your finger, if it isn't then add a couple of rows until the tip of your pinky is the only part still exposed.

Now decrease every stitch until you only have one stitch left. Or until you can't decrease any more, either is fine.

Step 11: Finishing Up

Nearly there!

Fasten off your pinky and weave in the tails of your different colours with your tapestry needle. Its the boring part but still important if you don't want your glove unraveling in the wash.

Your glove should now look like the first picture above this step (minus the cream strip from where I ran out of grey with my cuff. Oops)

Now just roll up the cuff until its how you want it (I roll mine 3 times) and its ready to use.