Arrow Tails Fingerless Gloves and Shawl – Free crochet patterns from Make My Day Creative

I was so excited to be asked to publish a pattern as part of the National Crochet Month blog tour (facebook link) – if you’d like to see more then please check it out, it’s running for the whole month of March, organised by the lovely folks over at Crochetville.

Well I had some left over yarn so this pattern was inevitably going to follow on from my Arrow Tails Shawl!

I loved my first time making fringing so I had to add some to these too.  They are actually more practical to wear than I expected (and stroking the soft fringe is pretty good for stress relief).

The pattern repeat is a scaled down version of the one used in the shawl, so that you get a decent number of arrow tails on the gloves.

Scroll down for pdf patterns! (US and UK notation)

Materials:

Example shown is heavy dk/light Aran weight yarn.  You can substitute any yarn weight, but make sure you go up around 2 hook sizes to usual.  This is because the raised stitches combined with single crochet make the fabric very dense, and this way the fabric will still turn out to have some stretch.  I recommend using a soft yarn also to add stretch – e.g. merino or alpaca.  Avoid cotton unless it is a soft blend!

I used:

• Red: Rowan Lima (La Paz) 60m (Includes fringe)
• Cream: Rowan Lima (Bolivia) 64m (includes border)
• Grey: Mirasol Miski (Shade 118) 18m
• Light Green: Rowan Lima (Aztec) 22m
• Purple: Mirasol Miski (Shade 130) 22m

Total yardage (inc. fringe): 186m

Size 6mm crochet hook

Construction:

These are made by first crocheting a rectangle in the arrow tails pattern, leaving a small slit for the thumbhole.  Shaping is added when crocheting the border around the rectangle before seaming down the outer wrist edge, and finally finishing by adding the wow factor with the fringe.  (If fringe isn’t your thing then you can just leave it off!)

You will be changing colours every 3 rows, so make sure you crochet over your ends to avoid having to weave them in!

Customise it:

You can adjust the pattern to your own hand or arm size as you go.  Firstly you can alter the size of your starting rectangle by crocheting more or less chains for the foundation, and working as many rows as you want for length.  Secondly, as the border adds shaping by combining different stitch heights, you can choose where to put these for a perfect fit – and work a row more or a row less of the border if you like.

Special Stitch: Front of work treble (f.ow.tr)

Work a treble crochet as usual, but insert the hook through the unworked loop on the front of the work which is 3 rows below the stitch you would normally work next:

Yarn over hook twice.  Insert hook in the unworked loop 3 rows below, draw up a loop (4 loops on hook).  *Yarn over, draw through 2 loops, repeat from * 2 more times so that one loop remains on the hook.

The stitch works a like a post stitch in that it counts as having been worked in the next stitch, so leave that unworked and continue in pattern.

Pattern:

Begin with your first colour for the Arrow tails section.  Example shown uses red.

Foundation chain and Row 1: Fsc 27 (or your desired length – it should be a little smaller than the required circumference of your wrist).  You can ch 28 and work one sc in each chain (27 sts) if you prefer.

Row 2: ch1, turn, sc in the f.l.o. of each stitch to end , ch1, turn (27sts)

Change to 2^nd colour – green in example.

Row 3: Work in b.l.o. for all sts except front of work (f.o.w.) sts.  5sc, f.ow.tr into unworked front loop of stitch 3 rows below (it will be the foundation chain), repeat from * until less than 6 sts remain, sc in each st to end, ch1, turn (27 sts)

Row 4: Work in f.l.o. for all sts except f.o.w. sts.  Sc in each st until one before the last f.o.w. st.  F.o.w.tr into st 3 rows below (it will be one before and one up from the loop used by the adjacent f.o.w. st worked in the row below).  5sc, f.ow.tr, repeat from * until less than 6 sts remain, sc in each st to end, ch1, turn (27 sts)

Row 5: Work in b.l.o. for all sts except front of work (f.o.w.) sts.  Sc in each st until you have worked an sc into the last f.o.w. st made.  F.o.w.tr into st 3 rows below (it will be one before and one up from the loop used by the adjacent f.o.w. st worked in the row below).  5sc, f.ow.tr, repeat from * until less than 6 sts remain, sc in each st to end, ch1, turn (27 sts)

Change to next colour – purple in example.  Repeat rows 4 and 5 and then row 4.  Watch out for f.o.w.tr sts worked at the very beginning and very ends of the rows and make sure you include them (only ever work up to 5sc in a row).

Change to next colour – cream in example.  Repeat rows 5, 4 and 5.

Change to next colour – grey in example.  Repeat rows 4, 5 and 4.

Change to next colour – red in example.  Repeat rows 5, 4 and 5.

Continue in pattern for further repeats if you want longer gloves.  Otherwise, proceed as follows to add the thumb hole.

Mark off the central 6 sts.  If you have an odd number like me then just mark them one stitch to one side of the centre (you can work your second glove one stitch the other way for a symmetrical pair if you like).

Row 6: Change to your next colour (green in example) and work in pattern (row 4) as before until the marked st.  Ch6, sk 6 sts, and continue in pattern to the end of the row.

You will see that you have missed one of you f.o.w.tr sts.  Don’t worry, when you work the thumbhole you will add that stitch in so that the pattern is not disrupted (see photos).

Work the next 2 rows (row 5 and row 4) in pattern as before, but when you get to the section above the thumbhole, work an sc where the f.o.w.tr would have been. The reason for this is that you don’t want the bulk of the stitch between your thumb and hand, and also you don’t want to crochet over the hole!

Change to next colour – purple in example.  Repeat rows 5, 4 and 5.  You will be making one of the f.o.w. tr into the chain of the thumbhole in the first of these rows to begin the pattern in this section again.

Change to next colour – cream in example.  Repeat rows 4, 5 and 4.

Change to next colour – grey in example.  Work the final row as follows:

Final Row*: sc in b.l.o of first st before starting the repeat pattern. *sc through both loops, 3sc in b.l.o., f.o.w.tr in unworked loop 3 rows below, f.o.w.dc in unworked loop 3 rows below, repeat from * to end finishing wherever in the repeat you run out of sts (27 sts).  Fasten off.

*You may need to adjust the position of the start of the pattern repeat if you have worked more rows than written in the pattern.  The easiest way is to find the stitch where you would expect to work the first f.o.w.tr, then work however much of the repeat fits before that st so that your f.o.w.tr lines up in the correct place (one st in each st).

Thumbhole Rounds (TH-R):

Join green into the back loop of the first st so that you can work across the front in b.l.o.  You will work the thumbhole in the round across the front and then turn and work along the chains back to the starting point to join.

TH-R1: Work 1sc in b.l.o until  you get to the place where you have missed a f.o.w. st in the pattern.  Work a f.o.w.tr, then sc in each st and chain around (12sts). join with a sl-st and ch1 to continue to work in the round in the same direction.

TH-R2: You will have 6 sts at the front and 6 sts at the back.  Work the 6 sts at the front in pattern (depending on how long you have worked your gloves you may find that your f.o.w. st is worked as the first st followed by 5sc, or that you have a number of sc before the f.o.w. st and then more sc such that you have worked 6 sts total keeping in pattern).

Over the back 6 sts work as follows: sc, sc2tog, sc2tog, sc, join with a sl-st, ch1. (10sts total – 6 in front and 4 in back)

TH-R3: Work the 6 sts at the front in pattern (depending on how long you have worked your gloves you may find that your f.o.w. st is worked as the first st followed by 5sc, or that you have a number of sc before the f.o.w. st and then more sc such that you have worked 6 sts total keeping in pattern).

Over the back 4 sts work as follows: sc, sc2tog, sc, join with a sl-st, ch1. (9sts total – 6 in front and 3 in back)

Tip: If you have larger or smaller thumbs, adjust the decreases made in TH-R2 and TH-R3 to suit.

TH-R4&5: Change to Border colour (cream in example).  Work in b.l.o., sc in each st around, join with a sl-st and ch1 (TH-R4 only – omit ch1 and fasten off for TH-R5).

Shaping and Border:

The shaping is added down the sides of the glove as you work the border.  You can adjust the shaping to suit your hand – just lie your hand on your rectangle, lining your thumb up with the thumbhole as shown, to see where you need to add extra width.

Join the border colour into the first st of the final row to work anti-clockwise around the rectangle, starting along the final row.

BR-1: sc in b.l.o. of every st in final row.  Work 3 sc in final st to turn the corner.  Work one st in  the side of each row, graduating from sc, to hdc, to dc and back again to make a curved edge fitting your hand/wrist shape.  Example shown worked this edge as follows:

Hdc (in grey row), 6hdc (in cream and purple rows), 6dc (in green and red rows), 3hdc (in grey rows), 9sc (in cream, purple and green rows), 3hdc (in red rows).

3sc into corner st and rotate to work 1sc into each of the foundation chains along the bottom of the glove.  3sc in corner and rotate to work up the final edge.  Work a curved edge as before (I reflected the shape as per the last edge):

3hdc (in red rows), 9sc (in cream, purple and green rows), 3hdc (in grey rows), 6dc (in green and red rows), 6hdc (in cream and purple rows), Hdc (in grey row). 2sc in corner and join to first st with a sl-st.

BR-2:  Repeat BR-1, working in the b.l.o. and one st in each st, except 3sc in each corner st.  I repeated the edge sts, adding one sc at each end (where the previous corners added a st).

Weave in ends.

Blocking:

If you wish to block the gloves, do so now before making up and adding the fringe.  I pinned mine to shape and sprayed with water to wet block.  This was to avoid stretching the gloves out.

Making up:

Join the border colour through the top corners and sc the shaped edges together, working through the b.l.o of the front edge and the f.l.o of the back edge.  Work from bottom edge to top edge on the right hand glove and from top edge to bottom edge on the left hand glove.  If you are not adding the fringe, fasten off here.

Otherwise, ch1, turn, sc in 1^st st. Sk1st, ch1, sc, repeat from * along and fasten off.  Weave in ends.

Fringe:

Cut your fringe to the desired length by wrapping the yarn around a suitable piece of card and cutting down one edge.  I used 3 strands per ch1 space made in the last row.

Use a lark’s head knot to secure the fringe in each ch-sp, and trim as needed for an even finish.

Downloadable pdf patterns:

Arrow Tails Fingerless Gloves US

Arrow Tails Fingerless Gloves UK