If you need help with other techniques that I haven't covered in this blog post, do not hesitate to leave me a comment here, on Youtube or on Ravelry ;)
Voltaic is a pair of crocheted fingerless gloves designed to be worked each in one piece and use a single skein (100g) of Malabrigo Arroyo (though the larger sizes will need more than a skein).
They're made using mainly a mix of FPtr, BPtr, FPhdc and BPhdc.
Below you'll find a quick video I put together. It includes a tutorial on the technique used to work each glove in one piece without having to cut the yarn.
Of course, it's not mandatory you use this technique. If you'd rather cut the yarn, go ahead. I know I don't like cutting and rejoining my yarn, especially when making this kind of project. I've had some nasty surprises in the past where the thumbs of some of my gloves have started to unravel because... well, I don't know. I probably just suck at tying knots :/
Anyway... here are some extra details on the naming of the pattern, if you're curious: These fingerless gloves are called Voltaic because they remind me of a Voltaic pile I once saw, a while ago, in science class. Whilst I may not remember the whole story behind the device (other than the fact it was the first battery, so to speak), this is the first thing that came to my mind once these gloves had taken form. To me, they look like a stack (or, you know, a pile) of wooly disks - just like the voltaic pile is, basically, a stack of metal disks (Yay! Science!).
Additionally, the colorway of the yarn I used does strangely remind me of clockworks, machines, strange devices and all that jazz. It’s called Arco Iris (literally ‘rainbow’) and to me it looks like the color of an oil/gas puddle when the sun hits it. Maybe it’s farfetched, but this is exactly how my mind made the connection.
Anybody else see the resemblance? No? Just me?
Of course, you don't have to use Arco Iris. This pattern will work with both solid and variegated colorways. A solid color, especially a light one, will showcase the texture nicely, A variegated colorway (especially hand-dyed/with short color repeats) will yield a pretty interesting result, as the stitches used will further mix the colors together. You can also experiment with stripes, especially if you make a size of gloves that calls for more than one skein of yarn.
Here's the first Voltaic prototype (shorter upper hand& different thumb). You can see the texture shows up quite nicely in a solid, lighter color.
If you need help with some of the stitches used (or simply want to see what you'll be in for if you decide to splurge a few bucks on the pattern ;p), you can find the available photo tutorials here.
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In case you've stumbled upon this article by accident and are interested in purchasing this pattern, you'll find it here.
