- 4th March 2016
Wiveton

I live with a bird watcher and our holidays are spent where the birds are sometimes this has added benefits, the bird observatory on Fair Isle is fantastic, luxury rooms, amazing scenery and a museum with knitting, what more could you want?
Sometimes not so good, where ever we go we seem to end up at the local sewage works, it’s the insects, birds like insects and they don’t care about the view.
If you’re a bird watcher of even the most casual nature at some point you’ll end up on the North Norfolk coast walking the marshes and shingle banks and probably in the autumn when the birds are migrating and this is the first land mass they hit, exhausted, after crossing the North Sea.
It’s not only the birds that are exhausted, walking on shingle must do marvels for your calf muscles. So if you caught one of the boats from Morston to see the seals and in a reckless moment been dropped off on Blakeney Point to walk back you’ll need a pair of these gloves in your pocket as you trudge back across the shingle, struggling through the wind which is also just off the North Sea.
You used to be able to stop for a mug of tea and beans on toast at Coastguards a café at the end of the shingle spit, builders tea that’d put hairs on your chest and toast from a sliced white but since that has been washed away with the sea defences the next place with a view is Wiveton.
If Wiveton café did beans on toast they’d be homemade on sourdough and the tea does come in mugs but they’re by Emma Bridgewater. Perfect.
So you can sit outside on their painted chairs, look out across the marshes and recover. Or if you’re really lucky you can wrap up warm and sit out in the autumn sun knitting, waiting for himself to meet you after he’s walked Blakeney Point. Wiveton café do cake and as the gloves are fingerless you can wear them and knit and marvel at just how well the gloves match the furniture.
Wiveton fingerless gloves
Finished measurements:
16 cm circumference, un-stretched across the palm and 20 cm long in 4ply yarn.
You will need
Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply (100% merino 50g = 180m) 1 ball in Teal.
Needles
One set of 2.75mm double pointed needles
One set of 3mm double pointed needles
Or size to obtain tension
Cable needle
Stitch markers
Waste yarn
Tension
21 sts and 41 rounds = 10 cm measured over cable rib using the larger needles.
When tension is mentioned I begin to look a little shifty. With a small project like theses gloves rather than knitting a separate tension square I start knitting the glove and try it on after a few inches to see if it fits. The cables are very stretchy.
Abbreviations
k: knit
p: purl
k1tbl: knit through back loop
p1tbl: purl through the back of the loop
r: round
pm: place marker
st(s): stitch(es)
2/2RC: slip the next 2 sts purlwise to a cable needle and hold at the back of the work, k2 then k2 from cable needle.
2/2LC: slip the next 2 sts purlwise to a cable needle and hold at the front of the work, k2 then k2 from cable needle.
2/1PC: slip the next 2 sts purlwise to a cable needle and hold at the front of the work, K1tbl, return the purl stitch from the cable needle to the left hand needle and purl, k1tbl from cable needle.
M1: make 1 st. Pick up the strand between the 2 needles from front to back with the tip of the left needle, knit in to the back of the loop.
Written instructions for Stag’s Horn Cable
R1: K4, 2/2RC, 2/2LC, k4
R2: Knit
R3: K2, 2/2RC, k4, 2/2LC, k2
R4: Knit
R5: 2/2RC, k8, 2/2LC
Stag’s horn cable chart
Left Hand Glove
Using the long-tail method cast on 61 sts.
Divide as follows over 3 needles,
Needle1: 19sts
Needle 2: 23sts
Needle 3: 19sts
Join to work in the round being careful not to twist the knitting.
Cable Ribbing
R1: P1, (k1tbl, p1, k1tbl, p3) 3 times, k3, p3, k4, p3, k3, p3, (k1tbl, p1, k1tbl, p3) 3 times, k1tbl, p1, k1tbl, p2.
R2: As round 1.
R3: P1, (2/1PC, p3) 3 times, k3, p3, k4, p3, k3, p3, (2/1PC, p3) 3 times, 2/1PC, p2.
R4: As round 1.
Repeat rounds 1-4 5 more times giving 6 cables in total then work rounds 1 and 2 again.
Change to larger needles.
R1: P1, (2/1PC, p3) 3 times, work round 1 of stag’s horn cable, p3, (2/1PC, p3) 3 times, 2/1PC, p2.
Continue in pattern as set until you have completed 12 rows (2 stag’s horn cable repeats).
Left Thumb Gusset
R1: work 7 sts in pattern as established, pm, m1, 2/1PC, m1, pm, p3, continue in pattern as established.
R2: Work in pattern purling the stitches made in the previous round.
Continue in pattern as established increasing 1 st just after the 1st marker and 1 st just before the 2nd marker on every 4th round (2/1PC round) until you have 17 sts between the markers.
Next Row: Work in pattern to first marker, remove marker, transfer the next 17 sts to waste yarn, cast on 3 sts using the backward loop method, remove second marker, continue in pattern.
Next Row: Work in pattern until you reach the 3 sts cast on in the previous round, k1tbl, p1tbl, k1tbl, continue in pattern.
The 3 sts are now worked as cable rib for the following rounds.
Work in pattern until you have completed 8 stag’s horn cable repeats in total.
Change to smaller needles
R1: P1, (k1tbl, p1, k1tbl, p3) 3 times, k3, p3, k4, p3, k3, p3, (k1tbl, p1, k1tbl, p3) 3 times, k1tbl, p1, k1tbl, p2.
R2: As round 1.
R3: P1, (2/1PC, p3) 3 times, k3, p3, k4, p3, k3, p3, (2/1PC, p3) 3 times, 2/1PC, p2.
R4: As round 1.
Repeat rounds 1 to 4 once more.
Cast off loosely in pattern.
Thumb
Return the sts on the waste yarn to 2 of the smaller needles. With the 3rd needle pick up 2 sts before the cast on sts, 3 sts across the cast on edge and 2 sts after the cast on edge. 24 sts.
R1: P1, k3, p3, k1tbl, p1, k1tbl, p3, k3, p3, k1tbl, p1, k1tbl, p2.
R2: As round 1
R3: As round 1
R4: P1, k3, p3, 2/1PC, p3, k3, p3, 2/1PC, p2.
Work round 1 and 2 once more and then cast off loosely in pattern.
Right Hand Glove
Work as left hand glove until thumb gusset.
Right Thumb Gusset
R1: Work 44 sts in pattern as established, pm, m1, PCL, m1, pm, p3, continue in pattern as established.
R2: Work in pattern purling the stitches made in the previous round.
Continue in pattern as established increasing 1 st just after the 1st marker and 1 st just before the 2nd marker on every 4th round (2/1PC round) until you have 17 sts between the markers.
Complete as for left hand glove.
Sew in ends and block.
Or download the pdf here. Wiveton fingerless gloves