A few years ago, I saw my first pair of fingerless gloves. I thought they were the funniest thing I’d ever seen, and couldn’t imagine that anyone besides teens would wear them as a fashion statement. Let’s fast forward a few years. Most of the people I know, and many of those I don’t, are using smart phones outdoors—on the way to the car, as they walk the dog, in a grocery store parking lot, at a football game. You’d think that cold weather would limit the phone conversations or the text messaging, but they don’t. One cold winter day as I walked from my car to the shopping mall, I tried to type a message with my leather-gloved fingers. You guessed it; I had one of those ah-hah moments. You know, I told myself, if these gloves didn’t have fingers, they’d be a lot more practical.
The next thing I knew, I was crocheting myself a pair of fingerless gloves, but let’s call them what they really are: texting gloves. They were warm and allowed my fingers to wiggle and dance over the characters of my iPhone keypad. And I didn’t care whether they were in vogue or not; they just worked. As it turns out, the gloves also happen to be popular.
Late last winter season, certainly after the holidays, I started a line of fingerless/texting gloves in JN Originals. All of them so far have my signature flower-with-a-button center sewed onto them, and they come in a rainbow of colors. Below you’ll see a stack of gloves I am making for a late fall craft show. You have to start early if you’re going to have enough to sell.
Because it’s more efficient, I generally make the body of the gloves in various colors, then crochet the flowers in pairs to match them.
The last step of the process is sewing a button to the center of each flower. This also serves to attach them to the body of the fingerless gloves. I always enjoy browsing through my button stash.
I am currently trying to evaluate whether I should introduce a line of fingerless gloves without the flowers, and am hoping my readers can help me decide. I’ve shown two pairs of gloves below, one with the flowers, and one pair without. I’m also curious to know what your favorite color would be if you owned a pair of fingerless gloves. Following these photos is a link to a survey that asks these questions. I hope you’ll help me out.
Please click HERE to complete the Fingerless Gloves Survey. Thanks for your help!
© 2012 Judy Nolan. All rights reserved.
These are adorable.
Just took the survey 🙂
I think they’re great in neutrals so they appeal to a lot of people. Of course I’d want mine in pink 🙂 I think it’s a good idea to offer them without flowers as well.
I like the flowers–it is that extra touch that you don’t find from a pair at Target or Walmart.
You know, it’s funny: I TOO protested them for a long time, until my younger, wiser brother explained it to me! HAHA…I guess I’m the only one who waits till I get to the car to text. LOL. I say you should do some without flowers…the more variety= the more sales!
Love your gloves. I say do both. I filled out your survey!!
I have done your survey. I prefer the ones with flowers. I think it would be good to stock both types in your shop.
Your flowered ones are cute, cute, cute! I must admit, though personally. I like to keep my fingers warm, so these are not for me.
I knitted some “convertable” ones with button back tops for my Gen X daughter. She loves them!