Introducing the Single Strand Glove Technique (SSGT)

Welcome! It's been seven years since my last pattern, but I'm still here. :)

I hope you enjoy my latest pattern, Continuity. Here is the link on Ravelry, if you haven't just come from there: https://knitty.com/ISSUEdf20/PATTcontinuity/PATTcontinuity.php.  

This pattern introduces my newest un-vention, the Single Strand Glove Technique (or SSGT). 

I have always loved gloves but rarely made them because I absolutely hate having to break my yarn into so many pieces and then deal with so many unfinished ends. This glove pattern shows you how to knit hand and all 5 fingers in a single unbroken strand. This technique can be used with any pattern that has extremities: gloves, mittens, socks with articulated toes, whatever. In principle, you feed the working yarn up through the inside of the finger tube so that you can pull it back down inside, and then you float the yarn back down to the hand, anchoring it to the side of the finger. 

Link to video of the single strand glove technique is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnV5kQCEDf4&feature=youtu.be

Here is the tutorial that is included in the glove pattern pictured above. 

Traditional glove patterns will instruct you to break the strand after finishing each finger, then resume knitting with a fresh strand. The ball of working yarn is on the outside of the finger, so you have to break it because it's too large to fit back through the tube.

But if you feed the working yarn through the inside to begin with, the yarn never goes onto the outside. So when you're done with that finger, instead of breaking the strand, you can float the yarn from the fingertip back down to the hand, on the inside of the glove. 

Setup: When starting each new finger, cast on 4 sts. Just before you start knitting in the round, draw a loop of the working yarn from under the needle.

Work the finger: Continue the finger while feeding the yarn through the inside. Take care to use the working end of the loop, not the ball end.

Secure the end of the finger: After you work the last sts on each finger, thread the loop of working yarn through a yarn needle and draw it through all remaining sts. Then use the needle to insert this loop-tail inside the finger. Turn the finger inside out and remove the yarn needle.

Widen the loop enough to bring the ball of yarn through the loop. Snug the loop.

Anchor the working strand: With the finger still inside out, draw a loop of working yarn through a stitch, widen the loop enough to bring the ball of yarn through, the gently snug. Two or three anchors should secure your yarn nicely before you continue working.

I hope you enjoy this technique! It has made glove knitting a much more enjoyable experience for me.