October 2024 -

It was after a recent visit to the local wool shop that my youngest pointed out that my entire palette was reminiscent of Harry Potter, hence the Slytherin gloves.

How the gloves came about was an entirely different conversation that happened at the zoo a couple of weeks back. My youngest loves to take photographs but with the colder weather fast approaching, he was disappointed about the prospect of not being able to take so many as it’s not so practical with conventional gloves.

Anyway, I suggested that fingerless gloves might work, and he was totally sold on that idea. So, eager to ensure that he wouldn’t miss out on any photo opportunities, I grabbed my crochet hook and his favourite shade of green…Slytherin green, of course.

But how to make a warm pair of gloves from double knit? Well, I’d been making the cushiony arm covers for our IKEA chairs, and they’d come up nice and chunky. So I slipped one of those onto my youngest’s arm to check for fit, and it was spot on!

With the smallest modification for a thumb hole built into the pattern, I rustled up a pair of fingerless gloves in a few hours:

With a 2.75 hook, chain 28 and form a ring with a slip stitch.

Round 1: Chain 4, treble in next stitch to end of round. Slip stitch into chain 4 to complete.

Round 2: Chain 4, front post in next stitch, back post in following stitch. Continue to alternate to end of round. Slip stitch into chain 4 to complete.

Rounds 3 to 8: Repeat pattern.

Round 9: Repeat round 1.

Round 10: Repeat round 2 but at some point in the round skip 3 trebles and chain 3 instead.

Round 11: Repeat round 1, placing a treble in each of the 3 chains made in round 10.

Round 12: Repeat round 2.

This one is all down to Hubs. The title for this post may have been a little subtle, but some of you may have spotted the IKEA connection.

We’ve had these chairs for a few months now and they’re lovely. However, I am constantly slipping cushions down the sides to pad my big dog’s butt when he snuggles up with me for the evening. Did someone say ‘spoilt’?

I like to work in double knit as it’s really versatile. However, it’s not the best for a project where you want some cushioning. So I set about eperimenting with the thickest texture that I could achieve with good old DK, and this is what I ended up with.

The cover is basically a tube (which Hubby was able to slide onto the arm by removing one of the screws) made up of trebles and post stitches. It comes up lovely and chunky.

For a perfect fit for the IKEA POANG armchairs:

Chain 28 with a 2.75 hook and double knit, securing the round with a slip stitch.

Round 1: Chain 4, treble in next stictch and all the way round.

Round 2: Chain 4, front post stitch in next stitch, back post stitch in next stitch. Continue alternating post stitches to complete the round.

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until there are 26 rounds in total.

I’ve just completed the first arm of the next armchair. This time I’m using the dandelion (which is obviously a good match for the chair covers) mixed with a burgundy stripe (which matches our IKEA cushion, which incidentally went through a phase of appearing on just about every US TV drama…not our actual cushion of course…unless it snuck out at night).

Watch out for another use of this cosy pattern coming soon!