The Great Fingerless Gloves Debate

Partial fingers, or no fingers at all???

It tears me apart! I can't decide! Does the partial fingers make them something other than fingerless gloves? Is it simply born of laziness that one does not knit the fingers?? QUESTIONS MUST BE ANSWERED!

Seriously! What is the point of having gloves if they don't warm your fingers? Of you simply knit them long, so they cover part of your fingers, without the individual finger holes, ARE THEY FINGERLESS MITTENS? Does that even make sense?? Where is the line??

I must preface this story with a fact about me: There are few things I dispise more than an ameteur that claims to know more about a skill than they actually do. Never bullshit knowledge. If you don't know, ask. Moreover, if you're going to publish a pattern, research that it isn't common knowledge, or at least don't claim inspirational genius when creating a garter stitch rectangle.

I once subscribed to a 'Rock Knitters' website, where everyone was teenage girls in love with Fall Out Boy (not an insult to Fall Out Boy but to blind followers), who were 'inspired' to create a lumpy set of garter stitch fingerless gloves (6" rectangle, seamed together with a hole for the thumb. Obviously no research was done.) so they could 'practice guitar outside, without getting cold,' and look cool doing it. (Girl, please. If you're practicing guitar outside, either your parents regretted getting you the damn thing for Christmas and sent you out there until the lessons start kicking in, or you're annoying your neighbourhood crush by playing on the porchswing whenever he walks by to pick up his little brother from the park. That is, if that isn't your Dad's guitar from his teenage years that you found in the attic and swiped for a facebook photoshoot) It made me dislike the fingerless fad for a while.

Then I got a touchscreen phone.

So then I had to backpetal. As a slight elitist, I still resented the teenage angst I had associated with the things, but... usefulness! I need gloves, but taking them on and off just to send a text? What a nusance! Maybe if I just left the tips off, and made a hybrid Half Finger Glove...??

Don't get me wrong, I love me some fingerless glove/mittens. So simple to knit--I once made a pair two hours before a concert--so cute. Useful if you're worried about your warms/hands getting cold with a short sleeve shirt. Great for warmth when you still need your bare fingers. Hell, they just look awesome. They are a great way to learn knitting in the round without getting yourself into too much trouble with socks. Its like knitting a tube sock with a purpose besides sitting in the bottom of your sock drawer until every other pair of socks in sweaty and gross in your hamper. A tube sock that's edgy. But to actually wear them... I had some issues with it.

So the debate continues. I wear them now in places of low-judgement--Friday Night Magic, concerts, costumes, etc. Meanwhile, I've been sticking to full mittens in other places. (I always neglect to think that unless you are a knitting/are close to someone who knits, the technique of knitting is a mystery anyway. People can't tell the difference between a poorly knit item and a well-knit item, unles syou shove it in their face. Moreover, they don't care.) But the Knitting Elitist in me still feels like unless you've got some interesting patternwork or colourwork going on, knitting Fingerlesss Gloves is the equivilent of knitting a 3' scarf on size 15 needles with super bulky yarn. Sure it looks cool, but I can teach my 10-year-old Autistic stepsister with a learning disorder to make that. At the moment, I am knitting boyfriend a pair of gloves with partial fingers, because its more manly and because I think it'll look sexy, but the debate still runs strong. I am torn with resentment of an archetype and love of a look. Maybe I'll switch to mittens and just leave the debate unanswered forever.