How Many Fingers Am I Holding Up?

I appear to have gone the whole month of June without an FO.

Except for, y'know. The NOVEL.

I ended that late last night, the eve of my fella's birthday, with the completion of his gloves. Here he is, holding another of his gifts, a former shoeshine tin now used for coasters made from recycled vinyl, care of the stellajames Etsy shop:



Too bad I didn't have time to model them on my own hands before I had to wrap them up. They looked like floppy clown gloves!

pattern: Basic Glove Pattern by Ann Budd.
completed: June 30, 2008.
yarn: Plymouth Encore DK (acrylic/wool; just over one skein)
made for: my fella. Happy Berfday!
needles: size 4 dpns

Now, speaking of floppy clown gloves...

I want to share some math with you. Without giving away too much personal information, the fella's hands are 8.5" around at the knuckles, and 7" at the wrists. That ought to have meant a men's size M, according to these ingenious charts.

Had I followed the chart religiously and cast on 46 stitches, the cuff would have been ginormous. This is a common feature with Ms. Budd's patterns: she does not take away the requisite ~20 percent with cuffs and instead relies on ribbing to draw in the fabric enough so that the thing doesn't fall off (and I don't have to knit another glove). I eventually settled on 33 stitches.

I don't say this to criticize the designer or say mean things about people. Only to wonder why I seem to be the only person online who's mentioned this. Perhaps my ribbing is saggy? Perhaps the fella's wrists turn mysteriously scrawny at the merest touch of 2x1 ribbing?

No matter. Only, if you should follow Ms. Budd's otherwise helpful patterns, mind the sag.