54 slot cylinder GLOVE

 After scrap yarn, attach good yarn; knit one round pulling a loop of yarn down about every 8 needles.  Work this loop back to form larger stitches for round one.  (Or, if your machine will knit a huge stitch, do round one with the largest stitch possible.)  Knit round two.  Re-hang round one bars on round two to form selvedge. (Or use alternate selvedge.)  Replace 18 cylinder needles for 1:2 ribbing.  Knit 24 rounds.  Replace cylinder needles and knit 18 rounds, stopping with yarn carrier in front of cylinder.  (Also may use hem-top, mock ribbing or picot.)

 Raise needles around backside of machine so as to leave 20 across the front when you crank into the rear area where needles are raised.  On the 54, that means the 13 between the hash marks plus 3 on one side and 4 on the other side.  Attach heel tension spring.  You will likely need to put a weight on each side of the thumb which you are going to form.  (I use forks for this and move them after knitting four rows.)  Knit back and forth on those 20 stitches for 36-40 rows.  Cut the yarn with about 8" of tail. Knit off on scrap yarn.  Once you know if this was a suitable fit for you, omit that step by threading a blunt needle and collecting up those 20 stitches by going through each one as you remove it from the knitting needle.  Pull tight and go through the end again to secure.  This piece is the thumb and the next maneuver will form a gusset.  From each side edge, replace 10 stitches and tuck the remaining piece (which will become the thumb) down inside.  Overlap one of the final stitches with one from the opposing side to be sure you do not form a hole, so the middle needle in front of you will have two stitches on it and all others will have one.  Move carriage to left side by going around back of machine if it is on the right.  (Your ending spot will depend on how many rows you did.)  Push down rear needles.  Rethread; starting toward the right (counterclockwise), be sure all latches are open and knit 15 rounds ending in the front.  You have completed the thumb gusset and palm.

 Pinkie: Locate the 16 needles on the back of the cylinder (exactly opposite the front) where you will create the pinkie finger.  Pull up the needles immediately to the left of the one which will be the leftmost edge.  Keep pulling up needles behind the yarn carrier as you knit forward or counterclockwise until you have only those rear 16 needles remaining in work.  Attach the heel tension spring and knit back and forth on those 16 stitches for 24 rows. (Again, it helps to use a heel fork to hold down the edge stitches, moving the fork up about every fourth row knitted.)  Cut yarn with 8" tail.  Finish off the end as you did for the thumb.  Gather up the 18 stitches, pull tight, do a second round or go back and forth a couple times to secure.

 At this time, I find it easier to remove needles I will no longer use because there are multiple manipulations of stitches which are easier accomplished without the extra hooks catching on your knitting.  Remove the center 14 needles at the rear of the cylinder.  There will be one left on each end of where you did the pinkie.  This needle will not have a stitch on it now, but you will create one there by pulling over a loop from the next lower round of stitches from the adjacent needle.

 Index finger:  Start with the yarn carrier at the back with needles on the left side of the cylinder pushed back down into work.  Pull up a bar from the previous row to form a stitch on the first needle which is currently without a stitch.  Rethread and knit part of the way toward the front.  Pull up the ten needles (one of which didn't have knitting on it) on the right side.  When your carrier is at the right side, pull up ten needles on the left side so that you have only the center front twenty down in work.  Attach heel tension spring and knit 26 rows.  (Don't do the math here, or you'll really get confused.  You still have one needle without a stitch on it on the right side.  Pull a bar up from the nextdoor stitch's previous round so all needles have a stitch on them.  Now you will have ten up out of work on the right and ten up out of work on the left with twenty down in front.)  After knitting the 24 rows, cut your yarn with 8" tail and finish off the end of the finger by drawing up the last row of stitches as on other fingers.  Pull those 20 needles up out of work.

 Using a high-contrast scrap yarn with the heel spring in work and the yarn carrier to the left of the machine, put down the first 5 needles on the right side knitting back and forth four times on those 5 stitches (will later be known as section A), for the fifth row, put down the next 5 needles.  When you knit that pass, pull the first five up out of work.  Continue with 4 more rows of scrap yarn on those 5 needles (later known as section B).  On the last pass, put down the rear five needles on the left side.  Knit four rows back and forth on those 5 (later known as section C).  On the 5th row, put down the front five needles and knit across.  Pull up the rear five.  Knit four more rows on those 5 needles (later known as section D).  Cut the scrap yarn close to the carrier.  Put all needles back down into work and knit the scrap off the machine.  Take out all but the center front twenty needles to make your life as easy as possible.  Only two fingers to go!

 Ring finger:  Put the glove up inside the machine with the pinkie toward the front where you have your twenty needles up.  Note you have four sections of 5 stitches each.  We are going to be using the main 5 stitches plus creating extras by borrowing from the next section to form the remaining fingers.  Starting on the right side of those twenty needles, skip the first needle.  (You are going to form a stitch on that needle when you do the next round.)  On the second needle, place the first stitch from the section farthest away from you or section B.  Then replace the five from the front section or section A.  Go to the left side.  Skip needle 1.  Starting on needle two, you will have the first stitch from the rearmost section or C, then the five from the front section or D.  (In the order in which you did the scrap yarn, you would thus have all of D and the closest stitch from C.)  Take a loop from a previous row of the last stitch on each side to create the outer two stitches.  Using the edge of the pinkie finger, create the remaining stitches needed in the center to make a total of twenty.  Carefully remove the scrap yarn from sections A and D.  You will have one stitch that still has scrap yarn in it.  Just let the scrap yarn hang inside of the cylinder for now.  You will take it out when you replace the stitches for your last finger.  Using tension spring, knit 26 rows.  Cut yarn with 8" tail and close off end of finger as with others.

 Middle finger:  Put the index finger to the front.  Pick up the 5 stitches from B and the 5 from C working your way inward from the sides of the twenty front needles.  Carefully remove the scrap yarn.  Pick up stitches from the edge of the finger to fill in the remaining needles.  With the heel spring attached, knit 28 rows.  Finish off as other fingers.

 Sew down the seams from fingertip to palm and down the thumb.  Work in the ends.  It is suggested that you wet and block so that there is a definite right and left by easing the thumb inward when you set them to dry.  Adjust for sizing by making fingers longer or shorter, increasing or decreasing number of rows in the palm, increasing or decreasing the length of the ribbing or section after the ribbing.  A hem-top or mock ribbing may easily be substituted for the ribbed section.  As printed, this glove would fit an average to large woman's hand with ample room for long nails and rings or medium for a man.  It may be blocked slightly larger or allowed to felt and shrink to make it smaller.  You can be "double warm" by making a matching pair of mittens and wear the gloves inside the mittens.  Or, make fingerless gloves by hemming the ends of the fingers rather than closing them.  Adjust accordingly to make shorter finger sections.  (The pinkie is generally two to four rows shorter than the ring finger and index finger.  The center finger is two or three rows longer than the ring finger.)

 Note:  When creating stitches to make the center two fingers, you borrow them from the adjoining finger.  When you do so, take them as close together at the base of the adjoining finger as possible-not spread out like you would do for the thumb gusset.  If you spread them out, your newly created finger will be angled sideways considerably and the finger will be much shorter than it should be.

 The first few times you make these, leave the tail at the end of the fingers quite long and knit off on scrap yarn instead of gathering up the end right away.  That will enable you to add a row or two if the finger seems too short or ravel back if too long. Then go back to the pattern and pencil in how many rows you want for the finger the next time you make a glove.  Eventually after two or three pairs, you’ll have settled on the number which is exactly right for you.  (This pattern has been altered several times!)  When sewing closed between the middle and ring finger, you may want to sew upward two or three rows before you start closing the finger since that part of your hand is not level with the pinkie; this will enable a more customized fit.