Okay, so here's my story...
Shortly before my daughter was born, this past June, a friend of mine from out of state wrote and asked me if I could make her a custom pair of opera style gloves. I told her that I could and we agreed on a price. A few weeks later I received payment for said gloves and set out to begin my creative journey. At first she had wanted them in gray, so I purchased gray yarn and got to work. After completing the first glove, I realized that they just would not work. The yarn was far too thick for the half finger style she was going for. They looked nice but the fingers were rather awkward on account of the yarn being so thick. It was like having those little toe separators that they use in the nail salon between your fingers instead. So I promptly emailed my friend and told her I needed to get different yarn because the yarn I had was just no good for this project. She then told me that she had decided she wanted a different color [chocolate brown] after all anyhow so it was no big deal.
Prior to this pair of gloves, I had only made half finger gloves a couple of times and I quickly realized that my mistake was in using worsted weight yarn instead of sock weight. The sock weight is much thinner and has a light amount of stretch to it, making it perfect for finger and half finger gloves.
So I went out and purchased the proper yarn in the proper color and set to work again. At this point it had been almost a month and I was getting very close to my due date. I was feeling quite exhausted on a regular basis and my productivity level was at about a -10. My friend was understanding of my inability to work as quickly as I would have liked and told me not to rush.
Fast forward several weeks....
Now I've had my daughter and am finally recovered enough from my c-section to start getting some work done again! First on the agenda is these gloves. I felt so bad at this point for taking over 2 months to complete something that should have been done within a couple of days. I sat up till all hours of the night making sure I got these gloves completed. And on the second day, they were done! They turned out even better than I imagined. I was so excited to take some photos and email my friend! So at around 11pm or so, I made my husband take photos of my modeling the gloves and I sent my message off into cyber land.....
And then I waited....
and waited...
and waited...
A week passed with no word from my friend and I was becoming quite anxious about the continued passing of time. I decided to just mail them off after a week and a half came and went. So I packed them up all pretty like and headed to the Post Office. Now I feel I must tell you that I almost never make it there during normal business hours and am quite a fan of the automated postage machine. I find that it's much more pleasant going at 10pm when no one else is around and the lighting is slightly dimmed. It is both eerie and peaceful. So, I head to the Post Office as mentioned before and of course, it's after hours and wouldn't you know it, the stupid machine that I've come to know and love is having some sort of malfunction! It looks like I'll have to try again the next day....
Guess what? Still not working on day two which is also a Sunday so I figure surely they will have it fixed by Monday night...
NOPE!
After three attempts I am feeling quite defeated. And I still haven't heard from my friend.
And then it happens....
The following morning I wake up and check my email as usual. Finally, I see a reply from my friend. I click on the email full of anticipation of all the happy comments I expect to see. WRONG!!!!!
It seems I got the length of the gloves completely wrong! I made them so that they come to just below the elbow, she wants them to just below the armpit! I wanted to bang my head against my desk repeatedly. Now it all makes sense. The reason I was unable to deliver the gloves was because the gloves were not meant to be sent.
Now what? I quickly weigh my options....I can either make an entirely new pair of gloves which will require the purchase of even more yarn. Or I can just refund her the money and call it a done deal.
Well, I'm pretty stubborn and I don't like to leave anything unfinished. So I decide, I've come this far with these accursed gloves, I can see this thing through to the end. I thought about adding rows to the gloves to adjust the length, but this would leave an odd seam where the original starting row was and would just look well, wrong. The only option is to start all over again. But I don't even know if my friend wants that at this point. For all I know, she's so fed up with waiting almost 3 months now for these gloves that she just wants her money back! :/
So I've now emailed her once again and told her I am willing and able to make a whole new pair in the proper length but I will need an arm measurement to ensure a proper fit.
That was over a week ago.
Nothing....
I decided to go ahead and buy more yarn so that if and when I hear back, I can get started right away. I wish I could start now, but I really need those measurements. I can't tell you just how happy I will be when these gloves are packed up, shipped off, and out of my hair for good!
Alright, that was story err rant for the day....the moral, confirm all aspects of a custom item prior to starting the project even if the customer is someone that you know. When my friend asked me to make her opera gloves, I just assumed she wanted the length to go to the elbow...I was wrong.
In the meantime, I've listed the original pair of gloves for sale in my Etsy shop. No use in letting a perfectly lovely pair of gloves go to waste :)
So, here they are in all of their glory.....
I've added a new shop section just for gloves as well and have been happily working away at several new pairs over the past week or so. I figure, I might as well be productive while I wait :)
Feel free to stop buy, take a look and/or spread a little love my way. Here are a few more styles I've added...
That's all I've got for you today. I'm halfway finished with another pair of long half finger gloves that I'm making with a merino wool blend, self striping, sock weight yarn. They are going to be quite lovely and I should be sharing the completed product in the next couple of days.
Until then, have a great Wednesday and happy happy crafting :)
