This holiday season, I wanted to make gifts for my boyfriend's parents that they could really get some use out of, but also a pretty quick knit. Leah's speedy execution of many, many pairs of fingerless gloves this fall made with Blue Sky's Sport Weight 100% Alpaca provided the base idea for the project. I made a very simple pair for Ryan's dad, but I wanted the pair for his mom to be a little bit special.

My next source of inspiration was from Whitney. She and I were trying to pick a stitch pattern for a cashmere cowl I was working on (yes, another cashmere cowl!).  While I decided to do the cowl in stockinette stitch, the Dragon Scale stitch pattern from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns stuck in my mind.

When I knit a swatch I found, to my delight, that the edges would take on the same gently sloping arch of the scales.

Enjoy!  -- Nikki