Mary’s Short Gloves: A Complete Guide to Knitting Dagmar Mora’s Beloved Pattern

There is something undeniably special about a pair of handknitted gloves. They carry the hours of a maker’s attention in every stitch, and when they fit well — snug at the palm, smooth across the knuckles, just long enough at the wrist — they feel like a small miracle of craft. Among the many glove patterns available to knitters today, Mary’s Short Gloves by Dagmar Mora has earned a devoted following for good reason. It is elegant without being fussy, achievable without being dull, and the finished object is the kind of thing you will reach for every single autumn morning.

This post covers everything you need to know about Mary’s Short Gloves: what makes the pattern special, how to approach it as a beginner or intermediate knitter, yarn choices, sizing considerations, tips for knitting the fingers (yes, those fingers), and ideas for customizing the pattern to make it your own.

Who Is Dagmar Mora?

Before diving into the pattern itself, it is worth knowing a little about the designer. Dagmar Mora is a knitwear designer known for creating patterns that feel both classic and contemporary. Her work tends toward clean lines, thoughtful construction, and a kind of quiet sophistication that makes her designs suitable for everyday wear rather than occasional showpieces. Mary’s Short Gloves fits neatly into this aesthetic. The pattern has been downloaded and made by thousands of knitters around the world, and it consistently earns high praise for its clarity of instruction and the beauty of the finished result.

If you are not already familiar with Mora’s work, Mary’s Short Gloves is a wonderful introduction. Once you have finished a pair, you will likely find yourself browsing the rest of her catalog with a knitter’s particular kind of hunger.

What Are Mary’s Short Gloves?

Mary’s Short Gloves are, as the name suggests, a short-cuffed pair of gloves with full fingers. The cuff sits at or just below the wrist, making them ideal for wearing inside coat sleeves, pairing with a blazer, or simply keeping your hands warm during transitional weather when a longer gauntlet-style glove might feel excessive.

The pattern is worked in the round on double-pointed needles or using the magic loop method, beginning at the cuff and working up toward the fingers. The thumb gusset is elegantly integrated, and the fingers are knitted individually — which is often the part that makes new glove-knitters nervous, but which Mora’s instructions handle with admirable clarity.

The result is a glove that fits closely to the hand without being restrictive. The short cuff keeps the silhouette neat and modern, and the full fingers make them genuinely practical for cold weather.

Skill Level and What You Need to Know

Mary’s Short Gloves is generally rated as an intermediate pattern. If you can knit comfortably in the round, work a basic thumb gusset, and feel reasonably confident picking up stitches and managing several small needles at once, you are ready for this pattern. You do not need to have made gloves before, though it helps to have worked a pair of mittens or fingerless mitts, since you will already be familiar with the general hand-knitting architecture.

The key skills the pattern requires are knitting in the round (either on double-pointed needles or with magic loop), working increases for a thumb gusset, putting stitches on hold for the thumb, picking up stitches at the base of each finger, and working a small number of stitches in a tight circle for the fingertips.

None of these are truly difficult techniques, but several of them require patience. Small-circumference knitting — particularly knitting individual fingers — demands a certain focus and a willingness to slow down. Once you find your rhythm, though, it goes faster than you might expect.

Yarn Selection: What Works Best

Choosing the right yarn for Mary’s Short Gloves is one of the most enjoyable parts of the project, and also one of the most important. Gloves live hard lives. They are pulled on and off repeatedly, exposed to friction at the fingertips, and washed more frequently than most knitted items. This means your yarn choice matters more than it does for, say, a decorative shawl.

Fiber content is your first consideration. A high-quality wool or wool blend is typically the best choice for gloves. Wool has natural elasticity that helps the gloves hold their shape, and it has a memory that allows the fabric to bounce back after stretching. Superwash wool is a popular option because it can be machine washed, which is a genuine convenience for everyday gloves. Merino wool is particularly lovely for gloves because it is soft against the skin — important given that the fabric will be in direct contact with your hands all day.

A wool-nylon blend is worth serious consideration. The nylon adds durability at the fingertips and palm, where a purely woolen fabric might wear thin over time with heavy use. Many sock yarn companies produce fingering-weight wool-nylon blends that are perfect for gloves, and the color ranges available in sock yarn are often spectacular.

Weight is the next consideration. Mary’s Short Gloves is typically written for fingering weight yarn, which produces a fabric that is lightweight, close-fitting, and not overly bulky inside a glove or coat. Some knitters like to use a lightweight DK yarn for a slightly warmer, slightly less delicate fabric, but you will want to check your gauge carefully if you deviate from the recommended weight.

Yardage matters more than people sometimes expect with gloves. Even though you are only making two small items, the multiple colors of a glove and the back-and-forth nature of finger knitting can eat through yarn. Most fingering-weight glove patterns require somewhere between 200 and 400 yards per pair, depending on hand size. Check the pattern’s requirements and buy a little extra — running out of yarn mid-finger is a particularly frustrating experience.

Some yarn suggestions that work beautifully with this type of pattern include Regia 4-ply, Drops Fabel, Malabrigo Sock, Hedgehog Fibres Sock, and Wollmeise Twin. Each of these brings something slightly different — Malabrigo Sock is extraordinarily soft and comes in gorgeous hand-dyed colorways, while Regia is workhorse tough and machine washable.

Needles and Gauge

Getting gauge is genuinely important for gloves. Unlike a sweater, where a slightly off gauge might result in a garment that is an inch wider than planned, an off-gauge glove will fit nobody. The hand has specific proportions, and a glove needs to match those proportions closely to function.

Work a gauge swatch before you begin. Block it, let it dry, and measure it carefully. If you are off, adjust your needle size and try again. It is tedious, but it is the difference between a pair of gloves you love and a pair of gloves that live in the back of a drawer.

Most fingering-weight glove patterns call for something in the range of 32 to 36 stitches per 4 inches, but the specific requirement will be stated in the pattern. Use that number as your target.

For needles, you have two main options: double-pointed needles (DPNs) or the magic loop method with a long circular needle. Both work well for gloves, and the choice is largely personal. Many experienced glove knitters love DPNs because they allow you to have each set of stitches on its own needle, which makes it easy to see where you are. Others find magic loop more flexible and less prone to the laddering that can occur at DPN joins. Try both and see which feels more natural to you.

Whatever your method, you will likely need needles in the size that achieves your gauge plus a needle or two one size smaller for the cuff, if the pattern recommends a tighter cuff tension.

Understanding the Thumb Gusset

The thumb gusset is the architectural heart of any well-made glove. It is the section of increases that creates a shaped wedge of fabric allowing the thumb to sit naturally at its angle to the palm, rather than being awkwardly stuffed into a tube.

In Mary’s Short Gloves, the gusset is worked over several rounds with regular increase rounds interspersed with plain rounds. The increases are typically made using M1L and M1R (make one left and make one right), which create a neat, paired increase with minimal holes.

Pay attention to which side of the hand you are working each glove — the gusset is placed differently for the left and right hand, and the increases are mirror images of each other. It is easy to accidentally knit two left gloves if you are not paying close attention, which is a classic glove-knitting mishap.

When the gusset is complete, the thumb stitches are placed on hold (on waste yarn or a stitch holder), and the hand continues in the round with cast-on stitches bridging the gap. The thumb itself is worked later, after the fingers are complete, though some knitters prefer to finish the thumb before moving on to the fingers.

Knitting the Fingers: The Part Everyone Worries About

Let’s talk about the fingers, because they are the part that stops many knitters from ever attempting a glove pattern, and they deserve a thorough, reassuring discussion.

Each finger is worked as a small tube in the round. You will divide the hand stitches, pick up a few stitches at the base of the finger to close the gap between fingers, and work in the round to the tip, then decrease down to close the top. This process is repeated for each finger, beginning with the index finger and working across to the pinky.

The main challenge is the small stitch count. You may have only 12 to 16 stitches for a finger, which is fiddly to manage on any needle setup. Some knitters switch to a set of 5 DPNs for the fingers rather than 4, to spread the stitches more evenly. Others use two small circular needles held together. The magic loop method works well here too, especially for smaller fingers where the stitch count drops very low.

The key is to work slowly and deliberately, especially at the base of each finger where you pick up stitches. Pick up one or two extra stitches at each side of the finger base and then decrease them away on the first round — this closes the gap neatly without leaving holes.

Do not worry if your first finger looks slightly imperfect. By the time you reach the fourth finger on your first glove, you will have developed a feel for the process, and your second glove will be noticeably smoother. There is a learning curve, and it is perfectly normal.

Finishing Touches

Once all the fingers and the thumb are complete, the gloves need a bit of attention before they are truly finished. Weave in your ends carefully and thoroughly — the structure of a glove means that loose ends can work their way out with wear, so take the time to weave each one in at least twice in different directions.

Block your gloves. This step is skipped by many knitters and it genuinely makes a difference. Soak the gloves in cool water with a small amount of wool wash, gently squeeze out the water (do not wring), and lay them flat to dry. You can use a glove blocker if you have one, or simply smooth the gloves into shape with your hands. Blocking evens out the stitches, relaxes any tightness in the fabric, and allows the glove to relax into its final shape.

Once dry, try them on. If you have followed the gauge and the pattern carefully, they should fit smoothly across the knuckles, with fingers that sit at the right length and a cuff that hugs the wrist without being tight.

Customizing Mary’s Short Gloves

One of the pleasures of knitting is that patterns are starting points rather than mandates, and Mary’s Short Gloves lends itself beautifully to personalization.

You might consider adding a simple lace or cable pattern to the back of the hand. A single column of cables running from the cuff to the middle finger is a classic embellishment that adds visual interest without complicating the construction significantly. A small eyelet repeat on the cuff can give the gloves a more delicate, vintage feel.

Stranded colorwork is another option. Working the cuff in a simple two-color pattern — a geometric motif or a small repeating star — creates a striking contrast with a solid-colored hand. If you are comfortable with colorwork knitting, this is a wonderful way to make the pattern uniquely yours.

You might also adjust the length of the fingers to suit your hands specifically. Many knitters find that commercial patterns fit their hand length but not their finger length, and the beauty of handknitting is the ability to try the glove on as you go and work to the exact length that fits your particular fingers.

Finally, consider the yarn color. A single dramatic color — a deep teal, a warm rust, a charcoal near-black — makes for a sophisticated pair of gloves that works with almost any wardrobe. Two contrasting colors, one for the main body and one for the cuff, creates a more playful, modern look. Hand-dyed yarns in variegated colorways can look stunning in gloves, with the color shifts moving gradually across the hand and fingers.

Why Handknitted Gloves Are Worth the Effort

If you have never made gloves before, you might wonder whether the effort is really justified. After all, machine-made gloves are widely available and often inexpensive. But there are things that a handknitted glove does that a bought glove simply cannot.

A handknitted glove fits your hands. Not an average approximation of hands, not the hands of a fit model — your hands, with their particular proportions, their specific finger lengths, their idiosyncratic thumb angle. When you knit to your own measurements, the result is a glove that feels made for you, because it was.

A handknitted glove is made from materials you chose. You selected the yarn, you felt its softness, you picked its color. The hours you spent making the glove are present in the object, and that gives it a weight and meaning that no manufactured item can replicate.

And a handknitted glove improves your skills. Every pair of gloves you knit teaches you something about small-circumference knitting, about shaping, about tension, about finishing. They are a genuine technical challenge that rewards patience and attention, and the satisfaction of wearing something you made with your own hands through a cold morning is difficult to overstate.

A Few Final Tips Before You Cast On

Start with your non-dominant hand. This gives you a chance to work out any uncertainties before you knit the glove you will finish first and admire most.

Keep a row counter handy. Gloves involve more counting than most knitting — finger lengths especially — and losing track is easy.

Work both gloves close together in time, so your tension remains consistent between them. Knitting one glove in October and the other in January is a recipe for a slightly mismatched pair.

Do not rush. The fingers in particular reward slow, careful work. Give yourself permission to take your time.

And above all, enjoy it. Mary’s Short Gloves by Dagmar Mora is a genuinely beautiful pattern, thoughtfully written and designed to produce an object you will use and love. The hours you spend on it are hours well spent.

Whether you are an experienced glove-knitter looking for your next project or a curious intermediate knitter ready to try something new, Mary’s Short Gloves is an excellent choice. It is achievable, it is elegant, and the finished result — a neat, close-fitting pair of short gloves that feel tailor-made for your hands — is exactly the kind of handmade object that reminds you why you learned to knit in the first place.