A Handy Note

In an earlier post, I mentioned altering the pattern for the hands from that in
the book.

In this photograph, the hand as knitted from the book pattern is on the left. The modified pattern is on the right. As you can see, the original pattern consists of only a couple of rows for each digit. In mine, the number of rows is greatly increased.

Here shows each pattern with the fingers sewn up. In the original pattern (left) the fingers are incredibly fiddly to sew and very very thin and twig-like when done. The modified pattern allows for neater sewing up and more realistic finger shape. I do not know if the pattern in the book is inaccurate.

The modified version:

Where the original pattern says something along the lines of:
Row a  cast on 8 sts, K9, yfwd, s1, turn
Row b  yfwd, sl1, purl to end
Row c  cast off 6 sts, knit to end

The modified version adds 4 rows between b and c:
Row a  cast on 8 sts, K9, yfwd, s1, turn
Row b  yfwd, sl1, purl to end
Row c  knit
Row d  purl
Row e  K9, yfwd, s1, turn
Row f   yfwd, sl1, purl to end
Row g  cast off 6 sts, knit to end

This modified version also has the advantage of allowing pipecleaners to be
inserted into the fingers (remember to make them safe by turning down the ends
with pliers). The fingers can now be made to hold things like swords and
broomsticks.