I recently had the opportunity to review the cashmere writing gloves from Literary Book Gifts. With winter approaching, the idea of being able to keep warm while typing sounded ideal, especially for those of us who live in chilly climates, and Literary Book Gifts offers fingerless gloves in cashmere, which sounded like a great fabric.
I’ve had some great experiences with wool when it wasn’t just “ordinary wool,” like merino and cashmere, to where the fibers offer warmth without itching, and the fingerless gloves sounded perfect. I picked heather purple and eagerly waited for the gloves to arrive.
When they came, I have to admit, I was a little concerned. The package was the flimsy sort of plastic, crinkly and noisy, to where I worried about the contents inside, and the color wasn’t what I expected. It’s more of a blackberry purple, to me, than anything that comes to mind with “heather purple.” Still, I needn’t have been concerned.
The gloves themselves were soft and thick, a thick knit band for the wrist with a narrower band for the knuckles.
My hands aren’t exactly small, and I usually need size medium or large, but these nicely stretch to accomadate whatever hand size you have, though I wonder that someone with a very large hand might find these a touch confining.
And the fingerless gloves (or Writing Gloves, as the website calls them) live up to their name. You can certainly type in them, your fingers free to move, unhampered while your wrists and the rest of your hands stay warm. And they certainly do help your hands stay warm. As soon as I put them on, I could feel the heat being retained, building up nicely to where my fingertips won’t get chilled as readily.
The only thing I didn’t like about them was the placement of the thumb hole. Instead of being offset, like most of the gloves I’m used to, it’s just off to one side, directly along the side seam. For those of us who have a muscular base to our thumb, this can make a bit of a difference, as my thumb is rarely in line with the rest of my hand—more often than not, it’s slightly forward, which makes the gloves not quite as comfortable as they could be.
Also, the space for my thumb wasn’t as wide as it could be, which again can be a problem for those with a more muscular hand. But I shared the gloves with a friend of mine, whose hand is much narrower, and she had no trouble with them whatsoever. (And part of my trouble may be not being used to fingerless gloves, to where it just feels odd to my thumb to have fabric around the base and not further.) She’s had many fingerless gloves and really likes these, as they’re the only ones made of cashmere that she’s ever encountered. Even though her hands run cold, she could feel the difference the gloves made, so I’d say they do exactly what they’re supposed to do—keeping you warm while letting your fingers stay free and mobile, ready to type out the next bestseller. 🙂
So if you’re looking for fingerless gloves to keep you warm this fall and winter, or if you’re looking for a gift to give a fellow writer, check out these. (And right now, they’re even on sale!)
Happy Writing!
Andrea
Andrea Lundgren 