by Mel R

Created on: March 06, 2009

Don't you love those wrist warmers that you are seeing everywhere these days? Wish that you had some too? Guess what? They are quick, easy, and inexpensive to make. You probably already have everything you need in your knitting bag. And don't even dare call them fingerless gloves, these are much easier. I swear.

A pair of 9 inch wrist warmers requires less than 4 oz. of yarn. They are the perfect little project for left over yarn, and will look fabulous with that sweater you just finished. So get out your double point needles and you can have these things done this evening.

You'll need:

-at least 4 oz of yarn, that's about 110 yards of bulky or 250 yards of sport weight.

-4 or 5 double point needles appropriate to your yarn choice

I like to get things done fast, so I use super bulky yarn. I like the texture, but anything you have around will work. Choose a needle size that gives a bit of stretch in stockinette stitch (knit every row on double point needles), you want your wrist warmers to allow for movement. First knit a small sample to determine you stitches per inch. I know, I know, boring, It's only going to take a couple of minutes and you want these things to fit, don't you?

Once you have you stitches per inch, just measure around your wrist. Don't get too picky about this, just round up to the nearest half inch. For example my wrist measure 5 and 7/8 inches, I just figure from six inches. At least in this case, knitting is not an exact science.

The formula goes-

wrist measurement x stitches per inch from your sample

If this number isn't divisible by 4, round up to the next number that is. For example, if your wrist measures 7 inches inches, and your sample yields 3 stitches per inch-

7 x 3 = 21 Just round up to 24 stitches.

This is a whole lot simpler than it sounds, I swwear, and you are almost on your way.

Using a wrist measurement of 7 inches and 3 stitches per inch as an example it just goes like this-

Cast on 24 stitches

Divide over 3 needles.

Knit 2, Purl 2 for 6 inches.

To form hole for your thumb, just do a simple button hole-

At the beginning of the first round after you reach 6 inches, cast off 3 stitches. At the beginning of the next round cast on 3 stitches.

Knit 2, Purl 2 for 3 more inches.

Cast off.

Weave in ends.

Repeat for second wrist warmer.

See, easy peasy.

There are all kinds of variations to try with this pattern. If you have a lot of different colors in a similar weight, try stripes. If you only have a bit of yarn, make a pair for a favorite child in your life. If you use not-to-girlie colors, guys even love them, but you might want to call them manly hand warmers.

Just one caveat, don't tell anybody how easy they are, because everybody is going to want a pair. You'll want them to think that you worked really hard.

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