Wednesday 12 December 2012

Fun, Funky, Frugal Knitted Wrist Warmers

Easy to Make Winter Woolies

This afternoon, we went a trip out to the nearby loch, primarily for a bit of fresh air and exercise, secondly to take a couple of photographs of the frozen landscape. I thought I'd wrapped up warmly enough - jacket, hat, scarf, gloves as top layer, leg-warmers over wooly tights and thick socks as under layer and several other layers in between, but I was wrong!

Juggling a camera and wooly gloves while balancing on a bike isn't easy, especially in sub-zero temperatures, I can tell you!

The trouble I had is that my sleeves kept riding up my arms and leaving a chilly gap between the bottom of them and the top of my gloves. What I needed, and as soon as possible, I might add, was some sort of glove extensions that could bridge the gap. I returned home and, while thawing out with a mug of hot chocolate, I planned my next mission - wrist warmers!

My recent bounty of crafting, knitting and sewing goodies came in really handy this evening, that's for sure! A quick scour through the 'stockroom' and I had soon selected a little pair of bamboo knitting needles and the remains of a ball of fairly chunky, vivid pink wool.

Without a pattern and being very rusty at the old knitting game, I tentatively cast on 30 stitches and began knitting - just straightforward, simple, plain stitches, nothing fancy. It was all done at a painstakingly slow speed, so it took me about 90 minutes to complete my first square before casting that off and starting over again. The second square was completed  a tiny bit quicker, but still took me over an hour.

Once I had completed both of the squares, I folded each in half and hand stitched along the edge with wool to create 'tubes'.  Now you simply turn these inside out to hide the stitching and there you have it - your very own, handmade wrist warmers! These simple wooly tubes fit snuggly around wrists, bridging the gap between gloves and sleeves! One small problem remained, however - a way of keeping the wrist warmers in place - cue the crochet hook!

I cast on a line of about ten stitches in a fetching shade of purple wool and did a double row to produce a little wooly 'strap'. Two of these were made and then one stitched onto each of the wrist warmers, across the thumb part, to help keep them in place while wearing them.

I'm extremely pleased with my latest creations and hope to make good use of them while making the most of any winter sunshine. As you can see by the photographs, I couldn't wait to try them on - or could that be a reflection of how cold it is here? :)

In total, it took me just over three hours to complete my project! If I'd to price these for selling while counting the time at National minimum wage, we'd be looking at over £20 per pair, so these are like the ultimate in luxury designer wear for this frugaler! I can't thank the donors of the wools, knitting needles and crochet hook enough for the help these have all been in producing my new winter woolies this evening.

I can highly recommend these and will probably make several more pairs to ensure some colour co-ordination in my winter wardrobe. I may even do some as gifts for Christmas.

Frugaldom. :)

9 comments:

  1. Those look lovely and cosy. A good idea.

    Another way to keep them in place is to knit them just a little longer and then when you are sewing the 'tubes' sew an inch or so at the top and then leave a gap for your thumb and then continue sewing together the part that goes around your wrist. Hard to describe I hope you know what I mean.

    Sue xx

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  2. Came on here to suggest the same, Sue! I have made loads now, people keep asking me to make them for them :) (I should charge, really..)

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  3. I did a similar thing a couple of years ago, they wored really well, I have a ski jacket to wear when its really cold and windy, tit has built in wrist warmers, very handy.

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  4. Thanks for the tips, ladies. I'll let you into a tiny secret - I ran out of pink wool on the second one, so I HAD to finish off using purple. LOL Next time round, I'll try making them longer and just stitch the thumb part. It all depends on what wool oddments I have available; visions of multi-coloured, multi-textured wrist warmers keep springing to mind. :)

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  5. I was going to attempt something like this for both of my sister-in-laws for Christmas (we all aren't giving Christmas presents this year but I still want to be able to give them something and these seem to be ideal and after reading this post and the black bag full of wool that my Granny has given me I think it was meant to be!

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  6. Have fun making these, Heather. I hadn't picked up knitting needles in years, hence the reason they are simple, plain knit and took me so long. Hoping I have enough wool for another 3 pairs to send as gifts. :)

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  7. Ooo you've inspired me to have a go. I'm not great on the knitting front but just might have a go.

    Vicky.

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  8. Gill and Anglesey, it's the simplest form of knitting there is, as far as I know, so I'd give it a go. There are bound to be plenty of YouTube videos or simply ask a friend, relative or neighbour to show you the basics. Or cheat... get an old jumper or cardigan, cut the sleeves off and turn them into leg warmers and use the cuffs as wrist warmers. You just need to make sure you catch hold of all the stitches around the cuts and bind them in so they don't unravel. :)

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