Wrist warmers to keep on KIPO'ing

(re-post)

The "frost" has been "on the pumpkins" a couple of times this past week - well, at least on the roofs of my neighbours' houses and twice on the car windshield in the very early morning. 

Which means I got out the wrist warmers.  I can continue to Knit In Public Outdoors (KIPO'ing) as long as my head and neck and wrists have something to keep the heat in. 

Clicking  on the picture will  enlarge it.   The black and amber wristlets are knit flat in alternate knit/purl rows (I think K2 P2 or maybe K3 P3) until they will fit around the wrist and then cast off and the ends sewn together.

 The narrow bracelet-type wristees (which are surprisingly cosy) are yarn crocheted around elastic bands;  the green ones are banana leaf fibre and the other ones are wool;  the green ones are a single round on a single elastic band;  the others are a single round - keep track of how many stitiches to fill up the band - then a round or two of single crochet on that initial band (you could experiment with double or treble stitches here) - and then a last round on another elastic band using the same number of stitches as on the first one.

The rest (except for the one in upper right corner) are made from the cuffs and part of the sleeves of recycled sweaters, most of them cashmere; simply put a sweater sleeve backward up your arm, measure off how much you want to extend down your hand, add a bit if you intend to hem it, cut off, and then either hem or crochet or fringe or whatever the cut end.

I have cut off the cuffs and then some from that gorgeous purple sweater that became one of the topknotched hats and plan to make maybe fingerless gloves with varying depths of fingers(less)  (not sure there is enough material for this - I guess I could add wedges...hmmmm) or a pair of mitts (not something I usually wear but they could become a gift) or wristlets with some sort of hand covering;  will post if anything keepable results.

The one in the upper corner is a wristlet of a part of a sweater sleeve folded in on itself to make a wrist band, actually.  What I want you to look at closely - and please, oh please do tell me if you know what this is called and where it originated etc. - is the decoration.  I came across this  many years ago on two rugs at a thrift store and have been trying ever since to  identify the method.

Here it is on a wristlet;  what it is are squares folded into triangles (as in the wristband), or cut into triangles as in the wristlet,  lined up slightly overlapping and then machine stitched down the middle to the points.  A row is added beside the first one etc.  There are three rows on both the wristband and the wristlet, three folded into triangle squares on the wristband, four triangles on the wristlet. 

It is a simple procedure that gives a lovely effect. 

When I get around to it I'll post a picture of those rugs; they are stunning and I am so pleased that I came across them at the thrift store minutes after they were put out; whoever made them has gotten many warm thoughts from me over the years;  they are not on the floor but as covering on one of those old metal rocking chairs - in the house.

But today is about wristlets and I got distracted.  They are quick to produce and make nice gifts - can be slipped into an envelope and mailed for letter rate, usually.  And they extend the temperature for KIPO'ing which suits me just fine.

Posted on October 15, 2008 at 02:19 AM | Permalink

The "frost" has been "on the pumpkins" a couple of times this past week - well, at least on the roofs of my neighbours' houses and twice on the car windshield in the very early morning. 

Which means I got out the wrist warmers.  I can continue to Knit In Public Outdoors (KIPO'ing) as long as my head and neck and wrists have something to keep the heat in. 

Clicking  on the picture will  enlarge it.   The black and amber wristlets are knit flat in alternate knit/purl rows (I think K2 P2 or maybe K3 P3) until they will fit around the wrist and then cast off and the ends sewn together.

 The narrow bracelet-type wristees (which are surprisingly cosy) are yarn crocheted around elastic bands;  the green ones are banana leaf fibre and the other ones are wool;  the green ones are a single round on a single elastic band;  the others are a single round - keep track of how many stitiches to fill up the band - then a round or two of single crochet on that initial band (you could experiment with double or treble stitches here) - and then a last round on another elastic band using the same number of stitches as on the first one.

The rest (except for the one in upper right corner) are made from the cuffs and part of the sleeves of recycled sweaters, most of them cashmere; simply put a sweater sleeve backward up your arm, measure off how much you want to extend down your hand, add a bit if you intend to hem it, cut off, and then either hem or crochet or fringe or whatever the cut end.

I have cut off the cuffs and then some from that gorgeous purple sweater that became one of the topknotched hats and plan to make maybe fingerless gloves with varying depths of fingers(less)  (not sure there is enough material for this - I guess I could add wedges...hmmmm) or a pair of mitts (not something I usually wear but they could become a gift) or wristlets with some sort of hand covering;  will post if anything keepable results.

The one in the upper corner is a wristlet of a part of a sweater sleeve folded in on itself to make a wrist band, actually.  What I want you to look at closely - and please, oh please do tell me if you know what this is called and where it originated etc. - is the decoration.  I came across this  many years ago on two rugs at a thrift store and have been trying ever since to  identify the method.

Here it is on a wristlet;  what it is are squares folded into triangles (as in the wristband), or cut into triangles as in the wristlet,  lined up slightly overlapping and then machine stitched down the middle to the points.  A row is added beside the first one etc.  There are three rows on both the wristband and the wristlet, three folded into triangle squares on the wristband, four triangles on the wristlet. 

It is a simple procedure that gives a lovely effect. 

When I get around to it I'll post a picture of those rugs; they are stunning and I am so pleased that I came across them at the thrift store minutes after they were put out; whoever made them has gotten many warm thoughts from me over the years;  they are not on the floor but as covering on one of those old metal rocking chairs - in the house.

But today is about wristlets and I got distracted.  They are quick to produce and make nice gifts - can be slipped into an envelope and mailed for letter rate, usually.  And they extend the temperature for KIPO'ing which suits me just fine.