Fit To Burst (into Bloom): Crochet Wrist Warmers

Another new pattern! Some crochet wrist warmers (or mitts, if you prefer, which I do when having to type it over and over)! Hurray!! Sorry to bombard you but I’m on a roll at the minute and I’ve learned that if I stop, I don’t start again. It’s probably a good idea to take advantage of any enthusiasm for sitting at a computer and typing stuff when the mood strikes.

Let’s get the important stuff out the way first. Please pop over to Ravelry or Etsy if you’d like to get yourself a copy of the pattern. There will be 20% off until the end of the month. OK, that’s the important bit, now for goss…

I don’t know if I should tell you this but I’m going to anyway… The design for this pattern has been around for a good couple of years but never really got off the ground. I came up with the idea when I was a PomPom Quartely subscriber (I got a year’s subscription for Christmas two or three years ago). After four issues of the magazine and only one crochet pattern amongst them, I was pissed off. I wrote to PomPom to suggest that they removed the word Crochet from the front of their magazine as it was false advertising. I got a response that the reason there were so few crochet patterns was because they didn’t get any ideas submitted. So I submitted these. Meh, they were not chosen but at least I gave it a shot (and a few more shots after that…). I get it, not every one fits all brands and that’s OK. And recently there have been some stunning crochet designs published in PomPom. There just needs to be more! More! I won’t buy the mag if there is only one crochet pattern in it. Oooh, shall we all write to them and ask for a crochet special!?? Anyway, tangent….

Back to the mitts. Every so often I had an inkling that I should give them another chance. I didn’t do much about it though until this year. A few months ago my sister told me that the Unravel festival had a design competition. Enter your design for a chance at having your pattern in the festival brochure. Everyone attending would get a copy. Such a terrific idea. I entered these mitts / wrist warmers as I thought they fit the brief. It made me revisit the pattern, tweak it a bit and make it even better. I think these mitts are ace but sadly, Unravel didn’t agree. I hope they’re not cursed! Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree but I really like them. I’m wearing them right now!

Anyway, Both experiences have highlighted that crochet still ain’t getting equal lime light on the yarny scene. It’s an ongoing story and one which I shall revisit. I’m pretty sure it’s not just me and my mitts. Whatever, moving on…..

It’s a very adaptable pattern and can be sized up or down by adding or subtracting the multiples. You can add more rows if you desired or take them away. Do what you want. I have made longer ones, but not mega long. If they were super long then that’s another design entirely because you’d have to do some wrist shaping.

I wanted dainty so these are made with 4ply / fingering weight yarn. I’m not sure I’d like them in a fatter wool. They’re spring-like and floaty light. The puff stitches are like little flower buds, and therefore perfect for this time of year when all the blossoms are beginning to burst into bloom. Boop [alliteration is my friend].

I weighed them and each one weighs 23 grams. The contrasting colours are made with just a few metres of leftovers (no, I didn’t measure exactly, sorry). In the written pattern I don’t state which yarn I used, I can tell you here that the hot pink is a mini I bought at EYF from Vicki Brown Designs and the orange is leftover from my Road to Nowhere shawl. I got it from Siobahn’s Crafts at Stitch Fest Southwest in November last year. The main colour is a beautiful blue, I ordered it from Somerset Yarns because there was a sale.

If you make some, please do tell me, I would love to see. I hope you like them more than the others did! ;p