Crochet Wrist Warmers
Last year I bought some self striping yarn, totally on a whim. I thought that perhaps I would finally learn how to knit socks. Haha, that’s never going to happen (I want to, I just don’t have the time). Instead, the colourful yarn sat twisted in its skein and waited.
I have seen the Mind the Gap yarn many times before, beautifully knitted up in colourful, stripey socks, in hues that are taken directly from the gloriously higgledy-piggledy London Underground map design. All the Tube stations are represented in bright, cheerful colours, which clash brilliantly in ways that make me very happy indeed.
Intrigued as to how it would look when worked up in crochet stitches, I figured a quick fix project was the way to go. Given that this particular self striping yarn has colour changes that are designed to be showcased in something small like socks, and given that I am not yet a crochet sock convert, the obvious answer was to make some crochet wrist warmers.
Before you read on, don’t forget to check out my other free crochet patterns. Let me know your favourites!
Self Striping Yarn
I confess that self striping yarn doesn’t often capture my attention. I’m not usually a big fan of the stuff. The colour changes are decided for you and that means there’s limited control. My preference is to be able to control all the elements of my designs so I rarely reach for skeins or cakes that do the job for me. However, I think a lot of people would disagree with me and would like to have that decision made already. Fair enough. Essentially, it removes the stress of choosing the colours. I guess, in that sense, it’s a more mindful way of crafting. Plus, no ends to sew in!!
With the Mind the Gap yarn, it’s intended as a sock yarn and that means the colour changes are placed at deliberate points to create evenly balanced stripes for socks. If you’re a sock knitter, there’s guidance on the label for making the most of the stripes but seeing as I am here with a crochet pattern, it didn’t apply to me and my intentions. But it is very helpful to have that info on the label. A nice touch!
I used the self striping yarn for the main part of the wrist warmers. The stripes do jog a little bit here and there because it proved very difficult to be precise. Due to tension and the slight variations in each stripe, jogs are inevitable but I think that’s absolutely fine here. I actually took the time to measure a few of the stripes to see how long each colour change was. I measured four different changes (by hand, so it’s not an exact science), I got 418cm, 405cm, 407cm and 430cm. So you can see, there’s little bit of variation in this beautiful hand dyed yarn.
Crochet Wrist Warmers Pattern
The pattern I came up with is pretty much just a tube to wear around the wrists. This tickles me way more than necessary. I have made tubes out of the Tube map!
As the colour changes were out of my control, I thought I would also change other elements of the design that I might not ordinarily include either. Therefore, I did something I don’t normally do and that’s to just work around and around without joining. Working a tubular spiral of colourful crochet was actually really good fun!
I also did away with a thumb gusset. I wondered if this would be a disadvantage to the wearability but, no, I have worn my wrist warmers a lot since I made them and not once have I missed having a separate thumb.
So, yes, these are very much just tubes as wrist warmers! However, do note that I added a couple of increases to accommodate for the widest part of the hand. Feel free to play around with these increases. Perhaps you have wider hands than my smallish paws. In which case, add another couple of stitches at different points.
These crochet wrist warmers are very simple but very practical and fun to make. I hope you think so too.
You Will Need:
- Less than one skein of sock weight yarn for the main colour. I used aprox 35 grams of Mind the Gap by Trailing Clouds, which I bought from Etsy. This sock yarn is 75% Bluefaced Leicester, 25% nylon and 425m/464yds per 100 grams.
- A mini skein of complimentary colour. I went for an orange I found during a deep dive for stash. I don’t know why but for the very first time in my life I am well into orange. It has never happened before! Weird. Orange is fast becoming a favourite colour!!
- I used a 2.5mm crochet hook. This yarn is a fine sock weight so you need a small hook. Sorry about that.
- 2 stitch markers to indicate increase placement.
Tension
My wrist warmers haven’t been washed or blocked but I have worn them several times before any of the measurements were taken. Therefore they have stretched out a little bit. In pattern, 5cm measures = 10 rows/13 sts.
Measurements
Circumference at wrist: approx 17.5cm
Circumference at hand: approx 19cm
Length: approx 21cm
These are the measurements for the crochet wrist warmers and there will be some positive ease at the wrist blending into a little bit of negative ease at the top of the warmer. If you check out the photos you can see that this isn’t extreme.
Abbreviations & Crochet Terminology
ch = chain, BPtr = back post treble (US BPdc), dc = double crochet (US sc), FPtr = front post half treble (US FPdc),
htr = half treble (US hdc), sl st = slip stitch, st(s) = stitch(es), tr = treble (US dc), rep = repeat, yo = yarn over
Special Stitches
Foundation Treble (US foundation double)
This is an alternative to beginning with a chain. It creates a neater, more elastic start to the ribbing.
Ch4 (counts as a st), *yo, insert hook in 4th ch from hook, yo, pull through, yo, pull through 1 loop (this creates the space you’ll work the next stitch into), yo, pull through 2 loops, yo, pull through 2 loops; rep from * working the next ftr (foundation treble) into the created space and loop behind it.
I have a Foundation start video tutorial on how you can do this. Instructions for foundation tr begin at 6:45. Continue watching to the end as I show you how to join and begin working the post stitches for a cuff.
Pattern Notes:
- The main section of the pattern is worked in the round with no joining.
- This pattern is for one size. It’s worked in multiples of 4. Adjusting by 4 sts will add or subtract just under 1.5cm.
- An increase is 2 stitches in the same place.
- The pattern is written in UK terms. Check out the Abbreviations section above for US terms in brackets.
I started with a foundation row of UK treble stitches (That’s US doubles). I have a video tutorial to show you how (see above in Special Stitches).
Wrist Warmer Pattern
Make 2
Rnd 1: 44ftr, join with sl st to form a ring, do not turn.
Rnd 2: 1ch (does not count as st here & throughout), [2FPtr, 2BPtr] around, join with sl st to first st, do not turn.
Rnd 3–5: Rep Rnd 2.
Rnd 6 – 23: Begin Rnd 6 with 1ch, htr around, I worked in a spiral without joining the rounds.
Rnd 24: Work an increase and place a stitch marker, cont with htr until half way through the round, work another increase, place marker, cont in htr around. [46 sts]
Rnd 25: Cont working htr in the round.
Rnd 26: As Rnd 24. Place the increases above where the stitch markers are placed. [48 sts]
Rnds 27 – 33: Cont working htr in the round.
Rnd 34: Cont working htr in the round. As you reach the last colour change on the self striping yarn work 3 dc, 1 sl st. Join the contrast ribbing colour on the sl st.
Rnd 35: 1ch, tr around, join with a sl st to the first st.
Rnds 36 – 39: Rep Rnd 2.
Fasten off and sew in ends. Use the tail to sew the ends of Rnd 1 closed.
In the photo above you can see that the stitch markers are equidistant. I eyeballed this as it’s just about creating extra space for the wider part of your hand rather than making any special shaping.
Voila! Finished Wrist Warmers!
And there you have it! Two super straightforward wrist warmers that are essentially just tubes of colourful crochet!
Don’t forget to add your finished projects to Ravelry, I’d love to see you crochet wrist warmers! And you can also share on Instagram tag me @zeensandroger. Also, you can use #zeensandroger too and I have also seen #Mindthegapyarn
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