A Big Hit

I made these to fill in some time while tv watching - wristwarmers that I thought really were to use up some extra yarn -- second hand store yarn at that!  I wore them to a craft fair this past weekend,  big old barn type of place that I knew would be cool and I wanted that little touch of warmth while helping to man a booth for 4 hour stints.  Well they worked beautifully, but there were none for sale - the booth was quilt related items, not crochet.  I ended up talking almost more about these wristwarmers than of the items for sale -- I even demonstrated a couple of times how to do the particular stitch and gave people some estimates of the number of stitches.   Now, I am working on two pair as gifts -- seems if strangers thought they were pretty great, well relatives (for christmas gifts) might also like them.

The crochet stitch I used was a half double crochet and about 45 chain stitches to start.  After doing the base row of chain stitches, I did two chain stitch to act as the first hdc of the first row, then a hdc in every chain.  Row 2 is chain two that acts as the first hdc, then 1 hdc in every back loop of each hdc of the row.  Row 3 is again those two chain and 1 hdc in every front loop of each hdc.  This is created a simulated ribbing as in knitting.  Now depending on your hand you repeat rows 2 and 3 for about 5 inches (this is for a medium womans hand -- 4 1/2 " for small hand and about 5 1/2 to 5 3/4" for a large hand)-- this should snuggly fit around your hand, then don't cut your yarn but crochet the two sides down for about 6 stitches -- then slip stitch on one side about six stitches - this creates the thumb opening.  Continue to join the long seams together to the end.  Now you have a very nice wrist warmer (or fingerless gloves if you want to call them that).  You can add stitches to the thumb hole to give a bit more coverage to the thumb - 10 to 12 single crochet around the thumb hole for 3 or 4 rows.  Finally you can add a row or two of single crochet to the top and bottom of the tube to give it a more finished edge.  Great for driving, or typing in an office where the boss is too cheap to turn up the heat!   If you need more detail or instruction, there are other variations of this idea all over the internet -- even one on the Lionbrand site (clik on the link on my side bar) or just google "free patterns for crochet (or knitted) wristwarmers".

I must say, it was a surpise at how interested people were in them  -- the new thing? maybe?

And this is the first one of the second set that I am working on, here you can see, a bit better the way the thumb and top edge is worked.  Let me know if you try out these and how they work for you.

Start Over

I am going to give this a more consistent try. In fact I am planning to set time aside just to write for this blog, so expect a "story" on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week. I do plan to post more on crafty things but also I seem to have developed a bit of a talent for finding interesting and useful things at other websites on the internet so you will find yourself directed to some of those things. There are so many people who not only have a wonderful talent for making things but they are so very creative when it comes to making whole new and innovative things. So many things to do and such a short time to do it in, but I do hope that I can point you in a useful direction.

Hopefully on the odd occasion, I will present a few of my own ideas or variations of someone else's ideas. I try not to steal ideas purposly but sometimes the basics can become something that seems new but maybe is not... So, I surely won't be claiming that the things that I post are completely original - nothing really is, is it? We learn a trick or a technique somewhere and then we build a bit onto it, then another builds on that idea, so originality is becoming pretty scarce in truth, I think. Learning and creating variations of what we learn is a facinating pastime, and perhaps I can help myself and maybe you too along that path...

So if you will come back to me and read my blog, I will endeavour to be consistant and have something for you to read and learn on a regular schedule from now on... How 'bout that for a promise? It almost reads like a JOB! Well, lets get into the habit and soon enough, I'm sure it won't really be a job...

The idea is to enjoy what you do, and I like to tell stories, I like to quilt and crochet and try out just about anything else that strikes my fancy.

There are projects ahead and ideas and projects still bubbling in my head, so in the next week or so I am going to go over a few things that I am just getting started on, and some ideas that are simmering in my "witch's cauldron" of a brain...

Tomorrow comes along pretty quick, so check back and I'll have something interesting to start off with...