Cozy Wristlets

I live in Minnesota, so when this time of year comes around, I like mittens and gloves. A lot. When temperatures are well below freezing outside, there's always a bit of a chill in the air inside, even when the heat's on. Unfortunately, mittens and gloves tend to get in the way of doing simple indoor tasks, like writing, or typing, or (of course) knitting. So I decided to make myself an alternative.

These wristlets (or fingerless mittens/wrist warmers/hand warmers/gauntlets/what have you) were based on a pattern for regular mittens that my mom had lying around. The mittens in the pattern were rather more complex than what I wanted to attempt—they included cables and needle switching and such—but they gave me something to start from.

I made these using a single strand of Lion Brand® Jiffy® El Paso on four US size 3 (3.25mm) double-pointed needles. To begin, I cast on 38 stitches and divided them on three needles (I did 13-12-13, you can switch it up a bit if you want, I suppose). I then joined the round and worked a knit 1/purl 1 rib for the cuff until the piece reached 2½ inches. Now, as you can see from the picture, my ribbing wasn't perfect. Somewhere along the line I ended up switching which stitches I was knitting and which ones I was purling, and later on I unintentionally switched back. It gave it an interesting effect, but that wasn't the original idea.

For the hands, the pattern went as follows:
Left Hand:
Rounds 1-3: Knit.
Round 4: Knit to within last three stitches, place knit marker. Purl and knit in first stitch, knit in front and back of second stitch (inc 2 stitches), place second marker (there should be four stitches between markers). Knit.
Rounds 5&6: Knit.
Round 7: Knit to first marker. Slip marker, purl and knit in first stitch, knit to within one stitch of second marker, knit and purl in front and back of stitch (inc 2 stitches), slip second marker (there should now be 6 stitches between markers). Knit.
Repeat pattern, increasing 2 stitches between markers every third round until you have 12 stitches between markers.
Next round: Knit to first marker. Remove marker. Place next 12 stitches on stitch holder. Remove second marker. Cast on two stitches over thumb hole. Knit.
Work remaining rounds in stockinette stitch to desired length (in my case, about to my knuckles). Bind off.
Move 12 stitches for thumb hole from stitch holder to one needle. Bind off.

Right Hand:
Rounds 1-3: Knit.
Round 4: Knit to within last three stitches. Place marker. Knit in front and back of first stitch, purl and knit in second stitch, place second marker. Knit.
Rounds 5&6: Knit.
Round 7: Knit to first marker. Slip marker, knit in front and back of first stitch, knit to within one stitch of second marker, purl and knit in stitch, slip marker. Knit.
Repeat pattern, increasing 2 stitches between markers every third round until you have 12 stitches between markers.
Next round: Knit to first marker. Remove marker. Place next 12 stitches on stitch holder. Remove second marker. Cast on two stitches over thumb hole. Knit.
Finish in the same pattern as for the left hand.

The finished product is incredibly comfortable, and it keeps my hands warm while leaving my fingers free to type this blog or work on my next project!