Kiddo Armwarmers

So, I told my little brother that I would be making him some armwarmers for Christmas/Yule. I decided to make him some Gradient Mitts. The pattern is very simple, has a size that would fit for him, and would go by very quickly with a bulky weight yarn. Well, I decided to go ahead and get some Cascade 220 Superwash and hold it triple stranded for this particular project. I think that was where the problems really started. I HATED those mitts. It has nothing to do with the pattern and everything to do with the crazy yarn mess and the fact that, when he tried them on, they did not fit very well. To be fair, he has freakishly large arms for an 8-year-old. After measuring, we have figured out that he and my sister (19) have around the same size.


So... what to do? First of all, I didn't want to go through and undo the one I had made previously and the yarn tangle was still making me pretty angry. So, I decided to go ahead and make up a pattern and get new yarn. I went to The Yarn Barn, which is the only place in San Antonio to get Cascade 220. I have never been particularly fond of this store because I always thought the customer service was sort of... odd. However, the lady who helped us there was very nice this time and allowed my friend, Liz, to use the swift and winder there. I don't know what her name was, but she was knitting the most fabulous beret out of a (probably mohair judging by the halo) laceweight. Aside from the weird customer service, though, I have had the issue with leaving this store with a ball of yarn that looked like a completely different color inside than it did outside. I don't know if it's the lighting or what, but the first time I thought I was picking up ecru and opened the bag at home to find white and THIS time, I got black and blue and found black and purple when I went to start on these armwarmers. Knitting for an 8-year-old boy is not exactly a purple sort of thing. I would suggest to people going to make sure you know what color yarn you're looking at (like hold it up to the window or something) before you buy. That would solve the problem I have had there and, should I need to go there again, I will be doing so. Anyway, the kiddoo has taken it like a champ, so I'm going to get my act together and knit another pair out of the yarn currently tangled and in the other armwarmer.

Anyway, let me go ahead and give the dimensions of what I knit for him and a picture to go along with. Please feel free to use if it appeals to you. If you are interested, my ravelry page for this project is also available, though I think the same information is here, as well. It's just a few mashed numbers to result in a tube. Seriously, not very difficult at all.

Dax's arms are about 8.5" around at the widest point, right below the elbow. From that point measured down to the base of the thumb joint is 10". 

My gauge was 5 stitches per inch on size 7 US needles.

I cast on 40 stitches in color A, split onto four dpns. Knit 7 rows in color A. Switch to color B and knit 7 rows. If you are annoyed by the little jog in the stripes and want to avoid that, TECHknitting has a really awesome tutorial. 

For the thumb hole:
Row 1 of 3rd stripe: Switch back to color A, knit 17 stitches, bind off 6, knit 17.
Row 2 of 3rd stripe: Knit 17 stitches, cast on* 6, knit 17.
*I used the knit cast on. A video tutorial can be found here.


After you are done with the thumb hole, continue knitting in stripes of 7 stitches until there are 12 total (or longer, if you need it to be...?). Bind off and weave in your ends and there you go! Arm warmers!

He seems pretty happy with them: