When the weather turns cooler, I like to pull out my 3/4 sleeve garments but I still need a little something to keep the chill off. The Gingerbread Arm-Warmers are the perfect companion to your fall, winter, and spring wardrobe, and are a great stash-busting project.

These arm-warmers start at the elbow and work down to the hand. The decreases are spread out over the entire length of the mitt so that it tapers gradually, and the colors are carried up the inside to reduce the number of strand you have to weave in when you finish. The thumb gusset is placed in the anatomically correct position (where your thumb actually is, rather than on the side of the mitt). The wrist has a fun fair-isle motif that helps pull it in a bit at the narrowest point without more decreasing/ increasing. If you’re uncomfortable with stranding, you could leave that out and just stripe all the way up. The mitts go higher up on the hands to keep the chill away. The pattern offers three sizes to fit hand circumferences of 8, 9, & 10 inches, and the fair-isle motif is charted.

The sample used less than half a ball of each of the following colors: A #1988 Bison, B #4908 Lady Slipper, C #ch30 Camel Heather, D #2200 Fairy Tale, E #c850 Bittersweet Heather, & F #8140 Cotton Candy. I had enough yarn left over to make another full pair. The pattern is written for smallest size with changes for larger sizes within the brackets. Instructions are for the 2-circular needle method but can be adjusted to magic loop and DPN’s.

To knit this pattern you need to be familiar with kniting in the round, charts, increases and decreases. You also need:

• darning needle
• stitch markers
• scrap yarn

This pattern could also be purchased as a kit from Knit Picks.

Special thanks to Stephcat for editing this design, and dalyphotography for the photos