My first knitted zippered hand warmers

The pattern comes from Purlbee.com but instead of 43 stitches, I cast only 36 - my hand is really thin.

While making them I found knitting in the round quite difficult at first. Those 4 double pointed needles ....... a nightmare. I'm not very fond of knitting and am not very good at it. (I don't remember when was the last time I had needles in my hands. :) )

 But I wanted to have my own, made by myself hand warmers and decided to give it a go. And here they are.

I am satisfied with them. They may look dull and plain, but the zippers 'jazz them up' a bit.

 They cost me a lot of nerves - the part that involved the four needles drove me crazy and I was on the verge of losing my patience, such was my desire to finish them as quickly as possible :) AAAAAA.

Sewing zippers into place is another thing I wanna forget about :) It's not easy to pin them without pulling the fabric or trying to avoid puckering. Besides, the bottom of the zippers isn't tucked the way it should be, in my opinion. Forget the details. :)

Fortunately I can now enjoy my hand warmers. I find them really cozy and comfy; and what's more important, they are very warm :).

Big thank you to Purlbee.com for the tutorial :) I hope I'll find more joy in making my next pair of hand warmers!!!!

Quick handwarmers from an old sweater

I was about to throw it away, but then I came across Purl Bee's knitted handwarmes with zippers that inspired me to...... reuse my turtle-neck ( it's about 15 years old, and remembers my first days at university).

Last year I bought myself a pair of hand - warmers that I lost after a couple of months ( putting them in one's coat sleeve along with a scarf and a winter hat - not advisable :P ) and I really, really loved them, they were brown with white pattern here and there......what a loss..:(

This year, however, I have been concentrating on being thrifty and spending less money on things that I don't necessarily need and have been focusing on reusing, recycling, upcycling......you name it.

I had to make them close - fitting, cause the sweater arms stretched out a bit with time.

I could give them some personal touch since they look so dull.

But their only purpose is to give warmth to my hands.

Besides, they'll be hidden under my coat/ jacket sleeves so there is no point in embellishing them. :)

I sew them using sewing machine.

( Don't stretch the fabric while sewing.)

I used zig-zag stitch to finish the raw edges. ( in order to prevent fraying ).

Began sewing at the cuff. 

The seam allowance in the picture, is way too big. This way, the warmer will look 'bumpy' on your hand,

I just pressed it to one side and stitched it to fix it in place.









I don't want to waste the rest of my polo sweater and this part will serve as a material for my next two pairs of hand - warmers.

( If I had a cat or a dog I'd make a pillow and fill it with my fabric scraps and old pillow stuffing, it wouldn't be so plain like my hand - warmers - I'd use an applique and stitch my pet name on it, for example )

The white polo neck collar was knitted by my grandmother ( may she rest in peace ) I am going to cut out a similar shape from my sweater. It'a a great invention, especially on days like these - in the morning freezing cold, at noon hot summer :P I don't have to sweat under thick sweaters which, by the way, take up a lot of room in my bag. :) 

There are loads of tutorials out there on how to knit/ crochet handwarmers or upcycle used clothes to create quick hand garments.

Espanhol:

mitones/ guantes sin dedos

English

fingerless gloves