Casner Family Blog

The Autumn/Winter of 2008, Toast catalog had some beautiful, simple hand warmers. Just lovely, anyway… when scrolling some blogs I found a free pattern for them. So, I must confess, basically all I have done is tweak the pattern to use smaller needles and change the size a bit to fit a younger age group (specifically my girls). I also added a larger size in parenthesize for an adult-still using the size 4 needle.) I am one who doesn’t feel too confident to stray from patterns, so if you are like me, here is one more knitting pattern for your collection.

If you want a pair for yourself with a worsted weight yarn and size 7 needles, please find the original pattern at a-friend-to-knit-with. (It is on her side bar.) I have made both “toast” and “toastys” many times.

Hand warmers

yarn: dk  or sport weight. (I used Blue Skys Alpaca, Sport weight)

needles: size 4 double pointed. (4 of them)

Cast on 34 (46) sitches. Divided onto 3 needles.

Join for working in the round. Knit for 5 1/2 (7 1/2) in.

Make thumb: Knit 6, slip 4 (6) stitches to a piece of waste yarn. Cast on 4 (6) stitches using the backward loop method, knit to the end. Continue knitting in the round until entire mitt measures (from cast on edge). 8 3/4 (11) inches.

Loosely bind off all stitches.

Thumb: Place 4 (6) sts from waste yarn on one of your needles. Pick up and knit 4(6) sts around thumb opening using another double point. Using a third needle, pick up and knit 4 (6) more sts around the thumb. 12 (18) sts.

Join in the round. Knit for 1 (1 1/2) in.. Loosely bind off. Weave in ends. Repeat for other hand warmer.

If you need help with any of the directions feel free to email me. If you want to watch a tutorial on backward loop cast on or any of the steps – I love to use knittinghelp.com.

with a bit of star wars action thrown in.

Needles:

16 in. (40cm) circular

size US 8 (5mm)

5 double pointed size US8

Yarn:

Worsted weight

Gauge:

16sts and 24 rows to 4 in. st stitch

Sizes:

Toddler (2-4 year old)

Child

Pattern:

Using circular needles, cast on 64 (72) sts. Join for working in the rnd (round), being

careful not to twist your stitches. Place a stitch marker (pm) at the beginning of your

work so you know where the beginning of each round is.

Work K2, P2 as follows:

All Rnds: *K2, p2; repeat from * to end.

Work K2, p2 rib until the hat measures 1in. from the beginning (the cast-on edge).

On next round:

Knit all the way around and continue until the hat measures 4 in. from the

beginning*

*If you desire to add some stripes, change to contrasting color when you are ready. On

the hat in the photo, the contrasting color was on the fifth row above the edge of the

ribbing.

To shape crown and begin decreasing

Setup round: Knit  16 (18), pm, K16 (18), pm, K16 (18), pm, K16(18). You are now

ready for your decreases.

Round 1: k2tog, knit until 2 sts remain before the next marker, ssk, slip marker, k2tog*

repeat until you are all the way back to the first sm. (sometimes I will clip 2 sm’s together

so I know which marker is the beginning of the round.)

Round 2: knit all stitches

Repeat last 2 rounds, switching to double pointed needles when necessary, until only 4(6)

sts remain on each needle. [16 (24) sts] Break yarn leaving a 7 in. tail. Weave tail through

live stitches and tighten. Weave in ends & block.

Note: For Luke’s hat (in photo) I used the solid color up several inches and then begin knitting with the self striping yarn for the remainder of the hat instead of adding the stripes as mentioned in the pattern.