an archived pattern... "toastys" hand warmers for kids

Since I am finishing up with some of my hat projects, I've been switching gears to warm thoughts of  different styles of hand warmers. I had totally forgotten about these hand warmers I had made a couple of years back.  

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

Size would best fit a 5-10 year old. 

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.