Free knitting pattern: Hand-Warmers

Pattern for use by kind permission of Linda Maltby
The hand-warmer is designed to keep a child’s wrist and hand covered while leaving the fingers free. This Hand-Warmers pattern is essentially a square that will fold around the hand, leaving an opening for the thumb. The ribbing allows for extra warmth as well as stretch to fit the child as they grow. If you are concerned about warmth, please use 100% wool or a wool/acrylic blend. Please use a lighter yarn as the children need to be able to write while wearing the hand-warmers.
Please place one hand-warmer inside the other in order to keep them together. We ask that you not tie or safety pin them together. The volunteers must remove all of these fastenings prior to distributing, which is time consuming.
To make a Hand-Warmers set, make two.
Cast on 36 sts.
Row 1: K2, P2 to end
Row 2: K2, P2 to end
Repeat row 2 until work measures approx. 6” (15cm).
Cast off, leaving a long tail for sewing.
Join the two sides. Beginning at top edge, sew sides together for 1” (2.5cm), leave next 1.5” (4cm) open for thumb, sew remainder of sides together.
Repeat for a second hand-warmer.
Be creative by using bright colours and/or stripes. This is a great way to use up smaller balls of yarn and add colour to the Hand-Warmers.
By Nicole Pickering
Using 4.00mm (US 6) DPNs, cast on 40 sts.
Divide 10 sts onto each DPN.
Be careful not to twist cast on row.
Rnd 1: K2, P2 all the way around.
Repeat K2, P2 in rounds until work measures 3.5” (8.5cm).
Next Rnd (thumb opening): **Slip first stitch purlwise and continue in ribbing to end of row. Turn. Repeat from ** to 1.5” (4cm).
Next Rnd: K2, P2 all the way around and continue working in the round for 1” (2.5cm).
Cast off in the round. Join the end tail to the beginning of the round.
Sew in both tails.
Repeat for a second hand-warmer.
Knit-a-square South Africa, a partner of CreateCare Global.