Wrist warmers

As the nights are drawing in and the clocks have been turned back for another year, I thought it was about time I shared this cosy pattern for my wrist warmers. As patterns go, it is decidedly simple!!! So great for a snuggly night in, in front of the fire with a cuppa & a hook in your hand. The stitch I have used is a lovely little number called the Crossed Treble Stitch. So as long as you know how to work a treble, then you can work a crossed treble stitch. Some of you might recognise it from my Year Of The Stitches CAL Blanket from last year. Really hope you like this one.

For these wrist warmers I have used some utterly wonderful 4ply yarn from the incredible Abby over at Luxury Yarns. It was part of my September Ōilyarns Club which I subscribe to every 2 months.

It’s a mega Yarn club where Abby sends you some of her amazing hand dyed yarn and a little bottle of the wonderful essential Dōterra oils, which has all sorts of uses and benefits. Abby usually adds a little treat in there too!! So it’s well worth a peak at her website if you fancy joining. Here’s a link to her website.

https://luxuryyarns.co.uk/oilyarns-club/

Now, I think I had better own up to my little yarny mishap that I had with this rather special yarn. So when my lovely yummy yarn arrived on my door step, it was a beautiful skein of heaveness. So being in a skein I would usually get my husband to help me make it into a ball with my yarn winder. (It’s a 2 man job!) But me being me, thought hey, I could just do it by hand. Not a problem. I’ve done it before!! So I started hand winding, whilst wondering around the house after my little man. He was quite happy, so I got about half of it wound. Dinner time was looming, so it was hung on my wardrobe door & left until the morning. Now for some reason I took it downstairs in the morning, thinking if I got a moment I could sneak a bit more winding. But stupidly l hung it on the kitchen door handle, in full reaching view of my little man!! And, yes you have guessed it, he just couldn’t resist! It was grabbed and whizzed up in his hands within seconds, whilst shouting ‘Look Mummy, I can wind wool too!!!’ Aahhhh! How can you be cross with him!! But it was unrecognisable! What a mess!!!! One not so happy Mummy!! Luckily for me, my Dad is my Yarny Knight in Shining Armour and he took it away in a soup container to be sorted out! (I wouldn’t have had a chance with it!!!)

If only I had kept it on this door!! It would never have ended up in the soup tub!!!

Heyho!!! My wonderful Dad brought it back to me in this little ball of yarny magicalness. Phew!! Thanks Dad! You’re my Yarny Hero!! Moral of the story – never leave it in full reaching view of any little bod who loves having fun!!!!

Right, so let’s get down to business!!

Level – Easy

Size – Ladies

Supplies –

So I have used the utterly gorgeous autumnal 4ply yarn from the amazing Abby at Luxury Yarns. It’s called Forever Autumnal and it’s a Ultra Merino 100% Superwash. The skein is about 450g/100m, but you don’t need very much for this pattern at all. I have also used a 3.5mm hook for this pattern, some scissors, a blunt ended tapestry needle and a yarn stitch marker. (I only really used my stitch marker for the thumb.)

Stitches –

Chain stitch (ch) – To make a chain, place the yarn over the hook then pull it through the loop on your hook.

Slip Stitch (ss) – This is where there is no height to the stitch. It’s usually used to join rounds. So insert the hook into the front of the stitch you are joining to. This is usually the first stitch you made in that round/row. So yarn over hook and pull through that first stitch then also through the loop on your hook.

Treble (tr) – To make a treble crochet, firstly yarn over your hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over your hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should now be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through the first two loops, yarn over hook and pull through the last two loops.

Crossed Treble – So this is a stitch where you miss a stitch, work 1tr in the next stitch and then work 1tr in the stitch you have just missed. It’s a lovely stitch to work and gives a lovely textured effect.

Magic Ring – Fold over the yarn to make the loop. Insert your hook through the loop and grab the working yarn (long piece) and pull through the loop. Hold the tail and the working yarn and pull so that the knot tightens, but you still have a loop. This has created a magic ring.

Double Crochet (dc) – Insert the hook through the stitch, front to back, then yarn over hook and pull back through stitch. You will have two loops on your hook. Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops.

Ok so here we go…

Wrist Warmers – make 2

1 – Start by chaining 43. Now turn your work and work 1tr in the 4th chain from the hook. This is where the arrow is pointing.

*Now miss a ch and work 1tr in the next ch. Then work 1tr in the ch that you missed.* This is your first crossed treble stitch.

Now repeat this ** across the row until you get to the last stitch. In the last stitch work 1tr. (40)

2 – Turn your work. Ch3 and work 1tr in the same stitch. *Miss a stitch and work 1tr in the next stitch and then 1tr in the stitch you just missed. Repeat this ** until you get to the last stitch. Then work 1tr in the last stitch. (40)


3 – Now it’s time to repeat step 2, 21 more times. This will give you a rectangular shape. So you will then have 22 rows. (40)


Now it’s time to sew up your wrist warmers. So place one half on top of the other and insert your hook in the front of the first tr stitch, then into the the first chain stitch on the other side of your rectangle. You can see this from the photo below.

Ok so yarn over and pull through both the chain and the tr stitch, then yarn over and pull through both loops to complete your first dc stitch.

Now work 1dc in the same way in each, sewing up the sides for 22 stitches. You should get a little ridge of stitches. You can see this on the picture above. Then fasten off your yarn. The reason you are only sewing up 22 stitches, is because you are now going to work the thumb.

The Thumb

Start by attaching your yarn into the front of the next tr stitch on the left side of your rectangle. (Don’t work the chain stitch!!) Now work 1dc in the next 7 stitches on the left side. You should now have 8dc stitches on the one side.

Then go over to the other half of the wrist warmer and you are going to work your way back down to the base of the thumb where you started. I tend to count 8 chains from the base of the thumb and insert your hook in the 8th chain. (You can see where you need to do the first stitch in the photo above.) Work 1dc like before in this stitch and then 7dc stitches back to the base of the thumb. You should now have 16dc stitches in your round. It should look like the photo below. (You can use your stitch marker here, to help you know where the round finishes and starts.) Finish the round by Ss in the first dc stitch.

For the second round of the thumb work 2dc in the first stitch and then 6dc stitches and then 2dc in the next 2 stitches. Follow this with 6dc stitches then 2dc in the last stitch then ss into the first stitch. (20)

In this round we are going to work some crossed treble stitches. So ch 3, then work 1tr in the first stitch. *Then miss a stitch and work 1tr in the next stitch. Then work 1tr in the stitch you missed.* Repeat this ** all the way around. Working 1tr in the last stitch and then ss into the first tr stitch. (20)

For this last round, ch 3, then work 1tr in the first stitch. *Then miss a stitch and work 1tr in the next stitch. Then work 1tr in the stitch you missed.* Repeat this ** all the way around. Working 1tr in the last stitch and then ss into the first tr stitch. Then fasten off and sew in your ends. (20)

Finally we need to finish sewing up the wrist warmers. So attach your yarn again by inserting your hook into the first of the last 8 stitches and then through chain stitch, like the photo below. Then yarn over and pull through both stitches, then yarn over and pull through both loops on your hook to complete the first dc stitch.

Then work 1dc in the last 7 stitches in the same way and finally fasten off.

Now it’s time to sew in all your ends and turn the wrist warmer inside out, so the sewing up ridge is on the inside. And there you have it.

 Now all you need to do is make wrist warmer number two!

Flower – make 2

As these are wrist warmers for a lady, thought it would be rather nice to decorate them with a little flower.

1 – Make your magic ring, chain 1 & work 12dc stitches into the ring. Pull your tail to close the ring. (12)

2 – Slip Stitch into the first dc, ch4, miss a stitch & work 1dc into next stitch. Now work *ch3, miss a stitch & work 1dc into next stitch.* Repeat this ** 5 more times. Ss into first ch. So there are 6 chain spaces altogether. (These are where your petals will go.) 

– Now in each of the ch1spaces, work *Ss, 1dc, 1htr, 1tr, 1dtr, 1tr, 1htr, 1dc and finally ss.* Repeat this ** 6 times. Finally ss into the first dc and fasten off. (6 petals in total) 

Now sew in one of your ends and use the other to sew your flower into your wrist warmer.

And there we have it. Your completed wrist warmers. They were definitely nice to wear by the sea the other day. Love this pattern, as they are not too bulky, so great to keep in your coat pocket and bring out when you need them!

Really hope you have enjoyed this pattern. Any questions or queries just give us a shout. Can’t wait to see all your creations, don’t forget to share them!!!

Happy hooking!!

🌈Xx

(Free pattern designed and brought to you by PipsRainbow. Thank you for not copying or recreating it. ☺️Xx)

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Alan the Rhino – Birthday Pattern

Well hello my lovely ones, how are we all? Hope you are all having a lovely day so far. We’ve been to Calke Abbey National Trust today. Such a lovely place to visit if you are ever in the area. Love our little family trips out together. I think weekends can get so wrapped up with seeing people and parties and things. Which is lovely, but I do think it is really important to have quality time as a family and revel in each other’s company. And National Trusts are perfect for that!! We love exploring new places, but definitely have some local favourites too and Calke Abbey is one of them!! Such a beautiful place!!

Today we had a great time there, running through all the trees and the gardens filled with blooming flowers and autumnal vegetables. Not to mention some seriously huge pumpkins!!

But the icing on the cake today was all the hidden tunnels in the grounds and meeting a particularly lovely volunteer called Alan who showed us down a new tunnel that they had discovered! It was under the hot houses where they grew all the exotic fruit in the gardens. One of them even had a fire underneath the floor so that they could grow pineapples!! Imagine that!! They didn’t even eat them, they grew them as a sign of wealth!! Bonkers!! But the best bit was finding these little creatures in one of the tunnels!!

They are hibernating moths apparently, all attached to a cobweb!! Amazing! There was no other sign of life down there, other than these little guys!! Think Alan our tour guide was quite impressed that we found them! He was such a nice guy and a volunteer too!! So in honour of our lovely tunnel tour guide, my pattern today has been named after him! Alan the Rhino! Not sure you’d ever have seen a Rhino at Calke Abbey, but still! It had to be done!!

So today is a little bit of a special day for me, as it’s PipsRainbow’s 2 Year Birthday!!! Can’t quite believe it really!! 2 Years!! How crazy is that!! Rather chuffed with how far PipsRainbow has come. Love that my patterns are now being shared and enjoyed by so many of you. Makes me so so happy.

I started PipsRainbow 2 years ago with the intention of sharing some serious crochet yarny love with you all. I wanted to share this magical creative activity that had given me so much pleasure over the years. I realised that many of the crochet patterns out there, could be a little confusing for any beginner and especially for someone like me who is decidedly dyslexic!!! So the mission was to share photo tutorial patterns, that were easy to follow and create. It is something I feel very passionate about and hope that you all enjoy my patterns and that they are quite easy to follow.

This year has all been about using up all my odds and ends. I have a funny feeling I might be making next year a Using Up Year as well. Seem to still have lots of yarn to use up!! Whoops!! There are so many other patterns I’d like to share with you and there’s definitely going to be a CAL next year too, which I am rather excited about!! I think that that is one of the best things about crocheting, is the ability to be able to design and create beautiful things with just little bits of yarn.

Here’s a few of my little creations from Year 2 of PipsRainbow. All of their free patterns can be found on my blog, just look in the pattern list.

So to celebrate my 2 year birthday, I thought I would share this little pattern of mine with you. I made it for my dear son. It is the first thing my little man has ever asked me to make, so it’s a pattern that is rather close to my heart.

We went to West Midlands Safari Park again a few weeks ago and my little son was so excited to see the Rhinos again!! He was so taken with them! It was quite funny, considering that my husband wouldn’t get to near to them! Think it was their rather large horn that was decidedly close to his car that was making him edgy!!! (Please we weren’t in my car!!)

So when my son asked if I would make him a woolly rhino, I just couldn’t resist. I really hope you like this pattern. It has a different body to the other patterns I have on the blog so I hope you like it. Hoping to share a mouse and an elephant in the same kind of pattern in the next few months too.

So here it is. Hope you enjoy it.

Level – Easy

Supplies

So for this pattern your will need 1 ball of dark grey 50g double knit yarn, just a small bit of light grey yarn for the horns and black yarn for the eyes and eyebrows. You will also need some scissors, toy stuffing, blunt ended tapestry needle and a 3mm crochet hook.

For my dark drey yarn i used this fab Rowan Alpaca Soft Yarn from my local yarn shop the Knitting Corner. It was lovely to work and will definitely be using it again!!

Stitches

Magic Ring (mr) – For a magic ring, make a loop with the yarn, leaving a tail. (Make sure the tail is under the working yarn.) Now insert your hook into the loop, from the front to the back. Wrap the working yarn around your hook and pull the yarn through and pull tight to create a ring.

Slip stitch (ss) – This is where there is no height to the stitch. It’s usually used to join rounds. So insert the hook into the front of the stitch you are joining to. This is usually the first stitch you made in that round/row. So yarn over hook and pull through that first stitch then also through the loop on your hook.

Double Crochet (dc) – Insert the hook through the stitch, front to back, then yarn over hook and pull back through stitch. You will have two loops on your hook. Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops.

Double Crochet Decrease (2dctog) – This is where you crochet two stitches together to decrease the amount of stitches in the round. So insert the hook through the front of the first stitch only (the front V) and then insert again through the front of the second stitch (the front V). Now yarn over your hook and pull it back through both stitches, so you will then have 2 loops on your hook. Yarn over your hook again and pull through both loops. And there is your 2dctog. (Basically 2 double crochet stitches crocheted together.)

Ok so here we go…

Body –

1 – Using your 3mm hook, make a magic ring, chain 1 and then work 6dc stitches into the ring. (If you’re unsure of how to work a magic ring, here’s a link to a video tutorial.)

2 – *2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (12)

3 – *1dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (18)

4 – *2dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (24)

5 – *3dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (30)

6 – *4dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (36)

7 – 24 (18 rounds) Work 1dc in each stitch. (36)

25 – *5dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (42)

26 – *6dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (48)

27 – 28 (2 rounds) Work 1dc in each stitch. (48)

29 – *6dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (42)

(If you’re unsure of how to work a 2dctog, here’s a video tutorial.)

30 – *5dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (36)

31 – *4dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (30)

32 – *Work 2dctog followed by 13dc.* Work ** 2 times. (28)

Now it’s time to spilt the main body ring and work 2 separates ones to make the 2 legs.

Leg 1 –

1 – Work 7dc stitches.

Then split the round. Do you basically work on the other side of your round. I tend to count back from the stitch marker the amount of stitches I would need. So for this pattern it’s 7 stitches. Then insert your hook there as you can see in the photo below.

Then work 7dc in these last 7 stitches. (14)

2 – 1dc in each stitch to complete your second round. (14)

3 – 17 (15 rounds) 1dc in each stitch. (14)

18 – *2dctog, then 5dc.* Work ** 2 times. (12)

19- *1dc, then 2dctog.* Work **4 times. (8)

20 – *2dctog.* Work ** 4 times. (4)

Now fasten off and sew up the end of the leg with your needle. This would be a good time to stuff the body and the leg you have just made, with your toy stuffing.

Leg 2 –

Now we are going to work the rest of the 14 stitches from the original round.

1 – So insert your hook into the first dc stitch.

Now chain 1 and work the first 1dc stitch. Then work 13 more dc stitches, to complete the first round in leg 2.

2 – Work 1dc in each stitch. You can see in the photo below where the first dc stitch in the round is. (14)

3 – 17 (15 rounds) 1dc in each stitch. (14)

18 – *2dctog, then 5dc.* Work ** 2 times. (12)

19- *1dc, then 2dctog.* Work **4 times. (8)

Don’t forget to stuff your leg with toy stuffing here.

20 – *2dctog.* Work ** 4 times then ss into the next stitch and fasten off leaving a tail to sew up your leg. (4)

Now it’s time to sew up the leg with the tail of yarn and fasten off

Arms – make 2

1 – Start by making a magic ring and chain 1. Now work 6dc into the ring. (6)

2 – Now work 2dc into each stitch. (12)

3 – *1dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (18)

4 – 5 (2 rounds) Work 1dc into each stitch. (18)

6 – Ok so now work *1dc, then 2dctog.* Repeat ** 6 times. (12)

7 – 25 (19 rounds) Work 1dc into each stitch. (12)

26 – Ok so now work *1dc, then 2dctog.* Repeat ** 4 times. Then ss into the next stitch and fasten off leaving a tail so that you can sew your arm onto the body. (8)

Now it’s time to stuff your hand and a little of the arm with toy stuffing. You can use the end of your crochet hook to push the stuffing in.

Head –

1 – Now make a magic ring, chain 1 and then work 6dc stitches into the ring. (6)

2 – *2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (12)

3 – *1dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (18)

4 – *2dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (24)

5 – *3dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (30)

6 – 7 (2 rounds) 1dc in each stitch. (30)

8 – *4dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (36)

9 – 10 (2 rounds) 1dc in each stitch. (36)

11 – *5dc, then 2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (42)

12 – 1dc in each stitch. (42)

13 – *5dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 6 times. (36)

14 – Work *2dctog.* Repeat this ** 6 times. Then work 24dc stitches. (30)

15 – Work *2dctog.* Repeat this ** 6 times. Then work 18dc stitches. (24)

16 – 17 (2 rounds) 1dc in each stitch. (24)

18 – Work *2dctog.* Repeat this ** 6 times. Then work 12dc stitches. (18)

19 – 21 (3 rounds) 1dc in each stitch. (18)

22 – Work *2dctog.* Repeat this ** 6 times. Then work 6dc stitches. (12)

23 – Work 1dc in each stitch. (12)

Now it’s time to stuff your head.

24 – Work *2dctog.* Repeat ** 6 times. (6)

Now ss into the next stitch, fasten off and sew up the head.

Large horn –

1 – Chain 12 and slip stitch to make a ring.

2 – Now work 1dc in each chain. (12)

3 – Work 1dc in each stitch. (12)

4 – Work *2dctog.* Work ** 2 times. Now work 8dc. (10)

5 – Work *2dctog.* Work ** 2 times. Now work 6dc. (8)

6 – Work -*2dctog.* Work ** 2 times. Now work 4dc. (6)

7 – Work *2dctog.* Work ** 3 times. (3)

Now it’s time to fasten off, stuff your horn and sew up the top of your horn and then weave the yarn back to the bottom of the horn ready to be sewn onto the head of the rhino.

Small horn

1 – Chain 6 and slip stitch to make a ring. (6)

2 – Work 1dc in each chain. (6)

3 – Work 1dc in each stitch. (6)

4 – Work *2dctog.* Work ** 3 times. (3)

Now it’s time to fasten off, stuff your horn and sew up the top of your horn and then weave the yarn back to the bottom of the horn ready to be sewn onto the head of the rhino.

Ears – Make 2

1 – Make a magic ring, ch1, then 6dc into the ring. Then pull the tail tight to create the magic ring. (6)

2 – *2dc into each stitch.* Work ** 6 times. (12)

3 – Work 1dc in each stitch. (12) 

4 – *2dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 3 times. (9)

5 – 6 (2 rounds) 1dc in each. (9)

7 – *2dc, then 2dctog.* Work ** 2 times. (6)

Now ss into the next stitch and fasten off, leaving a tail so that you can sew it onto the head. 

Sewing Up –

So now that you have all your body parts, it’s time to sew all your bits together. Best to start with the arms. As you are sewing them on, just keep checking your alignment.

Then sew on the head, followed by the ears. Then finally finish with the horns.

So for the tail, use your dark grey yarn. Attach your yarn by inserting your hook and pulling it through.

Now chain 10.

Now work 1dc in each of the chain stitches and fasten off and sew in your ends to the body. Now use your light grey yarn, attach to the end of your tail, by inserting into the last stitch and *chain 4, then attaching it back into the same dc stitch*. Repeat this ** 2 times. This will make 3 little loops. Then fasten off and sew in your end into the tail.

Finally sew on your little eyes and eyebrows with your bit of black yarn.

And there we have it. Your little Rhino. I hope you have enjoyed this birthday pattern. Any questions or queries please feel free to give us a shout!

Don’t forget to share your creations – can’t wait to see your little rhinos!

Can I just take this opportunity to say a huge thank you for following me! I hope you are enjoying my rainbow ride of yarny loveliness! It means so much that you are with me and I hope to bring you lots of crocheting wonderful fun in the years to come.

Thanks guys!!

Happy Hooking!!

🌈Xx

(Free pattern designed and brought to you by PipsRainbow. Thank you for not copying or recreating it. ☺️Xx)

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