So the bad news is you have to wait until April 4th for a new episode of Outlander. The good news is, you don’t have to wait any longer for another Smart Bitches Outlandish knitting pattern!
This time we’re doing arm warmers inspired by the awesome ones Claire and Mrs. Fitz wear.
This pattern is knit flat and is exceptionally easy because if I’m about one thing, it’s being easy… Wait, no. Just in knitting, I swear.
Stuff you will need:
Approximately 200 yards of sport weight yarn.
I used Wool of the Andes by Knit Picks (ahhh, Knit Picks, where my paycheck goes to die) because there’s a great selection of colors. My sample is knit is Forest Heather.
If you want to go a more luxurious route you may want to try some Shibui Pebble.
Size 6 needles—or needle necessary to get the correct gauge. If you haven’t bought yourself some really beautiful needles, do it now. Your hands will thank you. I highly recommend Lantern Moon ebony or rosewood needles. Pretend it’s necessary for this pattern, thereby justifying the expense.
A tapestry needle for seaming.
A tape measure.
Gauge: 12 x 12 stitches = a 2” square
Steps:
1. Take a look at this picture of Jamie. It’s not important to the knitting, but it’s good for the soul.
2. Okay, take the tape measure and measure from where your thumb meets your hand (so the base of your thumb) to approximately two inches above your elbow. For me this is about 9”. Write this number down somewhere.
3. Cast on 46 stitches (note: I have tiny Tyrannosaurus Rex arms and used 38 stitches for my arm warmer. If you have a wider arm you may want to cast on 52 stitches—but always use an even number of stitches).
4. Work in K1, P1 ribbing for 4 rows.
5. Work in stockinette stitch (Knit all RS rows, Purl all WS rows) until you get to that magic number you wrote down.
6. Knit one more inch in stockinette
7. Now we’re going to do an eyelet row. That sounds scary! Don’t worry. It’s not. Make sure you’re on a knit row. Now: Knit the first stitch. *K2tog, YO rep from * until the last stitch. Knit that last little bastard.
8. Purl the next row as per usual.
9. Work in stockinette for one more inch.
10. Bind off.
Following the instructions above, make a second arm warmer. Unless you’re like YOLO and you only want the one arm to be warm, that’s okay too.
Once both arm warmers are complete, block them so the edges are nice and flat for seaming.
Now, when you’re seaming you have the choice of making a thumb hole or not. I know, I know. I can’t make these decisions for you. Claire’s arm warmers do not have a thumb hole near as I can tell.
If you’re not leaving a thumb hole, then just seam up the side and call ‘er done (I recommend mattress stitch). If you are, seam up to that magic number we wrote down before. Then seam from the top down leaving a 2” hole for your thumb.
Look at that. You have some bitchin’ arm warmers!
Happy knitting!
Want a PDF? Here is the pattern, with pictures! You can right-click and save-as, and knit happy!
Plus, if you missed it, there's also a Smart Bitches Outlandish Cowl Knitting Pattern as well!
Really, it’s 3am and I just finished your romance reading rant and I find a knitting pattern. Could my insomnia get any better?
I haven’t figured out a way to share this or save it. Suggestions?
If you’re like me, and just plain hate doing purl rows when that is at all possible, I recommend knitting in the round. And if you also detest having to deal with those DPNs, there is Magic Loop! http://www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/magic-loop
@Jane:
Give me 2 seconds, I’m about to add a link to a PDF of the pattern. Sorry about that!
Ok, that was longer than 2 seconds, but here’s the PDF of the pattern!
Note that if you want your final product to look exactly like the picture, the last four rows appear to be in garter stitch (K every row, even on the wrong side). If you do it this way, it will also help prevent the finished product from curling back on itself at the top, which is something stockinette stitch likes to do.
Oh, Elyse, you are my hero. I may actually be ready for Christmas before Thanksgiving!
So sewing question: I’ve decided to take up quilting, and I’ve never sewed anything in my life, but we have quite a few family quilts and I’ve always loved them so decided to jump in. I have a couple of books that look decent, but does anyone have any recommendations for good blogs or books, that are really for beginners, i.e. everything is explained and no knowledge is assumed, and they are basic patterns?
@Olivia: i’ve found the Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide to Quilting very useful. Clear, basic, good photos.
Love these knitting patterns, but where I live it’s much too warm to ever need them, sadly.
We need a pattern for the poncho Claire wore in the last episode.
@Olivia
my roommate and I were talking about working on a quilt last night. I’ve made a couple, and I just sort of blundered my way through it based on what was logical. She’s at heart a rules-oriented person, and I’m a “well, I’ll sort it out in my head and then see what happens. It’s not like Martha Stewart is gonna arrest me for doing it wrong!”
From my time at working at JoAnns (sigh) I believe the Better Homes and Gardens book is very popular.
@wifeshee the shawl pattern is forth coming!
Yay! More knitting! Can’t wait to try this one! And i agree on the rosewood needles—my dpns are rosewood and I love them dearly…
Keep meaning to mention that Jamie knows how to knit which makes him even more perfect…
I really wish I knew how to knit. Really, reading your instructions was like the FB picture going around about math word problems. My mind is just not geared towards knitting, apparently. LOL But those warmers? Yeah, I want a pair in every color! 🙂 I’m telling you, quit work and make Outlander inspired knit items. You’ll be buying a multi-million dollar mansion soon after . . . LOL
Hooray! I just started on the cowl pattern you did a couple of weeks ago last night. It’s been years since I’ve knitted (knit?) but your pattern and that gorgeous cowl inspired me. Thanks for your no-nonsense patterns that don’t make me feel like a total knitting eejit!
cool, thanks, looking forward to the shawl
(bamboo needles are not as beautiful as ebony but they have advantages. like, when (note: not if, when) the dog decides it really is just a funny shaped bone, you do not have to witness the destruction of something beautiful :-)))
If you don’t know how to knit, you can always get the book Stitch N Bitch. It’s not only a good starter’s manual, the name is a perfect companion match. 🙂
Yay for the shall pattern :-). These are great Elyse AND I have found a yarn store a couple of blocks from my office which sells beautiful yarns. They have been working up their “Outlander” knits as well :-).
I love your arm warmers! But when you T-Rex arms, I snorted. Literally. Funny funny stuff.
@ Olivia & RHG, hope you’re still checking in. As a quilter of some 30 years, my best advice besides taking an actual class, is to check out your local guild. Nothing better than a room full of people willing to share their wisdom. There are short cuts and techniques that books (can’t believe I’m about to say this) can’t give you. Plus, new friends!!
@Olivia I’m a quilter. A (prolific) blogger who is also a quilter & has lots of free patterns & advice is Bonnie Hunter. I read her blog daily. She’s very scrap focused. Most local quilt shops & Joann’s offer quilting classes. Taking one teaches the basics which us use a quarter inch seam allowance to get the pattern to turn out to the size listed plus how to accurately cut fabric using a rotary cutter, quilting ruler & mat. YouTube has oodles of videos. AQS (American Quilting Society?) has a website with tons of books & other helpful stuff. The Quilt Show is an online quilting program. Craftsy.com over quilting classes online. Finally, like @DonnaMarie said, see if there is a quilt guild in your area. Mine has nearly 200 people all willing to help newbies.
Elyse, you keep tempting me with these patterns. Seriously, the arm warmers look wonderful. I need to take a break from the knitting I’m doing for family babies and knit something for myself.
Thanks for all the tips! Definitely going to check them out, luckily I did get the Home & Garden book, and definitely looks like the best one 🙂
But here’s to keeping fingers crossed, going to start this weekend, on a small quilt, got most of my supplies and my mom did used to sew, it’s just been years, so I think she’s going to brush up as I learn 🙂
But we’ve both already agreed, there are going to be freak out sessions where I get overly dramatic as usual and throw a hissy fit when something doesn’t go right. It will be interesting cause I don’t have the best fine monitor skills but I will power through!
@Olivia: Have fun! I really feel the most important thing to remember in any crafting situation is that you will screw up, and unless you’re the heroine in some weird paranormal, it’s HIGHLY unlikely that any screw up will result in the end of the world (someone write that book). It probably won’t even be the end of the project.
It seems like ever since I took up crochet again (after a failed attempt in high school; I’ve been *much* more successful this time around), I keep seeing knitting patterns I want to try everywhere. I may have to give knitting a third (or is it fourth? I’ve lost track) try…
Olivia,
check out craftsy,dot.com. Begining quilting and knitting classes you can watch and learn at your leisure.
Love the instructions! I’d far rather work in the round than seam, however. Easy is as easy…doesn’t?
I have never read a quilting book or taken a class. My quilts tend to be a bit wonky, and extremely frustrating, and many of them get pieced but never quilted…so, yeah. Books. Classes. Who knew?
The picture of Jamie convinced me. I want to be transported back to the 1700’s (as long as he’s there to rescue me) and I will bring my arm warmers with me.
This one is more complicated than the cowl. I’ll have to check with my mentor and mother and see if she can tutor me in this project, or if I need to take myself to the knit shop:) they look super cute. Your taste in yarn is amazing:)
Thank you so much for your awesome patterns, Elyse. I have already knitted one cowl and am more than four inches into my first arm warmer (I started on the plane between New York and London last night) and have taught myself magic loop for the purpose of knitting them together.
Just one question, to any knitters out there who know magic loop – how do I make a thumb hole if I’m knitting them in the round? I get that it’s easy to leave a bit out if stitching them together, but what do I do if I’m knitting the whole thing?
Thanks for this fun pattern. I can sure use these as it gets colder. I’ll think of them as little caresses from Jamie as I wear them. Too much? Ok fine. I’m knitting them anyways 🙂
@Malin I don’t know what magic loop is (but I want to!) so I doubt this is helpful, but fwiw when I knit in the round and I want a thumb hole or a zipper or whatever, I just knit that bit flat. You have to pearl the wrong side rows to maintain a stockinette stitch, but it’s usually just for a short bit, and then you rejoin and knit in the round.
Alternately, I’ve made arm warmers from a kind of thick yarn and basically a buttonhole was sufficient for a thumb hole. Simplest is just a yarn over hole, but that’s generally too small. So you bind off a couple of stitches but then keep knitting, and when you get back to that section you cast on a stitch or two and you’re back to where you were. Depending on how skinny your wrists are and which direction you’re headed (from fingers to elbow or elbow to fingers) you might cast on/off a different number of stitches, so that there’s a little shaping.
Elyse, what have you done……I hav’nt knitted since I want 19years young and I have not seen teens, twenties, thirties or even forties for such a very very long time! Yet since viewing Outlander series and yes avid reader as well faithful subscriber of SBTB, I have been knitting again. First I went on line to refresh things like cast on and off, purl, yo and etc…..but doing alright. It is indeed like riding a bike sort of speak!
So I have completed two cowls, two shawls, three scarfs with full intent of the arm warmers next. I had not heard of Knit Picks until just now and love the site offerings. I placed a nice size order and now anxiously await delivery.
So please accept a gracious thank you for giving this great hobby interest back to me. Please know once my first child started walking I gave up many things I loved. After they were in High school and Junior High I went back to school to complete my MBA and started another career from which I recently retired . Rediscovering knitting has been a blast, my husband is soooo impressed. Usually he observed me reading my many books on my iPad but now I split my time knitting, reading and watching our favorites on TV! Ahhhh retirement is completely wonderful and full of charming things to do and see. Katy
Ok, so wait… The picture isn’t the same as the pattern listed- is that right? One of the comments said to ” if you want your final product to look exactly like the picture, the last four rows appear to be in garter stitch (K every row, even on the wrong side). If you do it this way, it will also help prevent the finished product from curling back on itself at the top, which is something stockinette stitch likes to do.”
So if I want ones exactly like the picture do I knit every row or (whatever) stockinette is- do I do that?
P.S. JUST found this page on a recommendation, and I feel as though I may have found my tribe! <3