Winter Cycling - Hand Knitted Wood Arm/Knee Warmers

My wife is a genius at knitting, and I'm asking her to make me some arm and knee warmers for Christmas. Has anyone here made or used handmade warmers? Any suggestions?

[Typo in title ("Wool" not "Wood"). Thanks, tsl] :o

I'm guessing she should go for small needles... you want to keep the weave pretty tight on those things.

Any suggestions?

Maybe wool instead of wood? :innocent:

My wife is a genius at knitting, and I'm asking her to make me some arm and knee warmers for Christmas. Has anyone here made or used handmade warmers? Any suggestions?

You would need to use a very small yarn and a very small needle. If the weave is not really tight to block the wind they will be a waste of effort since they won't keep you warm.

Or, she could knit them and then boil them to tighten them up. My mom did that once for me for a heavy scarf; that thing could shed bullets.

jim

Nice of her. Maybe they will work. They will more than likely let a lot of wind through thus they will not work to well I suspect but what the hell give it a try. At the least you will have a gift hand made with love...worth muchly.

I used to have some mittens like this: http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___92881
And now have similar gloves.

I used the mittens for snowshoeing when we lived in Colorado. They are not windproof, but that is the point. I had some windproof mittens, and they would invariably make my hands sweat. What I needed was something that insulated, but would still let a little bit of air through, and the wool mittens worked great.

I've used the wool gloves down here in Texas for bicycling, and they work pretty well. If it was 10 degrees, they probably wouldn't be warm enough. But for a lot of the cold weather we have here, they work great.

I haven't used arm or knee warmers, but my concern would be with whethey they would stay up okay.

Thanks for the tips. She does a lot of "felting" (boiling to make smaller) -- that may work.

I will often wear these under my wind breaker. Yesterday, for example (50 degrees) I wore the jacket all day and was generally warm, but my arms were cold.

Keep in mind that felting frequently makes knitting scratchier, so while it my be warmer, you may not like wearing them as much.

I knit often and have made arm warmers for biking from Paton's merino wool using size 3 needles. Usually worsted weight wool calls for size 5-7 needles. I made them ribbed so they stay up fine, especially if you give them negative ease. I also made ear warmers using a pattern from the internet. They slide up your helmet straps and block the wind. I made them from sock yarn and inserted fleece for extra wind blocking. My ear warmers are modified to be knit in the round, shaped like little funnels. Just google - Knit Bicycle Ear Warmers by Amy O'Neill Houck for instructions.

I walk every morning for about an hour with my labs in all kinds of weather. For cold months, I use hand knit hat, socks, scarf, gauntlets for warmth. I dress in layers. Sometimes the temps are in the teens with wind. We stay warm enough.