The next knitting project I recently finished is these cushy wrist warmers. They’re the Cabled Arm Cozies from the Holiday 2008 issue of Vogue Knitting. That issue actually had one or two other really cute looks, so I’m excited to get into making other things from it.

I used Berroco Vintage DK for this project, since I almost never use the recommended yarn (I’m too cheap :B). Berroco always seems to come out with some amazing yarns that are fabulous for the price. This yarn came in a huge hank, so I only needed one, and despite the acrylic content it is very cushy and soft. The gauge was also just about perfect compared to the original yarn.

Vogue Knitting gives this a 3 out of 4 stars which I think sounds pretty spot on. The cozies are made on 4 double pointed needles and you have to work the cables in the meantime as well. I’m not too experienced with cables so there were some tricky parts, but I’ve certainly had worse. The cushiness of the yarn made it easy to hold onto and wasn’t likely to slip off the needles like sometimes happens to me with double pointed needles.

The picot edging uses a little technique that I just loved. The border was done in stockinette stitch for a few rows, then a row of several yarn overs was done. The rest of the border is finished in stockinette, then the whole thing is folded in half so your yarn overs create the picot edging. The edges of your cast on are knitted together with your live stitches so your cozies can continue from there. I absolutely love how the look turned out. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the beast, the upper edges turn out a little flared and stretched out. I don’t think there’s any way to inherently avoid this, besides finding a new way to go about it. So unless you’re willing to experiment with doing the top edging, be prepared for the border to have a flared look and fit.

I’ve made a few other arm warmers in the past, and in a lot of cases the thumb gusset was made far too small, but in this case the thumb area was nice and roomy and easy to fit. The fit of the rest of the cozy was great as well, so I would definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a warm and cushy arm cozy pattern that’s thick but not too thick.