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Horizontal-striped armwarmers? (beginner help!)

topic posted Sun, March 2, 2008 - 4:04 PM by 
Hi! I've just started learning crochet, and my first project was a superbasic set of armwarmers-with-thumb-holes, from this pattern:
crochetme.com/patterns/armies

All well and good, but I want STRIPES. This particular pattern is worked lengthwise, flat, and then stitched together up the arm, leaving a thumb hole at the "seam". I'm not sure how one would adapt this for stripes-- any ideas?

Also, I'm pondering just crocheting in the round, which would make it much easier to add stripes, but then the armwarmers wouldn't be very stretchy. (The reason I like the pattern above is that it's worked so that the stretch is horizontal (around the wrist/arm) rather than up-down the arm). Also, puzzled as to how I'd do a thumb thing.

Any suggestions? Alternately, know of any super-basic (no weird floofy things, no strange stitching) striped armwarmer patterns floating around?

Thanks!!
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  • Sabrina
    Sabrina
    offline 37

    Re: Horizontal-striped armwarmers? (beginner help!)

    Sun, March 2, 2008 - 7:00 PM
    Something you could to is change the yarn color every few stitches, depending on how wide you wanted the stripes. Do you know how to do that? You have given me a great idea for a new pattern. If you are looking for patterns in the round you can check out my etsy site. www.anzula.etsy.com I have a pattern you might like. It can be adapted to be longer. Let me know what you think.
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    • Re: Horizontal-striped armwarmers? (beginner help!)

      Mon, March 3, 2008 - 10:08 AM
      I was thinking about doing that, but it sounded like a huge pain in the butt, and I"m not QUITE sure how to do it!! How would that work with the beginning chain?
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      • Sabrina
        Sabrina
        offline 37

        Re: Horizontal-striped armwarmers? (beginner help!)

        Mon, March 3, 2008 - 11:15 PM
        Lets say you are doing rows of two. You will ch 2 in your first color, ch 2 in your next color and continue in what ever color sequence you want. You will start out with a lot of tails, but with a little patience you can weave them in so that you never knew they were there. You will want to make sure you start with an even number of stitches. And that you end with a complete sequence. Then each row will build on the color sequence. Below is an example of a color sequence. Let me know if you have more questions. And yes it could be a huge pain in the butt or a lot of fun. Just depends on how you look at it. ;-)


        bbppyybbppyybbppyybbppyybbppyy
        I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I (These are the tails hanging down)
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        • Re: Horizontal-striped armwarmers? (beginner help!)

          Tue, March 4, 2008 - 8:35 AM
          OK, I get it! So I'll just be using many pieces of yarn, then? I was thinking it would be more a pain in the butt because I'd be carrying the "stripe" colour underneath the "base" colour when I wasn't using the stripe colour (if that makes any sense).
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          • Sabrina
            Sabrina
            offline 37

            Re: Horizontal-striped armwarmers? (beginner help!)

            Thu, March 6, 2008 - 11:27 PM
            you could carry the yarn by working over it, but it would be better/more efficient to just carry the yarn up each row. since you are working back and forth instead of in the round you can finish one stitch, start the next, continuing till the end of the row. then when you turn back you will just pick the yarn up for each of the corresponding colors.

            Lets see if this diagram works.

            aaabbbcccdddeee
            .......I......I.....I......I.....
            aaabbbcccdddeee
            .......I......I.....I......I.....
            aaabbbcccdddeee

            each color is represented by a letter. you would start with a and end with e. the row with the periods and I's are just to show the tail of the yarn hanging. the next row you would turn begin with e and end with a and so on until you have reached the desired length.
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  • Wonton
    Wonton
    offline 22

    Re: Horizontal-striped armwarmers? (beginner help!)

    Tue, March 4, 2008 - 1:41 PM
    Yay! Thanks for the pattern! I've been wanting to make a pair of these for a while. I wish I had a fuller understanding of how to do the stripes. I have a hard time visualizing it.
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    • Jeanne
      Jeanne
      offline 27

      Re: Horizontal-striped armwarmers? (beginner help!)

      Sat, March 8, 2008 - 7:24 PM
      I'll warn you right away, I can't read patterns.
      I made my daughter a pair of striped arm warmers, with stripes that go around the arm in a circle. All I did was crochet a loop and then attached it to the first stitch with a regular stich, then continued crocheting, changing colors every three rows up. Is that crocheting in the round? I'm not real experienced, but I can usually just figure out how to do things. The only drawback to this is that there are gaps where I stiched to the lower row and then added the starter stitches for the next row. But I just used a big needle threaded with the yarn tails from switching colors and sewed them together so the gaps don't show. I did need to add stitches to the rows as the arm gets wider, but it wasn't too hard.
      I'm not real sure if anyone could make any sense out of what I just typed, but I hope it helps.
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      • Sabrina
        Sabrina
        offline 37

        Re: Horizontal-striped armwarmers? (beginner help!)

        Sun, March 9, 2008 - 5:26 PM
        What you wrote totally makes sense. And yes, what you did is crocheting in the round. Let me know if you have any questions about what you are doing. I have been crochet for quite a long time and started out just like you. Now I can read and write patterns.
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        • Jeanne
          Jeanne
          offline 27

          Re: Horizontal-striped armwarmers? (beginner help!)

          Wed, March 12, 2008 - 11:04 AM
          I'm glad I make some sense sometimes! :)
          I also have made sweaters this way, crocheting in the round, because it seemed so much simpler than making pieces and then sewing them together. I just finished my first full afgan/throw this past summer, and I was so proud that I made something that took so long. What a commitment!
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