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Double-pointed needles? Sure, why not?

Materials: One skein of Wool-Ease in Black Frost. Size 7 double-pointed needles.

Time: 8 hours?

Cost: $10.57 → $6 yarn, $5 needles.

"This is a great pattern to learn knitting in the round!" claimed the Voodoo wrist warmers pattern in Knitty. "Hey, those are really cute!" I thought. Obviously, we two were destined to meet.

Armed with my trusty copy of Knitting for Dummies, I figured out how to work the five little double-pointed needles which came in the pack that I bought at JoAnnn's. And DPNs really aren't that difficult -- the only tricky thing is making sure that the join at the beginning of your round isn't too obvious. Once you're rolling, you'll be able to carry around a vicious-looking little multi-pointed knitted thingy that could totally double as a martial arts weapon in a Jackie Chan film.

I chose a yarn with occasional little iridescent bits sticking out of it that both looked cool and deemphasized the occasional mess-ups in my ribbing pattern. (Yes, I could've gone back and corrected them, but that would take away all the fun.) But because you're just knitting one long tube with a buttonhole, this isn't too complex of a project.

Though not a substitute for real mittens on cold days, these were really a very functional element in my winter wardrobe. Never did my wrists freeze, and the warmers came in particularly handy when I was out taking photos or driving and didn't want to fumble with gloves. And, in the right color, you'll look like a total badass with them on. Would you mess with that hand?