America surrenders her right to bare arms

This week the orders started coming in on Etsy as the Northern Hemisphere moves into winter, and for my third year running I'll spend most of my spare time between now and Christmas making armwarmers.



Last year's record was 13 pairs sold in a week, and although I'd be quite happy not to exceed that, I do have a few more colours available this year, so it's anyone's guess how many all-night sewing sessions I'll be pulling.

So that I don't go crazy making the same thing over and over again, I'm working on some new variations. The first is a simple short sleeve to layer over the top of the existing armwarmers, which has the added bonus of using up all my short ends. So far I've done these in green (modeled by Mel) - the next pair will be dark brown, to layer over mid-brown armwarmers (double chocolate, yum!).



The other idea I have is to make double layer armwarmers with shapes cut out of the top layer. This is a bit more experimental - I'm not really sure how well it will work with the merino fabric - but if it does work I think it'll look cool. If it doesn't work then perhaps applique is worth a try. I'm open to suggestions - if you're inspired, leave me a comment...