Wrist warmers to crochet

The stitch for this is a variation on Crazy Stitch from Victorian Crochet, published by Dover in 1974, with an introduction by Florence Weinstein. It is a handy stitch.

Wrist warmers - a basic pattern

Suggested yarn/hook: dk yarn with 4mm hook

The idea is to make a square about 6 inches on each side, then edge it in shell stitch, joining two opposite sides to make holes for fingers, and for decoration. There are different ways to wear this. But to get started:

R1: Ch4, dc in 3rd and 4th ch from hook, leaving a ch-2 space. This makes a little block.
R2: Ch4, turn, dc in 3rd and 4th ch from hook to make another block. Sl st in ch-2 space from prev row -- this anchors the corner of the current block. Ch2, dc2 in same ch-2 space to make another block. At this point it looks like a little heart, or like three little blocks.
R3: Ch4, turn, dc in 3rd and 4th ch from hook to make a new block. Sl st in last ch-2 space from prev row to anchor the block. Ch2, dc2 in same ch-2 space to make a new block. Sl st in next ch-2 space to anchor. Ch2, dc2 in same ch-2 space to make a new block.
R4: Ch4, turn, dc in 3rd and 4th ch from hook to make a new block. Sl st in last ch-2 space from prev row to anchor the block. (Ch2, dc2 in same ch-2 space to make a new block. Sl st in next ch-2 space to anchor) across. End with ch2, dc2 in same ch-2 space to make a new block -- there is no place to anchor this, so this is the end of the row.

Repeat R4 until the piece measures about 6 inches on each side edge, ending with an even number of rows.

This size fits a lot of hands, but if you want it larger or smaller, this is where you make that decision. Make more rows if you want it bigger; fewer rows to make it smaller. Remember that the edging will add about 2 inches to the width around, so you want the square to be too small to fit around the hand.

Now start decreasing:
R1: Ch1, turn. Sl st between the 2 dc and in the ch-2 space to get to the corner. (Ch2, dc2 in same ch-2 space to make a new block. Sl st in next ch-2 space to anchor) across. Repeat this row until only 1 block is left. Do not finish off.

Edging:
Now make a round of shell stitch around 3 sides of the outside edge. Each shell stitch spans 2 rows -- the reason for the even number of rows. The edging on the 4th side is joined to the edging on the 2nd side to make the holes.

Here is how to work this round:
A slightly different shell stitch: Starting at the point where you finished the square, and working along the outside edge of the piece, *(2dc, ch2, 2dc) in the next space between two blocks. Sc1 in the next space between two blocks to anchor the end of the shell. You should end up ready to make a sc in the corner, but don‘t. Then actually increase at the corner by making (sc, ch1, sc) in the corner. Then repeat from * until 3 sides are done, ending with an increase on the 3rd corner.

On the 4th side, do pretty much the same thing, EXCEPT: do a different shell to join this side to the opposite side: do (2dc, ch1, sc1 in ch space of shell on opposite side, ch1, 2dc) across. End with a sc in the last corner and slip stitch into the top of the first dc of the round. Finish off. Make 2nd the same.