Arm warmers are pretty handy for bike commuting.  You leave your house and it’s 50 degrees but soon it’s 60, and you don’t exactly want to pull over to the side of the road to change clothes.  The spandex crowd Serious cyclists pay anywhere from $20-$50 for a pair of arm warmers — and they are really nice; I’ve checked them out.  My friend CJ makes them from the sleeves of old wool sweaters that she buys from Good Will.  I would love to knit myself some, but I haven’t knit anything in a really long time.  I can only do so much, y’know!

This week, I made myself some nifty arm warmers for FREE with an old pair of over-the-knee socks.  Here’s how I did it:

I cut off the toes and a small circle of heel.  I hemmed the toe end with the sewing machine, and the thumbhole by hand.  Took a little under an hour, total (and most of that time I was watching Curb Your Enthusiasm while doing the hand-sewing).  It was cool enough outside on Friday to try them out:

And a couple of detail shots — I may not be a super talented seamstress but they are definitely functional.

I’m jazzed about these!  They match my bike so perfectly that I’m about now ready to enter the next phase of hipsterdom.