Gally the pattern I used ended sort of half-way up the fingers so only the last joint was showing , so it keeps the wrist and especially the thumb and first two finger joints warm and cosy leaving the finger tips free to do whatever you want to, I made the arms different lengths too as one grandaughter liked to wear a 3/4 length sleeve coat so I made the arms longer for her they were almost elbow length , for my sons girlfriend I made them with white fluffy wool and she wore them with a dress to a party she loved them... some patterns also come with a sort of cosy part that you can fold back or pull up over your fingers so the best of both worlds... you can also wear a thin pair of gloves under the wrist warmers if you wanted in fact in Tesco they sell them as pairs in the Winter.. I use them more around the house and garden as I said to keep my wrists and arthritic thumb joint warm..