Homemade Hand Hotties

I'm in the process of crafting for this Christmas and it reminded me of my "makes" from last year.  I created a little hand hottie for each family member we get presents for.

I created simple rectangles using half double crochet(hdc), ranging in size from about 14hdc across to about 20hdc across. 

I had to make the rectangle long enough that folded in half it would create a nice sized hottie, plus a little extra for a flap at the back to keep the hottie insert inside.

For some I had to think about the colours I was going to use, for others I simply used the same colour for the rectangle and then added felt for decoration.  

For a couple I added crochet flowers as decoration.

I had a lot of fun making these, and so had the covers finished way before Christmas, hence I have a fair few pictures that weren't taken on Christmas Eve in the fading light!

The insides took a little longer to complete, only because I was hoping my daughter would do them for me!   I used small rectangles of material and sewed them together leaving a small opening for some rice.  We turned them inside out for a prettier finish, added the rice and then sewed up the holes.  

We added instructions saying that:

" I'm a hand hottie.  Put my insides in the microwave for 40 second and then return me to my holder and keep me in your pocket.  I will keep your hand nice and warm!"

My Mum is really pleased with hers, and has also nicked the one I made for my Dad to keep both hands warm (should have thought about that really!).  She used hers everyday in the cold.  I'm really pleased with how they turned out.  I still can't decide which is my favourite.

The method also works for hotties that are a larger size, I created a couple for the kids and they ask for them every night to keep their beds nice and warm.

They would work as phone socks too.  

A Quick Little Project

I wasn't sure whether to share this, as it is something that I'm considering to create for presents, but it was such a lovely project to complete, and so quick I thought I should.

Some crochet covered coat hangers.  Yarn bombing on a small scale!

I organised a little craft evening, where everyone was bringing a project to work on and shortly before my guests were going to arrive I had a sudden panic - I didn't have a project to work on!  Oops.

I grabbed some sweetie style colours (at least that is what the remind me of) and a coat hanger that had been hanging around (pun intended) for ages waiting a restyle.  I had read a couple of tutorials and they all seem to go about this in the same way - create a rectangle of fabric and then sew together once you've made one big enough to go round the hanger.

I dislike sewing lots of stripes together, I've done it before it takes me ages and ages and ages and ages.  You get the picture.  So after one row I decided this would be a project best worked in the round, and it didn't really matter if it didn't work because I was just experimenting.

Obviously this technique is much easier before you get to the hook part, you can work it up off the hanger.  Once I got to the hook I simply kept the cover on the hanger and crocheted around and around.  It did take significantly longer to do the second half (twice as long maybe), and the hook seemed to get in the way a lot for the first few rounds, but soon I got into the rhythm and then it was finished.  My daughter loved it straight away and my son requested one for him too.  

I bought these hangers pre-padded, but I'm trying to work out whether I could fancy up some less pretty ones.  A project for another day.

Bits and Bobs

I have been doing some de-cluttering and tidying up around the house recently.  You know the type I mean, properly going through boxes and all the bits and bobs that I keep hold of because I'm a hoarder. Whilst doing this I found one of the little monster packages I talked about here.  It had been hanging around for a while and the playdough was no longer usable, but you can see the little kits we created and all the bits and bobs that were inside it.

I also found some things that the kids and I had used the marbling technique I talked about here and here.  I love that they didn't always marble their items, sometimes they just created the colours on the top of the water and dipped their item in.  It gives a totally different design.  

We plan to make some necklaces out of the washers.  I do think that this would make an awesome craft for a party, I'll just have to see if I can fit it into the party idea we come up with this year.

The pegs were going to be Christmas presents (may still use this idea at some point) with magnets on the back so they could be attached to fridges to hold lists/letter/important info.

We also moved a whole load of CDs which were on display into boxes and put something much prettier on display instead.  This wasn't even my idea, but my Husband's.  I love it, the kids call it the "wall of wool" which makes it sound so much more impressive.  Isn't it pretty?!

And yes, in case you're wondering I did keep all the above bits and bobs, though the crafty bits were returned to the crafty drawers we have, the marbled items are still awaiting somewhere to live.  Sigh.  Never mind if I'm depressed about my lack of de-cluttering skills I can always look at my wall of wool...