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A cold-front has enveloped most of North America this past week, and many folk are thinking they don't have nearly enough clothes to stay warm. Crafters, however, know it may only take a few hours to make that one piece that help.
Let's look at some of the options:
Scarves:
Julie Weisenberger, of CoCo Knits, designed a quick and versatile cowl: Fear of Commitment. While I am wary of putting more projects on my "must-do" list- I am not afraid to commit to making this. SOON. It looks fabulous -and fast enough that even I might make it in a weekend. A good knitter could make it in a evening.
Your options are wide open with the “fear of commitment” cowl! Button it right up close to your neck for maximum warmth. Too warm? Move the button so the cowl rests on your shoulders or somewhere in between. Super easy and fast, the trick is in connecting two buttons with elastic so you don’t have to commit to a button hole!
Kellie, guest blogging at Make It From Scratch, shares a tutorial for a charming scrappy scarf to sew. Adding pieces of cotton fabric to soft knit materials yields a one-off scarf customized for the wearer. Where Kellie used the remaining fabric from another project, this could quickly be approached with a sweater destined to be recycled -or already felted- or with polar fleece for a child.
Speaking of fleece. Lee Meredith's No-Sew Buttoning Scarflet (well, really there is a little sewing -but just attaching buttons!) was designed using the inexpensive fleece scarves you find at the Dollar Store. Over several posts she shows different ways to construct these cowls or scarflets using mainly a few vintage buttons to dress the projects up. Find a fleece scarf-or cut one from any fleece you may have in your craft room- and you're ready to face whatever chills Mother Nature has in store.
Mittens and Gloves:
Mary Jo, writing at Five Green Acres, posted a tutorial for Sewing Your Own Sweater Mittens.
These are patterns I’ve used dozens of times, so many times that I’d rather not make them in bulk ever again. The patterns were given to me by a kind and generous woman in Northern Wisconsin who whips out dozens of them each year, both for her family and to sell. It was in this spirit of generosity and crafting for the greater good that I’ve decided to in turn, share the patterns with you.
Crochet Uncut has a very direct pattern for crocheting simple wool mittens "with snow flakes floating down the back of the hand." Designer Darlisa Riggs makes this pattern almost infinitely changeable in her instructions- including how to turn these mittens into stylish fingerless gloves.
Hats:
Snow Days inspire a lot of activities. For Elsie Flannigan, one such day inspired her to create a new winter crocheted hat. Because this pattern uses the wearer's head measurements, it can immediately adapted for adults, children and -and she demonstrates in photos- even pugs! Well, I'm sure any dog would "love" to wear one of these.
If Elsie's quick hat doesn't thrill you, as part of their 2009 Wrap-Up, Whip-Up.net featured the best of crochet including six beginner crochet beanies. I'm sure there will be one there to get you started.
Do you have a great sweater that's not quite in great condition for wearing again? Kellie Brown, this time at Green Phone Booth, shares a really quick way to repurpose a sweater into a winter hat. I think this project might take all of an hour or so to complete.
Now, I needed matching "thread". And, I knew I wanted a pom-pom on the hat's tip, also matching. The best way to accomplish that was to recover yarn from the still unused portion of the sweater. I started unraveling. This is quite fun when it's not associated with pulling out work you've just spent hours on. Because of the way the sweater was made, each row yielded one piece of yarn. Still, it was long enough for my purposes.
This just begins to scrape the frost off the surface of warm winter wearables. What's on your "make it before I freeze" list for this weekend?
photo credits: Cowl-Julie
