A Hot/Cold Pack for Katie

My semester is finally over!  Which is such a relief and excitement that all I want to do is take is take a nap.  I don't know if it's the weather (incredibly wet and dark) or the fact that I haven't really slept in weeks but I am honestly ready to crawl into my nice warm flannel sheets and sleep for about 14 hours.

To kick of my spring break I am headed to Columbus, Ohio tomorrow to meet up with my incredible roommates from college.  I could not be more excited to see these ladies!

One of these fine women is Milo- you may remember I briefly mentioned her as the soon-to-be recipient of this TARDIS.  This lady and I go way back.  We were both deejays at our college station, and she shares my obsessive affection for James Taylor.  Milo is also a very adept craft-ster herself!  She even made a spectacular slip cover for a stolen ottoman in our apartment that was seriously perfect.  She is a marvel.  

One year at our Christmas present exchange she gave me this homemade heat pack and it is one of my favorite things.  It's filled with I-don't-know-what (barley, maybe?) but it's nice and heavy and totally soothing.  I almost always study laying down on my stomach, so I can just let it rest in the small of back and it is oh so very nice.  And all you have to do to heat it up is toss it in the microwave! Super easy.  Joe leaves his in the freezer and it works well as a cold pack too.

Inspired by Milo's lovely hot pack I decided to make one as a gift for a friend of mine who I owed a hefty thank you too.  Katie has been giving me rides to and from our clinical throughout the quarter, and usually with very little warning on my part.  This clinical is on one of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in Chicago, so I was very very pleased when I could avoid the bus and train combo.  So along came this project to pass along the love.

You will need:

- 2 bags of lentils (or beans, barley, etc.)
-  heavy fabric

- needle and thread or sewing machine

Crochet Edged Fleece Blanket

This project is a super simple project that ends up looking fantastic.  All it requires is some crochet thread, some fleece, and a small sized crochet hook.

 I was inspired by a purlbee pattern for flannel receiving blankets.  purlbee manages to constantly be posting modern patterns based on traditional techniques that I find incredibly endearing.  This one is crochet edged flannel baby blankets.  I don't have a baby, but I do have a very drafty apartment.  I have some knit afghans but was hoping to make something a little warmer and fuzzier.  So after a little bit of internet research I found out that it is very doable to make this with fleece instead.  I picked out a cute midwestern patten for Oy and a basic heather grey for Joe and I.  I used Aunt Lydia's Fashion 3 Crochet Thread (but a thin yarn also works fine) with a 1.90 mm/ size 5 hook.

Fabric Prep: 


This part depends on the supplies you have, how much time you want to invest, and how particular you are.  The first step is to cut the edges to straighten them out and take off that weird not-fuzzy edge.  I also cut my corners to be rounded out of personal preference.

If you're very neat, you could fold the edges under twice, sew them there, and use what I believe is called a rotary punch or a hole puncher of some sort to cut holes about 1/2 an inch apart.

If you're not that fussy, so you can follow that I did, or pick and choose the parts you want to follow.  I pinned the edges as I went (folded over twice to the back of the work).

showing the back of the work, it if folded over twice and pinned