{Rice Warmers}

Happy December! We are settling back into normal life after our two week trip. Is it really possible that we have only been home since Friday night? It's been a blur of sick kids, grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning and decorating. We had a wonderful time with our family, but it always feels so good to be HOME! 

I am thrilled to say that I am guest posting over at the wonderful Rhythm of the Home blog this month! Today is my first post, as part of their "Being" series, and I will be sharing every Monday!  To go along with my post over there, I wanted to share a tutorial for these simple rice bags that we make. We use them heated up for sore muscles, or from the freezer for bumps, and we all take one to bed with us to help us stay toasty while we fall asleep. They also make wonderful gifts! Now I do also have to say that my camera and I were having a bit of a fight this evening and nothing I did would fix the dreadful lighting situation...so I hope the black and white images work alright for everyone! 

Materials:

• two pieces of flannel about 7.5"x7.5" although you can adjust this. We like smaller ones for the freezer, but this size is good for heating pads and bed warmers! I like to use old receiving blankets (which is why the edges of this one are rounded).
• one pound of rice
• a few tablespoons of dried lavender *or two-three herbal tea bags to scent your warmer
• sewing supplies (scissors, sewing machine, thread, needle if you are sewing the opening shut by hand)
• a funnel -I use a canning jar funnel and it slides into the opening perfectly, although in a pinch you could roll paper into a cone and that will certainly get the job done!

Step 1: Cut out your flannel pieces. Squared edges are fine, and what I normally do, two of these edges were already rounded so I just traced the curve onto the other corners.

Step 2: Place right sides together and stitch around your edges, leaving a 4" opening. Be sure to back-stitch at the beginning and end of this seam! Do a narrow zig-zag around the edges to ensure everything stays nice and tidy.

Step 3: Turn rightside out and smooth seam along curves by running your finger along the seam inside of the warmer. Iron everything nice and flat, and press the seam allowance in 1/4" at the opening.

{See how nicely the funnel fits in the opening? This happened by accident one time I was winging it and I was clever enough to measure it.}

Step 4: Fill the bag 2/3 full with the rice. It might not seem like enough at first, but any more and it gets tricky to sew shut, and once you lay the warmer down and everything redistributes there really isn't room for anything more than this. This bag used an entire one pound bag of rice. Add in your dried lavender, or if you're using herbal tea bags, simply cut the bags open and sprinkle the contents into the warmer.

Step 5: Either stitch the opening shut by hand, or carefully zig-zag shut with your machine. The machine is obviously faster, but is also tricky since you have to be careful to not dump the rice! I've done it both ways, it's really up to you.

Step 6: Enjoy! Like I mention in the picture, we heat ours for 2 minutes, but every microwave heats differently so check it. With kids, err on the side of cooler, I always heat my own a bit more. You can just shake it around to cool it quickly. However, don't over heat it! You just think burnt popcorn smells bad.... *ahem* I have found that a smaller size of about 3"x3" is also quite handy. We store them in the freezer for bumps, and they are great heated up (it takes much less time for the small size!) for pocket warmers. If you want to make these a bit fancier, (or are giving them as gifts) you might like to make a cover for them. Simply make a slip cover like a pillow case, about 1/2" larger than the finished warmer.

I hope that helps you out a bit, let me know if you make them! 

100th Post!!

It seems that despite being a slacker blogger I have reached my 100th post!! In honor of that I wanted to share my first knitting pattern! This is a very simple little pattern for toddler sized fingerless gloves. I would say they would fit from about age 2-6, but it would be easy to add or subtract stitches (in multiples of 2) if your child has skinny or extra pudgy hands. ;) If you have any questions about any techniques used in the pattern feel free to ask questions!

You will need:

a set of 4 size 2 dpn's

a set of 4 size 3 dpn's

a stitch marker

A small amount of light worsted weight yarn (I knit this in Cascade 220 Superwash, which is almost a dk weight really)

Quick Fingerless Gloves for Toddlers

With size 3's CO 10 sts onto each of three needles, join for working in the round being careful not to twist stitches! Place marker for beginning of round. (30 sts total)

Rows 1-7: Work in k1p1 ribbing

Row 8: k all sts

Row 9: (increase row) *k2, k1fb- repeat from * to end of row (40 sts total)

Row 10-20: k all sts (this should be about 2" from CO edge)

Row 21: BO 5 sts loosely at begging of row, k to end of row (35 sts total)

Row 22: CO 5 sts with backwards loop method, k to end of row--make sure to replace marker once the sts are back on! (40 sts total)

Row 23-26: k all sts

Row 27-30: switch to size 2 dpn's and work in k1p1 ribbing

BO all sts loosely in pattern (I like to use a size 4 needle for the bind off), weave in ends and add any desired embellishment. Present to an adorable toddler!

(I'm happy to offer this pattern for free, but please do not reproduce this pattern or sell items made from this pattern without first talking to me!)

Chunky Crayon Tutorial

Every so often I reach a point in my mothering journey where I get *so*tired* of picking up little bits of crayon from all over the place. I hate to throw the pieces away, but I know if I just keep them then I'll just be picking them up again the next day. This is my solution. My kids love the big multi colored crayons, and I love having so few items to pick up! I thought I'd share my method, as my very first tutorial!

Start by making sure that all of the paper has been removed from the crayons, (in our house they always peel the crayons before they even start coloring with them, lol) and sort them into whatever combinations you like. I did reds/pinks/white; yellow/orange/brown/grey; and blues/greens/purples. I have a regularly sized muffin tin, so that's what I used. I just filled the other spaces with papers, not sure if you have to, but somehow it seemed to make sense. :) Preheat oven to 275*F, and pop them in on a middle rack.

It took me about 8-10 minutes to get everything nicely melted. I have found that smaller pieces melt faster so you may want to be sure they're all about even when you split them up. Once about 90% is melted you can poke at them with a tooth pick. Not everything has to be melted, so long as you can push anything solid down into the liquid. Try not to stir it to much, or you will mix the colors up into a rather nasty shade. Once they are done, remove them from the oven and let the pan cool. I like to then pop it into the freezer for 10-15 minutes, you can tell if they're ready to remove from the pan when there is a hairline crack around the entire edge.

Just flip the pan over onto a towel and smack each of the cups three or four-ish times. They'll be a bit funny looking on the top, but a few coloring sessions and they'll be fine. :)

And the colors are so pretty!

Let me know if you try it, and what you think!! I'm thinking of just doing this from the start from now on...like fresh out of the box. I'm thinking it would be fun to make some in rainbow colors, or holiday themed ones. The possibilities are endless!