A prototype

 It has been ages since I've posted anything here!  

There are a few reasons for that.  One of them is that life in the real world has been busy, and I've been doing more gardening and yardwork than crafting.  Another is more of a problem.  This year has been bad for my osteoarthritis, particularly in my hands.  It is affecting every finger joint, and I am starting to lose the use of my hands.  I can still do a lot, but I find myself dropping things a lot more often, and my grip has gotten to the point where, on bad days, I've had to get family members to do things like open jars, or even turn door knobs, for me.  I've already replaced the door knob to my office/craftroom/bedroom (it's a big room!) with a lever style, and we will slowly replace others around the house as well.  I knew this time was coming, considering the sorts of stress and strain my hands have gone through over the years, but I'd hoped to have a few more years yet.  Ah, well.  It is what it is, and we do what we can!

Some days are better than others, though, and I do still manage to make things.  Usually things to use around the house.  Winter is coming, though, and things are getting chilly out there.  For most of the year, while working outside, I've been wearing a ball cap.  It keeps the sun out of my eyes, and protects my head, but it doesn't do a thing to keep my ears warm!  So today, I dug out the hooks and yarn, and made myself an ear warmer to go with my ball cap.  

I spent some time looking online at different styles.  Of course, there were always things I liked or didn't like about each one, but it gave me ideas to accomplish what I was after.

This is my prototype, modelled by Dolph.

Normally, I make ear warmers as a long strip that gets joined in the back.  My favourite version has a narrow part in the back, which helps keep the ear warmer from being pushed upwards when moving my head - a feature I kept with this project.  

 

After joining in my usual pattern, I would do edging at the top and bottom to give it more structure and a finished look.  For this style, I made the ear panel first, then combined making the edging with adding the strips to go around the visor. 

For my prototype, I used some very basic yarn I had handy.   Some time ago, my husband bought a case of So Craft, Knit & Purl, Accent Brights yarn.  The individual packages had 10 skeins of 50g, 100% acrylic yarn.

What my husband missed when he bought it, though, was that these are a light weight yarn.  For this type of yarn, we both prefer medium weight.  He hasn't been using it, so we still have plenty.  For this project, I used 2 strands of the yarn, and a J/10 6.00mm hook.

The ear warmer fits my head better than it fits Dolph in the photos.  The edging along the bottom helps it sort of cup around the ears, which is both comfortable and warming.  

I will definitely make more of these, and will eventually make some with reflective thread added as well.

This is going to be quite nice to wear when I'm out doing my chilly morning chores!