Few weeks ago I’ve been through a creative phase that changed the new look of my couch and gave my family a reason to fight over the pillows, when sharing the living in the evening. Old knits have been turned into cozy pillow covers and they were so nice that I could not give them up once the Christmas was over.

After upcycling those few old sweaters, I found myself having a bunch of colored knitted remains that were almost asking to be repurposed. Which I did and here’s how it went!

My Stripy Feet Warmers

One of the loveliest covers I’ve made is striped in different warm colors – orange, red, yellow, with a touch of grey and magenta. The sleeves were thin enough to be turned into socks or mittens. Since the other pair of sleeves were large enough to cut them into mittens and a hat, I decided to use the striped knit for a lovely pair of socks. 

Those sleeves were not perfect tubular, but a little larger at one end, that would make the socks to widen unevenly. So I measured both ends and cut then sew a straight stitch on the side of each sleeve, keeping the same width from one end to another. Then I marked a curve at one end to figure out the line of the toes, and sew on it to close the sock. I sew two stitches on the edge – a straight one to fix the knit, and a Zig Zag stitch to prevent the knit from unwinding.

For this operation, I used the side that I cut when sewing the pillow cover, so I would have the other one with a neat end and the border. Since the curved line marked on the knit follows the line of the toes, take care to mirror it on the other sleeve, so you won’t have two socks for the same foot.

Finally, the socks will have a sewed stitch on the inner side, which is different than our usual socks. It doesn’t bother me at all, but it helps me make the difference between the left leg and the right leg. Some people still need guidance, you know?!

Well, what you see above looks like a pair of socks, doesn’t it? I thought so when sewing them, but later I discovered that they were so warm that I renamed them. Sooooo, ladys and gents, let me introduce you… the stripy feet warmers!

They will fit perfectly in my rubber boots, but till then I’ll spend a little more time admiring them. Yes, they are a little bit large, but this is what makes them keep the feet warm. And the rubber boots are not an option anyway since we are facing a ruthless -13F these days if going outside…

Cap & Mittens for a Happy Kid

Another sweater, another set of remains. The blue-grey sweater had large sleeves and an enormous neck that were big enough to feed a pair of mittens and a cap for my 10-year old kid.

READ ALSO: How to Turn Old Knits and Yarns into Cozy Pillow Covers

First step in making the mittens is the easiest: use the hand as a pattern, and draw a mitten on the folded knit (the neck of the sweater), so you would have four similar pieces. Cut the mittens leaving 0.8-in outside the line for sewing two stitches: the straight one and the Zig Zag. Beware to make them long enough, meaning that the mittens should totally cover the wrists.

Let’s go further with the cap! You see above the sleeve that I used for making it, so you see the same problem here as we had before, when crafting the socks: the ends have different widths. There were two options for using this type of sleeves: to make it straight or to use them both for making a two sided cap, that has the “head entrance” on the larger side of the sleeve.

Well…between those two, I chose the third option and used the neat end for the border and crafted a funny pompom on the other one. First, you need to pleat the knit on its back using a needle and a thread, then fix it with another thread. Turn the knit inside out, and use another thread to tie the end of the cap in turn it into a pompom.

For a funny note, I’ve added a red string and and two pompons to the cap. I don’t know about you, but I love the contrast!

After 20 minutes of cutting and sewing, the kid has new cozy mittens and a lovely cap. Does he like them? What do you think??

This project was easy to craft and I really liked it. Whatever the project is, when I see the kid happy in the end, I know I’ve reached the best a parent can do. After all, this is the beauty of these projects… Crafting is thousand times more pleasant and motivating when a happy funny face is thanking you at the end.

These are my two cents on crafting. What is your motivation and what brings you happiness when your projects are finally done? Share your thoughts below! Who knows, maybe you will motivate some other people to start crafting!

This project has been featured on Hometalk.