Wheelchair Wheel Covers

I've been using my wheelchair more and more lately as I've been battling ever-increasing pain in my hips and back. And then, a few weeks ago, my right hip apparently decided that it was done playing, which means the pain is now so bad that my leg threatens to give out on me if I try to walk unassisted, and my next appointment with my orthopedic doc isn't until later this month. So, in the meantime, I'm making do as best I can, which means using my wheelchair a lot more than before.

Finished set

Anyway, I've had this wheelchair for about a year and a half. It was gifted to me as a hand-me-down from my brother-in-law (who is a paraplegic). The wheelchair has been very helpful for me and has saved me from experiencing immense amounts of pain that I would have had without it, particularly when I'm cooking in the kitchen, because it saves me from having to stand/walk all the time.

But since I have recently been needing to use it even more, I decided the time had come to give her a bit of color and personality. 😁

First, I added some purple silicone hand rim covers, which I found on Amazon. Because purple is one of my favorite colors, obvs. 😊  

With purple hand rail covers only

Then I wanted to add some snazzy, colorful crocheted wheel covers. There are many tutorials online for how to make these, and there are many different methods that can be used to make them, so there isn't only just one "right way" to do it. This video by WheelchairCovers4U gives a good look at what the wheel covers are like and how they attach to the wheels. As you can see in the background, she has dozens of AMAZING and creative designs for the wheel covers she makes to sell. Her talent is very inspiring! I would say that if you want some wheel covers but don't want to make them yourself, you should definitely check out her shop.

Almost any circle will do - 14 rounds here

After clicking around online, I learned that there are basically two methods used to attach the covers to the wheels: using semi-rigid, flexible tubing that lets the cover "snap" into place and uses tension to hold the cover in place on the wheel; or using binder rings to attach the cover to the hand rail. I opted to go the flexible tubing route. 

Tubing and hose barbs

The description of the supplies in this Etsy listing by JubilanceCrochet says they use 3/8-inch polyethylene tubing – outer diameter 3/8-inch, inner diameter 1/4-inch – to make their hoop frames. That size of tubing gives sufficient rigidity for the frame to hold its shape while still being flexible enough to allow the hoop to snap in/out of the wheel's hand rims. I bought my tubing at our local Ace Hardware, but just about any hardware-type store should carry it, or you can find it on Amazon. I also used 1/4-inch double-ended nylon hose barbs to join the ends of the hoops. 

Hoops with hair dryer

My husband helped me to measure where to cut the tubing and also to insert the hose barbs. We applied the heat from a hair dryer to the ends of the tubing for about 60 seconds to soften it up enough to get the barbs inserted; they were VERY snug. (But that's a good thing; they will stay in place securely.) You can see in my photo with the hair dryer that one of the rings lies flat, but the other one was more potato-chip shaped. 😂 My husband tried to twist the ends of the chip-shaped hoop in an attempt to get it to flatten out more, but eventually he gave up. I told him I was pretty sure that it would still work out OK after I attached the crocheted part and pushed the cover into the wheel. And it did. After finishing it, the chip-shaped one does have a small gap where it doesn't snug up to the inside of the hand rail all the way around as well as the flat one does, but I'm not worried about it. It still looks cute to me. (You can see the gap in my GIF when looking at the wheel on the right side of the wheelchair.) 

First attempt came up a bit short

For the crocheted portion, I used Spin Me Around by Catherine Bligh (a paid pattern), but just about any circle-shaped afghan, doily, or mandala pattern will work. "Spin Me Around" just seems terribly apropos for a project like this, don't you agree? 😵😂 If I decide to make another set of these later, I might use the Rainbow Granny Spiral Sun-Catcher pattern by Jaime Ramsey for my next set (another paid pattern). 🌀 And, OMG, for Halloween, a set of these in Boo! by Marsha Glassner (free pattern!!) would be TO DIE FOR, don't you think?!?! 👻 

Good fit this time

The tricky part about making wheel covers for any wheelchair is that the manufacturers have many different wheel sizes they use, and even wheels of the same diameter made by different manufacturers might still require different size wheel covers, depending on many different factors, such as how the hand rails are attached, etc. So it's important to keep this in mind as you're making your own set of wheel covers: The process is going to be highly customized to your unique wheelchair, and you can't just blindly rely on a pattern to give you the exact measurements your specific chair will require. My wheelchair has 24-inch wheels, and the measurement inside the hand rails is about a 20-inch diameter. We measured the best fit for the tubing on my chair to be about 60-inch lengths. And, remember, if you use hose barbs to attach the ends like I did, the barbs will add a tiny bit of length to the final measurement. 

First one done!

Using "tough" acrylic yarn is a good choice for the durability needed for a project like this. I had most of a skein of Red Heart Super Saver Jumbo Stripes in the Parrot Stripe colorway on hand in my stash. I figured the bright colors and the long color changes it has would work well for this project. 

First one installed - cuuute!

It turned out that the one skein would have been just the right amount to make the two wheel covers, including the length needed to crochet the covers to the rims, if I hadn't already used part of the skein to machine knit two hats for my grandnieces. 😆 But even so, I was nearly finished with the final row of my second wheel cover when that yarn ran out. It ended with green, so I found some Red Heart Super Saver in Spring Green in my stash, which had enough length left to finish up that row and then crochet the second wheel cover to its rim, and it all turned out fine. Some makers, including JubilanceCrochet, prefer to use black yarn to attach their covers to the rims, no matter what color the center of the cover is, so I would say that it's fine to just use whatever colors you like and have on hand. 

Two different 5mm hooks

At my gauge, my wheel covers were the correct size after crocheting 16 rounds. I stopped after 14 rounds on my first one and was about halfway around crocheting it to the rim when I realized that I was going to need to make the circle part bigger. So if you're making wheel covers for yourself, just be prepared for some trial and error as part of the process. You need them to be large enough to fit the hoops, but you also want the crocheted circles to stretch a bit so they fit snugly inside the hoops. It's a balance between "big enough" but not "too big."

To attach the crocheted circles to the rims, I chained up two and then single-crocheted around the rim into each stitch of the circle all the way around. This step is extremely fiddly, especially at the beginning, and awkward and difficult. But if you take it slowly and give yourself plenty of rest breaks, eventually you will make it all the way around and be ready to finish off with a knot to secure everything and weave in the tail.

As a postscript, I included the photo of my two 5mm crochet hooks to illustrate the differences between the lip length. I prefer to use tapered hooks, like these, but even within that broad category, there can be significant differences in the shapes that affect their usability for individual crocheters. For me, the hook on the right, with the longer lip, was definitely more difficult to use, because the lip kept snagging as I worked. The hook on the left worked much more smoothly for me. The difference is minor, and I know different crocheters will have different preferences in which tools work best for them. But it's something to keep in mind: If you're struggling with a particular hook, consider trying one from another manufacturer.

Halloween Snow Heart Beanie

Oooh, it's almost my favorite time of the year again!

Designer Leesa Nixon recently shared a photo on her socials of the Beetlejuice/Halloween colors version of her Snow Heart Beanie (paid pattern), and I just knew that I needed to make one for myself in a messy-bun/ponytail style, because Halloween is probably my favorite holiday, too!!

These Sour Apple poms by Dannisdesignscrafts on Etsy add the perfect finishing touch! This is a really fun and quick pattern to crochet, and it doesn't require very much of each color of yarn. Love it!

Dawn Apron by Lydia Naomi

When my husband went through his old denim work shirts a few years ago to throw away the ones that were the most worn out, I grabbed the ones he was going to toss into the trash and stuffed them into a bag for safekeeping.

"They might be worn out to you, but there is a lot of good fabric there," I said.

He just rolled his eyes, but he didn't object. 😂

Ever since that day, I have been planning to use these old shirts to sew an apron for myself.

However ... it took me a lot of years to finally get around to making it. Obviously. Ha!!

The Dawn Apron, pattern by Lydia Naomi

After we were able to spend time last year getting my craft room mostly set up, this year seemed like the right time for me to start diving into doing some projects that I had been putting off, like this apron.

I already had the fabric on hand, so the next step was to find a pattern to follow.

I've had a snap-front cobbler's-style apron for a long time that I like and would probably be an easy design to replicate. My mother-in-law was a big fan of this style of apron.

Examples of snap-front, cobbler-style aprons

But I also like the look of the Japanese-style cross-back aprons, so I decided that that was the type of pattern I wanted to make. 

I spent a lot of time digging around online for Japanese cross-back apron patterns. There's a surprising amount of variety to be found among patterns based on this basic shape. Then I came across this video by Canadian fashion designer Lydia Naomi for how to sew her Dawn Apron pattern.

Lydia's pattern had all the features I wanted in my Japanese cross-back apron: full length coverage in front, at least two pockets, and good coverage in the rear. Links to purchase her pattern are listed below the video on its YouTube page, or you can find them on her website, lydianaomi.com.

This was my first venture into the brave new world of 21st-century patterns being delivered electronically by PDF. Mind. Blown. (!!!) I did read some comments online where people were having trouble figuring out how to assemble all the pattern pieces after printing them out, but I didn't have any trouble. If you need some extra help, Lydia also has a video tutorial for how to work with the PDFs. Lydia's pattern pieces are numbered, and if you trim off all the page corners (as directed) and tape them together in numerical order, everything comes together very well.

Lots of trimmed-off corners and pattern pieces taped together in order

Pattern pieces all taped together and separated into cohesive parts

My next challenge was to deconstruct the old shirts to start piecing together the scraps to make new pieces large enough to cut out. I started by using one of the shirt fronts, with its button placket and chest pocket, as the top-front part of my apron.

Starting to reclaim denim from the old shirts, including one old shirtfront

This project gave me my first opportunity to use the overlocking stitch function of my Bernette B38, which is a standard sewing machine, not a serger. Because this apron is made out of denim, I wanted to avoid the heaviness of double-folded hems. Using the overlocking function, I could finish the raw edges of the fabric in a way that made folding it under unnecessary, similar to the way a serger does. 

Every time I needed to patch two pieces together, I would seam them using the overlocking stitch, then press the seam allowance to one side, and then topstitch the seam allowance to secure it to the panel. I think the extra, random topstitching looks cute with the denim material.

But then, as I was patching pieces together, suddenly I realized that I had accidentally sewed two pieces together with one right-side up and the other wrong-side up. Ooops!! Making a mistake like that means I'm tired, and it's time to close up shop for the day to go rest.

Right-side up on the left; wrong-side up on the right

The next time I got back to working on the apron, I ripped out the seam where the pieces were facing different ways, sewed them together the correct way, and then carried on.

Front panel pieces assembled and ready to cut out

 

Front panel folded and cut out, shown wrong-side up

Pockets cut out and edges overlocked

After that one mistake where I sewed the pieces together facing the wrong way, the rest of the project proceeded pretty smoothly.

I used parts of a total of three old shirts to patch together the pieces I needed for the apron. I even ended up with some "novelty" pockets on the back by using those parts of two other shirt fronts. 😊 I'm really pleased with how the apron turned out.

A little wrinkly after going through the laundry

A little wrinkly after going through the laundry

Beaded Fidget Hedgehog

This is a great pattern for using up scrap yarn from your stash. Each hedgehog requires only a small amount of yarn (plus a pair of 8 mm safety eyes, about 68 pony beads, and the other supplies). 

For my first two hedgehogs, I used glitter pony beads that I've had in my crafting stash for at least 27 years. I originally purchased the beads to adorn some Pocahontas costumes for Halloween/dress-up playtime that I sewed for my daughters back in the 1990s. 

My daughters on Halloween in the 1990s wearing the beaded costumes.

Now, all these years later, I can give them each an adorable hedgehog made with the same beads along with a printed photo of them wearing the Pocahontas costumes when they were little. That's a nifty full-circle moment in my book! 😁

So tiny and cute!

Little hedgehog feet.

Little hedgehog bum.

The pattern also has a link to an Etsy listing where you can opt to purchase a printable "carrier" for gifting your hedgehogs, which gives them a cute finishing touch.

Shawlcowl Pullover 3.0 is live

I'm very excited to announce that the 10th anniversary updated version of my Shawlcowl Pullover pattern is now live! If you've already purchased the pattern, you should have received a message by email and/or in your Ravelry inbox with a link to the updated version 3.0.

Version 3.0 of the pattern includes instructions to make three beautiful but slightly different variations of the Shawlcowl Pullover, as well as the bonus instructions for how to add length to all of them, should you wish to do so. 

This is the Shawlcowl 3 knitted in Red Heart Super Saver Ombre in the True Blue colorway. It includes the added length, whose steps are explained in the version 3.0 pattern, and also a 2/4 picot bind off (links to picot bind-off instructions also in the pattern).

If you haven't tried my pattern yet, here's a button with a link to where you can purchase it, even if you don't have a Ravelry account:

Thanks so, SO MUCH for your support, everyone! 💜 Words are inadequate to express how grateful I am to each of you for all the beautiful Shawlcowl projects you've made and shared over the past 10 years, as well as all your messages with questions and/or words of encouragement. Here's to another 10 years of this fun pattern!

Celebrating 10 years of Shawlcowl Pullover

I first released my Shawlcowl Pullover pattern in April 2014, and in the years since then, I have had some requests to write up instructions for how to add length to the original pattern, and I will admit that this was something I had been thinking about doing even before anyone asked me about it.

Challenge accepted!

Although I totally overlooked (oops!!) the opportunity I had earlier this year to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the release of Shawlcowl Pullover, I decided that it’s never too late to release an updated version of the pattern that includes these bonus, optional instructions for how to add length to the design.

Version 3.0 of the pattern will include instructions to make three beautiful but slightly different variations of the Shawlcowl Pullover, as well as the bonus instructions for how to add length to all of them, should you wish to do so.

The updated pattern will be released soon on Ravelry. So if you already own a previously released version of the pattern, keep your eyes out for Version 3.0 to land in your pattern library. And if you haven't already purchased the pattern, head on over to Ravelry and grab your copy now — you'll also receive the Version 3.0 update in your pattern library as soon as it's available!

Thanks so, SO MUCH for your support, everyone! 💜 Words are inadequate to express how grateful I am to each of you for all the beautiful Shawlcowl projects you've made and shared over the past 10 years, as well as all your messages with questions and/or words of encouragement. Here's to another 10 years of this fun pattern!

DK Shawlcowl Pullover

I decided to try knitting my Shawlcowl Pullover design in a lighter weight fiber than the pattern calls for. This Hobby Lobby cotton yarn is labeled as size 4, but it's thinner than worsted weight, so to me it feels more like DK. Using the stitch count in the pattern for the large size cowl worked perfectly at this gauge. The finished size of the neck opening is 24 inches. The colorway is Emerald Pine in I Love This Cotton.

Here's a strand of the cotton yarn, on the left, next to a strand of gray DK yarn for size comparison.

I also decided to add one extra lace repeat and a picot bind off to dress up the edge. I used the twisted stitch version of the 2/4 picot bind off from this video tutorial by Nimble Needles. I'm happy with how it turned out. These Shawlcowls look great just worn as an accessory, but they also make wonderful "stealth bibs" to protect your blouse while you're eating! 😄

With the extra lace repeat and the picot bind-off, I used about 1.25 skeins of yarn.

Giant Timothy T-rex

I had this one skein of colorful Red Heart Super Saver Color Block yarn in the Party Time colorway that I wanted to use to make something for Rose. Orange is featured prominently in the colorful skein, and orange is one of Rose's favorite colors. 

At first I tried to see if there was enough yarn to make something to wear, like a "Housecoat of Many Colors" sort of thing. But the one skein wasn't enough for that, and apparently the colorway was discontinued, so I couldn't buy more.

Not enough yarn to make a cardigan or blanket

So then I had another idea: Why not make a giant Timothy T-rex for Rose by holding the colorful yarn double with a neutral gray and using an 8mm hook? And that's how this giant Timothy was born. 

Timothy and friends

The pattern specifies to use 10mm safety eyes, but I didn't have any safety eyes on hand, so I used two 25mm black buttons from this kit that I found on Amazon. It has black buttons in a bunch of different sizes, so they are useful for lots of various projects. So far I have used these buttons for eyes on a few recent amigurumis: my Zoey Zebra and also my Halloween Melly Teddy Ragdolls Gabby Ghost and Bobby Bat.

Holding the two colors of yarn together and working at this large gauge with an 8mm hook, my finished Timothy stands about 15 inches tall. I hope he will make a nice, snuggly companion for Rose!

Zuzu's Petals - fingering

This is my very first project using fingering weight yarn! And if that weren't a cool enough fact all by itself, the yarn I'm using is a lovely ball that I found at a thrift shop for only 99 cents! How's that for cool?!

The yarn didn't come with a manufacturer's label on it, so I have no idea what brand it is or even what the fiber content is. It kind of feels like it has cotton in it; it might even be 100% cotton, for all I know. I just liked the color - it reminds me of the faded grayish blue of denim blue jeans, and I think it will make a lovely Zuzu's Petals cowlette. This is a paid pattern designed by Carina Spencer.

Because the width of the neck opening was only 16 inches when I reached the end of section 1, I knew I would need to keep adding width to make it be possible to pull the cowlette over my head. I decided to work two more 12-row repeats, hoping that would bring the width to something closer to 20 inches wide, which I figured would be a dimension that would fit better over my head. That meant my final stitch count at the end of section 1 was 151.

End of section 1 with 103 stitches

 

End of section 1 with 151 stitches

As I got toward the end, I was worried about losing at yarn chicken (running out of yarn, in other words). So I skipped the optional purl round and instead went directly to the cast off. But then, after casting off, I could see that I did actually have enough yarn left on the skein to be able to do the purl round, so I tinked back the cast-off round and added the purl round before casting off again. I just knew that I would always regret not having the purl round in there, if I didn't add it, because it really does help straighten out the edge curling, even before blocking. 

Before blocking

I could have saved myself the trouble of tinking back if I had weighed my skein when working the last few rounds. If I had weighed it, I would have been able to know that I'd have enough to work the last optional purl round before casting off. Live and learn! But it was pretty close!

Blocking

Gauge

Haiku Cardi revisited

I really like how well my first Haiku Cardi turned out. (See it in the blog post prior to this one, or at my Ravelry project page here.) 

Dye lots are still a thing, y'all - sigh

I wanted to make the pattern again, but this time I utilized garter stitch to emphasize the stitch definition in the triangle section and also to alleviate some issues I had before with the front placket and sleeve edges wanting to curl. The plackets in garter stitch lie much better without any additional persuasion (i.e., aggressive blocking).

I ended up with 275 stitches across the bottom after rejoining the fronts to the back, which is a few more than the pattern called for, but a minor difference like that doesn't really matter in a project like this.

On this project, I learned the hard way that dye lots are still a thing, which is unfortunate, because the only way I had access to this Denim colorway of Red Heart Super Saver was by buying it through the mail.

Left and right fronts done

Of course, I don't know anything about how companies like Red Heart mass-produce their yarn, but it seems to me that in the 21st century, with the preponderance of all things digital, that companies ought to be able to exert better control over their color reproduction, to the point where dye lots are no longer necessary. (I'm only talking here about BIG companies; naturally I wouldn't extend the same expectation onto smaller or indie yarn producers.)

My stockinette gauge

So, anyway, I very clearly was given a skein from a different dye lot, which cuts a visibly darker line at the top of the lower portion of this cardigan. Nothing to be done about it now, so I'll just consider it a "design feature." Bah-ha-haaaa.

Oops!

I also had an "oops!" moment after rejoining the fronts to the back to start working the "skirt" of the cardigan. You can see the "oops" in the above photo, where I accidentally got one row of the garter stitch pattern wrong. Le sigh!! It's OK, though ... not terribly noticeable.

Considering my ongoing chronic pain issues, coupled with the fact that I'm not a particularly fast knitter, I'm amazed that I was actually able to finish knitting two of these in less than four months. 😊 

As I said, I really like how well this project turned out, and using the garter stitch edgings worked particularly well. I'm going to enjoy wearing this.