Friday, January 15, 2010

handmade #3

For Todd: a rice neckwarmer/stress reliever. I saw something like this recently and thought he might like it, so I borrowed one of his shirts one night while he was sleeping, took a few measurements, and sewed a muslin U with channels to hold the rice. You just pop it into the microwave for a couple of minutes and the rice grains gets warm. I think Todd was more amused than impressed with it. We'll see if he ever actually uses it. Note that he is not wearing it in the photograph?



I made the slipcover with a print from Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley so it looks nice and sort of masculine, I think. I also mixed some essential oils into the rice a few days before filling the neckwarmer so it smells good (like oranges and bay, because I didn't think he's like patchouli and lime so much) when the rice warms up. It stays warm for quite a while, and the weight of the rice combined with the heat is soothing after a long, stressful day.

I should have used this myself today, come to think of it.

6 comments:

  1. Very nice. We are big fans of rice bags at our house. Ahnalin, my 5 year old, made a rice bag last week on the day her sewing machine arrived. We mixed dried lavender with the rice, so that once it is heated, it smells all lavender-y.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I need one of those!

    ReplyDelete
  3. nice liesl!
    fyi: my son has a ricefilled teddy,i have noticed the wheatfilled packs keep the heat longer.

    ReplyDelete
  4. teresa8:57 AM

    I need one of these....badly!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Where did you get the oils? This sounds so interesting - I NEED ONE! I used to have a long skinny one that I would microwave and then bring to bed with me to take the initial chill off in the winter time.

    I might need one for the freezer to ice down my neck when I sit at the computer.

    On that note.... I was thinking of another question to ask you on your question/answer forum and one of them was: Have you ever made anything for Todd that he actually liked and wore. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.......

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really like using flax seeds (or barley) over rice. I've noticed the rice having a pretty funky smell over time where as my barley and flax ones are still smelling great YEARS later.

    ReplyDelete