Fleece Blanket Hand Warmers

This is actually something I’ve been meaning to post about for a few weeks.

Rain, ice, sleet, or snow, Zach walks to work everyday. Even if I offer to drive him, he generally turns me down because he views it as an excuse to get his exercise in (he’s far more motivated than I am). But winter is cold. Usually. Making his walks very unenjoyable. So as a stocking stuffer this past Christmas, I got a fleece blanket and cut it to pieces to make him these little hand warmers. They’re adorable and quite effective. He says they’ve made his winter walks less hellish.

I made these while he was in San Antonio, so the pictures below were taken with my phone.

What you’ll need:

• fleece fabric
• scissors
• needle
• thread
• rice
• dry erase marker

Step 01: If you, like me, aren’t very good at drawing hearts, then find something heart-shaped and trace it onto your fleece blanket. (I used a glass ornament that I had hanging on my tree). Otherwise, freestyle it.

Step 02: Cut the hearts out. You’ll actually need to cut out four, because you’ll be making two (one for each pocket). Although, I wound up making about 20.

Step 03: Start sewing. I don’t have a sewing machine, so I had to hand-stitch…which I’m not that great at. But they turned out OK. Don’t sew the entire thing, though. you want to leave enough room to funnel rice into the heart.

Step 04: Fill 3/4 of the heart with rice and then sew it up. Don’t overfill or rice will start popping out between the stitches (as I have discovered).

This one is too full. But you get the idea.

Once they’re finished, you pop them into the microwave for 30-60 seconds. They’ll hold heat for about an hour. Zach’s sister, Jessica, was staying with me when I made these and she tried them out on her way to work (she also walks) and loved them. I have extra pairs that I keep forgetting to give to her….

If you don’t like the solid color, you can get regular cloth and make a slipcover for them. Make multiples and change them out depending on your mood or outfit. But depending on what it’s made out of or any embellishments you add (Velcro, zippers, or buttons to keep it closed, for instance) you shouldn’t microwave it. Just microwave the fleece heart and then slip it into the cover.

My suggestion: make tons of these, heat them, and put them in every pocket your outfit and coat have–breast pockets included. You’ll be much more comfortable walking to work.

I got the blanket at Family Dollar for $5, by the way. It was 60 x 90 inches (the hearts are each about 2 x 3 inches) and it was the only thing I had to buy.

ETA: If you go to my DIY page, I do realize it looks…odd. I’m attempting to fix it. After fighting with it for about an hour this morning (which was an hour after getting fighting with it for three hours when I first put it up–it shouldn’t be that difficult to put images on a page), I contacted WordPress Support. Hopefully they can help. -_-

ETA 2: DIY page is fixed! Woo! Thanks to the very helpful person who helped me realize the silly mistake I made, who I also found out has a blog for WordPress tips.