DIY Fat Tire Bike Pogies (Hand Warmer Mitts)

Edited to add: I put pattern pieces down below. :) 

Get cold hands when you are biking? I certainly do when I'm biking in the winter. I decided to try my hand (see what I did there??!) at making my own bike mittens, aka pogies or poagies.

Photo: www.fitzgeraldsbicycles.com

Well, I don't post on my blog very often anymore since I made the leap to Instagram. But, since this was more of a tutorial, I decided to put it on my blog with more complete directions. Do you know that these bike hand warmers cost around a hundred dollars and you can make them yourself easily?

These Fairbanks-made ones are $135.00! With fabric, I have about $20 into my version and only a few hours. I also cut up a floor mat which I already owned but you could easily find that at Goodwill or Value Village.

These pictures are from Instsgram so they come with all the writing and all the labels that came from Instagram. I had a sample pair from a friend and I had looked at a bunch of samples online. I traced these pogies onto paper and started making some prototypes.

This is the first prototype. I ended up making it a big more narrow and making the "arm" shorter. 

Then I thought the mitt needed to be more angled so I sliced and overlapped. 

After this, I created prototype #2. The second version was almost perfect except I needed to make the opening just a little bit bigger so it would slide over the brake bar, the shifters, and the handle bar. 

That was an easy adjustment so then I cut it out of my Cordura fabric. This is a thick, stiff fabric that will hold its shape. I used a blue cordura for the side piece. I ended up with three pattern pieces. The first is the oven mitt piece, the second is the long rectangle for the side piece that wraps around, and the third piece is the cuff that is made from a stretchy knit. I didn't take a picture of the next step, but basically I cut out the same pieces in a Malden Mills Polar Fleece and put it inside the shell wrong sides together. Then I attached the cuff to both of these layers. 

Here is the inside of the pogie. I cut the lining 1.5" shorter than the shell and then just finished the edge of the lining, folded it down, and topstitched from the outside. 

This last part is optional but makes for extra cozy mitts. I used a foam mat and cut into the shape taken up by the bar and brake lines. You don't have to do this, but then cold air comes in from the bottom and goes right into your warm hands. I just cut ovals and then held them up and cut until I got the right shape. 

 You shove those "plugs" into the cuffs and it blocks the air. The knit cuffs keep them in place.

Done, done, and done. I added some reflective tape to the front of mine because it's always dark and I bike a lot early in the morning. 

Let me know if there is any interest and I can add pictures of my actual pattern pieces. It's pretty darn easy and CHEAP! My son wants a pair now too. I couldn't find anything like my Cordura at JoAnn's so I bought some leather-ish vinyl in the Home Dec department and I'm thinking it will work well for this pattern. I think I'll start on those tomorrow. Happy trails. Literally! 

Here are the plans and the pieces that I used to make my pogies. You are basically just making a curved tube, adding a cuff to one end, and hemming the other end. Let me know if it's not clear what I did. 

Note: All green boxes below are in 1" intervals so that gives you the scale. This is the main piece. I cut this in two layers. The first is a thick Cordura and the second time in a fleece for the lining. On the lining piece, I cut off the 1.5" hem at the top. There is also a rectangle piece for each of those fabrics too (look on the directions above).

This is the stretchy cuff. I had made it too narrow the first time so I added a bit of width to it. 

Bison, bitches . . .

I know this is a sewing blog, but I'm also an Alaskan and hunting and gathering runs in my blood. Don't read if you are offended by hunting, blood, and death.

It is thought that steppe and wood bison inhabited Alaska and have only recently become extinct. In Alaska, bison were transplanted here in the 1920s. Since the 1950s, they have allowed hunting of the herd. They only allow about 100 people permits to hunt this herd and I was one of the lucky out of 15,000-20,000. Once you pull a permit and have a successful hunt, you can't even put in for this permit again for 10 years. It's kind of a big deal.

Here she is, I shall call her Bessy. We will eat her delicious meat and I plan on having the hide tanned. They have the most luscious, thick, glossy hair. I've never seen a bison up close and personal and I was amazed at the thick coat. Nothing will go to waste. We are even cutting the long bones lengthwise for amazing bone marrow. As best we can tell, she's a 3-4 year old female and she has had a few births.

Of course, when you shoot something, you get to spend a loooong time out in the field skinning it out. We were especially careful this time because I wanted the hide in good shape. 

Back to your regularly scheduled sewing soon . . .

Jalie Galaxie Bags

I've been making a bunch of bags lately. I'm a member of two PTAs, countless committees, one gym (Orange Theory*), one graduate level class, and I work full-time and have four children. Needless to say, I have a lot of different activities on my plate (I didn't even mention all the kid activities!). The ones mentioned above all need stuff. You know, the inside-gym-shoes, the PTA Secretary binder, the enormous lunch to feed kids on the way to Honor Choir, etc. I've found that the best way to organize my life is making "go bags" for each of my activities. All my elementary PTA Secretary stuff goes in one bag and I grab the entire bag in the morning and go. All my unmanned aerial class stuff goes in one bag for the days I need it. I have a bookshelf and all my colorful bags sit on the bottom shelf and they are ready to go when I am. Each bag has a collection of the "normal" stuff, a few pens/pencils, a little travel tissue, hand sanitizer, etc. 

These are just some of the Jalie Galaxie bags I've made. There are two more at work that sit behind my desk all ready to go. I have made four of the larger, Soleil bags and one of the smaller Saturne bags (the teal/black/yellow). I love these are they are the perfect size for my gym shoes, binders, etc. So far, I've been using IKEA canvas fabric because it's bright, pretty, and sturdy. 

I'm always looking for ways to be organized and be more efficient. Do you guys have great ideas for organizing your life? I'd love to hear them. I know I'd be lost without my Google calendars! 

* Do any of you do Orange Theory? I think I'm addicted. I usually run all winter and ski most of the winter. But, this winter, ugh, don't even get me started. We have little snow and it's been cold. For weeks. I can't remember the last time is was above 20 degrees Fahrenheit. And at night, it's getting down to 5 BELOW zero. Brrr. I'm an Alaskan girl and I can handle the cold. I'm just so tired of it this winter. Anyway, Orange Theory is this interval workout and your heart rate results are on the board for everyone to see. You want to be in the orange zone. I'm such a competitive person, that really motivates me to work hard. Plus, they work in a lot of weight lifting which I need to do more of. I really love it! 

Jalie 3668–Valerie Raglan Top

Problem: Winter is coming not just in King’s Landing, but also in Alaska. My phone is bigger this year and when I put my phone in my butt pocket of my running tights, my tights start to fall down. No one wants to see that!

Solution: Time to whip up a top with a pocket for a cell phone. I would put my phone in a jacket pocket, but it gets too cold and stops working. At 10 degrees Farenheit, my phone will stay alive for approximately eight minutes. My phone needs to be in a warm place against skin. And not in my sports bra because then my phone gets sweaty. I know, gross, sorry.

I used the Jalie Valerie Raglan and used the front zipper option. I added knit piping to the side panel and a zippered pocket to the arm.

I made the knit piping way too wide and it kind of sticks out funny. I may zig-zag the edges down so they don’t stick out strangely.

When I made this, I was like, “Dude, that’s a great zipper!”

Then I was like, “Sweet! my phone fits perfectly.”

But then I was like, “It’s not so easy to bend my elbow. Well crap, it’s WAY TOO LOW. Dammit” Arg. So I nailed the pocket, and the zipper, but not the height.

But if I pull it up a bit, it works fine and I can bend my elbow.

For this raglan running top, I used a super plush wicking, Merino wool with Lycra. The “piping” is a swimsuit knit.

I have run in this top and it’s super comfortable and the pocket functions exactly like it should (as long as you have the sleeve pulled up!). Next time, I’ll start the pocket much higher on the raglan arm. I totally just eyeballed it this time. Next time I’ll measure (ewwww, what??!) and make sure it’ll work.

Hey Fishy, Fishy

If you’ve spent much time reading my blog, you know we are into game meat and fish. We spend the fall hunting moose, caribou, and bison (yes, really, we have some in Alaska) and summer collecting up delicious fishies. We just wrapped up commercial fishing. You know that “Alaskan Sockeye Salmon” you buy at Costco? Well, that very well could have come from our nets. Of course, there are lots of commercial fishing operations and we are a tiny one. This year we hope to break even. Most years we lose money fishing. We treat it more as a fun family vacation where there is a lot of hard work. I do these wrap-up posts most years and you can read more about the fishing here (2016, 2014, 2013, 2012). This year I seem to have no actual fish pictures. Oops.

This is our little creek that flows behind the cabins. This year, a busy beave dammed up the bottom of our creek so the level was really high.

Usually we can hop over this creek, but not this year. It made for lots of fun though.

Before I left town, I made lots of headbands for beach breezes. It usually isn’t cold but there is an almost-constant breeze. It’s the ultimate easy project. One rectangle and two stitches, no hemming. Let me know if you want me to share the dimensions and the super hard sewing directions.

Our poor dog had a porcupine encountered. Luckily it was only two quills and they weren’t embedded all that deeply. They were scarily close to her eyeball though. We pulled them out with pliers.

My son did a Cook Inlet mud walk to get our dinner for the night, a couple of pinks (DELICIOUS before they are frozen), a chum, and a silver. He’s looking a lot more teenager, isn’t he?

It was warm enough that they could float down another creek on floaties. This creek is much colder than our creek.

This is the night we got back to town. The cat wasn’t even alone much, but she was so, so, so, so, SO happy we were home.

Woof.

It’s that time of year again! The time of year where we go commercial fishing!! I’ve commented on this over the years so feel free to go back and look them over. Beware of blood! (2014, 2013, 2012)

I’m done. So done. I just want to laze around for a couple of days and mend my aching back and un-stick my claw-like fingers. Sockeye salmon, yum. I’m a total salmon snob. I only like to eat fresh-caught sockeye salmon. (Jalie Merino wool top! I wore this, like, The Whole Time)

 

Sand.

 

Sun.

 

Frog hunting with the kids. We caught five.

 

Fires.

 

Beautiful sunsets.

 

Creek beautification.

 

 

Wet, happy dog (she just turned one!!).

 

I ran up a mountain. There was snow.

See? I can’t even write. I’ll be up and at it shortly, but right now, I just want tea and sleep.