Not a Knitting Day

While pondering repairing things yesterday, I came across my wheat bag and my bean bag.  

The bean bag is in the yellow floral fabric and looks in decent shape.  The wheat bag?  Not so much.  

Until this morning, I thought it was looking gruesome but was in otherwise good shape. However as I was taking photos, I realized this.

There are several tiny holes muslin and that means its life is over.

I have had this bag for at least 15 years, possibly twenty and have used it regularly.  Tucked under my blankets before I go to bed, it makes up a cozy warm spot for my feet.  If my feet are warm, I fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply. That the bag is actually wearing out should not be a surprise.  The bean bag is no more than a year newer than the wheat bag so they have both been around a very long time.

I much prefer the wheat bag.  It holds heat longer and the shape of it is much nicer for the way I like to use it. Its wider shape means a wider area is warmed and that is really lovely.    

However, until this morning, none of that is what I was thinking about.  What I was thinking about was knitting or sewing new pretty covers for both.  I have been watching the Finish Knitting stories Vlog for a while now and last week, Jana was making some really beautiful hot water bottle covers.  I have a couple hot water bottles here somewhere and thought about making covers for them, but I really don't like hot water bottles.  They are not as easy to use as the wheat and bean bag and don't hold the heat nearly as long.  

My thoughts were about what sort of pattern would I knit and was wool the best cozy cover  or was cotton best? How does wool microwave over time?  Cotton is fine but was a knitted cover sensible?  Is a cotton fabric cover the better option?

And now I am needing an entirely new wheat bag.  Reusing the existing wheat may be an option but I doubt it.  After this long, I am better off to start brand new.  Oh well.  That is the way the cookie crumbles.  In my area, wheat is easy to source particularly at this time of year.  Part of the days work will be to source it and I am also going to have to dig out all the cottons to see what sort of bag to make.  Maybe a quilted scrap fabric cotton bag?  Or a plain muslin?

And then somewhere down the road to make a cozy heat holding removable cover to fancy it up a bit.