Handlebar Mitts (Pogies) - Road Test 3 - Rain - Passed!

Well i think i've taken these as far as i can. Conclusion - they are great if you're making them out of wool and cloth you have at home and don't want to spend money on them. Also are cuter than store-bought options out there.

Was drizzly today, but came down mild to medium hard on way back. Hallelujah - the insides stayed dry! You could feel the top was damp, but there was no dampness inside. See video HERE.

I was worried the minky cloth i ordered from Spoonflower might not work. But i put my hands in and out of the gloves numerous times on this ride, and the insides didn't get wet.

I like all the colour on them, and the bike patterns.  Used duplicate stitch for the letters, needle punch for the bikes, and french knots for snow, flakes, lazy daisy st for the yellow flowers floating out behind the bikes. The Happy Bike print on the cloth liner was so fun. So aesthetic-wise - 200 percent improvement over MEC type pogies.

It was about 4 degrees C when we were out. The kid had cloth bike gloves, and his hands were wet and cold. Mine weren't. If biking sub zero, i would wear  lite biking glove underneath. I do this with my rubber store-bought ones anyway.

They've been a while in the making. I think you could get your money back selling them if you used fun locally sourced flannel (vs specially ordered cloth), as well as wool already in stash. So let's say $30 in wool, $15 in cloth. Time in labour - 3 hours knitting, 1 hr cutting & sewing, 2 hours topical stitching. So undervaluing one's time at $5 an hour, that's $30 in construction time. Total - $75 in time and materials. To buy them in non-black vinyl colours is over $100, so this is still cheaper to make your own, and has way more character.

If you were to make them for other people, i'd ditch the cloth liner. Make a cover for MEC pogies to give character. The top stitching gives quirky pattern and colour. Simplify the design to take 1 hour. Now you're at $30 in wool,  $25 in construction time = $55 time and materials cost. Ditch the embroidery and you're down to $45 time and mat. If you could sell the covers for $50, then you would start making money.

If it's just a cover, you could make from acrylic-wool blend or just acrylic for less cost/more colour. I will try a prototype pogie cover in A or AW blend, and record results.

I think this bodes well for the experiment i want to do on kayak pogies. Basic mitten shape that can be smaller since it doesnt have to stretch over  brake levers, hole thumb and opposite side for paddle shaft to pass thru. Line with flannel to absorb some water, definitely wool shell to repel splashing.

Rewarding project :)

Knitted Handlebar Mitts - Test 2

Finally got around to testing these today with their new alpaca liner.

They actually held up fairly well. I think you can see from the pic that my cheeks are pretty red. It was cold. Like about -2 deg C with a brisk wind.

But my hands were fine. I tried them first with a basic stretchy dollar store mini glove inside. No cold issues whatsoever. Not sweaty. You could feel a cool pocket inside the glove. The metal brake handle was cold, never became un-cold, just not as frigid.

Went around the neighbourhood making scout deliveries.  Probably out for around 40 mins. So a lot of stopping and starting as the kid went from house to house. I cooled down. But hands never got cold.

For about a block on the way home, i used no glove inside the mitts. That was also fine. My hands werent cold to the bone. And the hands do slip in and out of the mitt easier.

The mitt has a narrow black alpaca liner on the inside. I wanted to try a tight fit right against the hand for better insulation. You can still feel cold against the skin, but again not bone numbing.

The brake handle does poke thru the liner. But that's the good thing about knitting. it has kind of built in chinks so there's lots of give.

I could have tried tightening off the draw strings to keep more cold out. I didnt really get a chance before the ride was over.

I like how the knit mitt gives you a lot more colour options, which is what i wanted.

The thing i'm not sure is sustainable is the length of time to make it. If I were to sell, i'd like to keep the  price $50 or less. but i think with the extra yarn in the liner and the time to make and stitch together, i wouldnt make money on it.

If you could get the same results from a  knit as you go double layer, like thru Fair Isle stranding, that might cut time. But the patterning is less mindless than i'd like it to be. I wonder if simply weaving an a layer on the wrong side might do it. not tricky, but extra time.

Back to simple pattern Fair Isle. I might have to give up the band i wanted for  duplicate stitch personalization. But that would have taken extra time anyway.

I'm also not sure right now how it does for snow or rain repellent.  It's not going to be as  repellent as plastic, but it might do okay for snow, and get you most of the way home dry in a light rain.

More mulling required, I think.