Bike helmet cover

I've purchased covers in the past from other vendors to 'pretty up' a boring black helmet . But the time came to make one myself.

The style that worked best was an oversize tam. It goes around the helmet easily.

By the time you tuck in the sides to streamline, you kind of have a newsboy type cap. On my first prototype i did a small token brim and tacked it under. You cant see it very well topside. Maybe the tiniest edge sticks out. But it does give a bit of a shading structure to the cover.

To keep it from slipping, a short drawstring around the brim. Also makes it adjustable.

Simple surface embroidery.

It doesnt take long to make. But tams do take a fair bit of yarn. So in the range of $25 - 30.

On the 2nd prototype, i did one round too many and had a bulky tuck at the sides. (*8 rounds depending on hook size). To disguise it, i did more embroidery on the side seam. Gave a vine like effect. CLICK HERE for online album with more pics.

One commentor said something about the first sample being like the animal covers that kids wear over helmets on the ski hills. It's been a long time since alpine skiing for me. And there were no helmet covers then (helmets - bah !).  But it's a good idea. I see a local pet shop stocks animal themed knitwear for dog walker etc. i think. Dog riding obvs not the most common idea (altho i do have a  walking rod on the trike for Jo. We go very slow). More likely for kid bike helmets.

Believe it or not, i have sold 2 of them. Hmmm....

Bike pogie covers 2.0

 

I finished these in the spring but neglected to make notes at the time. Crocheted with a purple camo yarn i had lots of.

I did shape these. But honestly, they could be rectangles and it would be fine.

Quicker, Takes a fair bit of yarn. Bit more time than one would think. But for sure quicker than the  lined set.

Quick to surface decorate.

Perfectly served the function to brighten up black Mec bike mitts.

Could obvs be easily personalized.

Re price, i don't think you could charge less than $30 for the pair, given the time and yarn volume.

I would make them again if requested. 

CLICK HERE  for a few more pics

Kayak mitts - design notes

 

Finally finished. And weather is right for field testing these.

Worked great. There were decent gusts and waves. 10 c day. There was superficial water spatter on top of the mitts. You could see water beads. But the mitts stayed dry inside & out.

I didnt tighten the  drawstrings around the paddle slots, but could have. Fingers were cool. But when i took hands out to take pics, my hands became noticeably colder.

These took a long time to make. Started in round, 2 needle centre section for paddle slots, back to in round to finish. Stripes since working with scrap & didnt know i had enough yarn. Would be way fewer yarn ends to sew in without stripes. Would eliminate stripes if making for sale to keep time commitment therefore time costs down.

Made mitts long for potential male sizing.  They were too long for me. But i ended up getting extra warmth from grabbing the extra length from inside and  creating another layer of barrier to the air. so i'd keep that length. Maybe make a bit wider for a man.

Had thought about lining them with flannel or fleece. But cloth doesnt repel water as well. So am happy with result unlined.

Has taken me a couple of years of picking away at these.  Timing had to be right to test them.

Generally satisfied with result.

Cold battery workaround

Yesterday I re-experienced a prob i have with the trike in winter - motor chugging, mainly up big hills. I think it's the cold. My fingers were freezing (after taking them out of mitts to take pics) going in the direction of the chugging. When turned and had the wind at my back, fingers thawed and no more chugging.

I have this bike trunk for the Hilltopper battery in summer, just to give it a place to live. The seat post strap is really worn down due to some rubbing i didnt realize was going on. So the batt lives in this trunk on the rat trap. But it almost overheats in spring-summer in there. Half way thru a short ride, I have realized it's noticeably to the touch. So i unzip and let the heat out. (I likely need another solution with better airflow for the HT batt.) But it occurred to me yesterday, maybe that heat buildup could be useful for winter riding.

Shown here is my Solo Rock battery. It's a tight squeeze to get it into this trunk. But it does fit. When i checked the battery this morning - temp +1C, no sun - the batt was cool to the touch. Certainly no signs of overheating. No chugging. Next step - try this on my steep, cold hill for effect on chugging.

Re moisture. I had left the front end, closest to the wheels, unzipped. There were a few water drops on the batt on the open end. I can certainly orient it so that it zips around further. Not sure if it will offer protection from salt.

Perhaps the old slush-proofing go-to, Scotchgard around the trunk. After that, an aesthetic plastic bag for the winter.

So far so good.

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 :)

Whole year of cycling - mission accomplished!

I've been loosely keeping a social media record this winter of when I/we have been able to get out on bikes.

I combed thru my google photos last nite, and effective Feb. 21, we've biked all year. Woo hoo!!!

That doesn't mean every single day. Obviously even in summer there are travel days where we might not have biked - travel days, days that are just too busy, or family visiting days. So i have cut myself some slack on that in winter as well. There might have been a 4 -5 day block where we didn't bike, but never as long as a full week.

It takes a few seasons to get all the pieces in place. Changeover to winter was a lot easier this year with a couple of sets of handlebar mitts at the ready in the garage. I think i have 3 balaclavas now.  They give varying degrees of coverage. My go to one is a Mec that goes quite far down the back of the neck. I gravitate to a turtleneck, polar fleece vest, long coat, bala and wool watch cap over top for super cold days. Was -11 C yesterday, and i was fine. Fingertips feel it when you take off glove to shoot a couple of pics! :)

The next hurdle is making your bike easy to get out in winter. We have an old school garage. Mainly well-aged particle board with a new roof and door. (My point here is to show you don't have to have state of the art, HGTV worthy garage to facilitate this.) Making sure winter bikes aren't stuffed way to the back has been key. Our driveway is pea gravel. It gets icy back there. I have the crew make sure there's a decent amount of salt down. Past years the 2nd car, which older son now uses, has blocked  the way out. Car is more in use this year, so it has been easier to shovel thru to maintain a clear path to the road.

Once you're out to the road, you're in the clear! Here in Halton Hills (nw GTA),  the main road ways are clear pretty reliably within 24 hours after a major storm. I have tended to use the adult trike with electric wheel in winter. Heavy, solid, plows thru anything and doesn't skid out. The only problem it has is that if you get stuck on iced over car tire ruts - that leads to a fear of tripping problem. But the main source of problem for that has been my driveway, not any where else.

It has also helped that bike buddy is taller and stronger. It used to be a worry, him not being roadwise enough to look carefully past tall snowbanks at intersections.

My rides weren't long. In general i like having an errand, rather than just riding in loop. Taking pics becomes an errand. Nothing fancy, just even an update to IG story. This kind of project forces you to view your surroundings with a fresh, appreciative eye every day. (Note to self - new theme needed for next winter!)

The pluses:

* no cabin fever thru jan - feb

* no expensive gym membership needed.

* no struggle with unsatisfying sweaty claustrophobic indoor workout

* outdoors essentially every day

* great life skill taught to the kid

* maintained hip  flexibility

* some hip strength retained

* general positive mental health maintained - no SAD, cabin fever etc.


What to do differently:

* incorporate indoor strengthening regime. In the past when locked in on snow days, i have a workout involving paddle strokes and  light repeats/strengthening/ stretching, that i just didnt do this year due to time constraints. But i am missing the upper body tone up, especially on side that has a weaker shoulder.  So i have to protect time for  at least a scaled down version of that.

So i'll keep posting my #winterbiking pics, i guess until equinox - when that would be #springbiking .

But suffice it to say, photo record shows i have already made it thru a full year of biking :D :D :D

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.