by Susan Hibberd

Created on: January 03, 2011

There are literally hundreds of craft items that can be made to keep you warm in the winter. These super items can be crafted throughout the summer months and used during the winter to keep you warm, or to give as gifts.

Craft items can be personal, and intended to be worn by the recipient, or can be made for the home, such as curtain linings, draught excluders or throws.

Knitted Accessories

If you are a keen knitter, then creating personalized accessories should be no problem, whether you are looking at gloves, scarves, sweaters, tank tops, hats or socks.

Even if you are a novice at knitting, items such as scarves are easy to knit. Choose a chunky, textured yarn and your items will turn out looking stylish and expensive. As you gain more experience, you can try beanie hats and fingerless gloves etc.

Swiss Darning is a great way to add a crafty personal touch to an existing garment, and to add layers at the same time.  Swiss Darning means that you use a darning needle and a length of yarn (match the type to the garment eg wool or acrylic) and sew over the knitted stitches so that the resulting design looks like it was knitted when the garment was created.

Sewn Accessories

If you have a sewing machine, you can run up all sorts of items that will keep you or your friends and family warm during the winter. Start with scarves and wraps and work your way up to body warmers and jackets.

Sewn accessories can be decorated with a variety of craft skills, such as appliqué, embroidery, cut-work, smocking or even patchwork.

If you are not a confident seamstress, you can still use your craft skills to personalize plain sewn items and to make them really stand out from the crowd.  Unique gifts can easily be created with a little skill and the application of a deftly wielded needle!

Blankets and Throws

Blankets and throws are great to snuggle up to in the winter weather, and can be used to accessorize your home as well.  Again, a variety of crafting skills can be brought in to play to make these items.

Patchwork throws and blankets are a great used of odd pieces of fabric and can be made to match any room in the house. Snuggle up in the bedroom with a pastel-colored cover, cozy down in front of the TV in a blanket made from neutral tones, or chill out in the den under a zany patchwork of neon brights. Crochet afghan blankets are really in vogue at the moment and are useful throughout the year, keeping chills at bay on chilly summer evenings as well as

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