Like many apartments mine boasts poorly insulated windows and baseboard electric heating. Yep, it’s a keeper. With the weather being in the high My Ass is About to Fall Offs I’ve been scheming ingenious ways to keep the plants that are stuck enduring their fate on the cold windowsill warm and alive through these dark days.

With a little extra time and some spare wool on hand I recently crocheted some handy warmers that seem to be making a difference. The first is a cozy coaster that was ridiculously easy for a novice crocheter like me to cobble together. All I did was make your standard crocheted circle — there are lots of books and websites that show how this is done (see list below). However, for those with some basic crochet skills all it takes is to make a small circle by slip stitching a couple of chains, and then double crocheting into that circle on every round, inserting some extra double crochets here and there to keep the coaster sitting flat.

Keep crocheting new rounds until your circle is as large as your pot’s saucer. You can make it a little larger so some of the design peeks over the edges or you can fancy it up with decorative edging like I did. Being the Queen of Scallops I went for the shell stitch which is as simple as double crocheting 3 to 5 times into a stitch until you’ve got a fan shape. Attach each fan (or scallop) to the coaster with a slip stitch and then begin double crocheting into the next stitch. You can spread them out a little bit or keep them tight like I have to make them puff out and curl. Just be sure to set a saucer underneath your plant pot to avoid turning your coaster into a wet and stinky mess.

I’ll post about the other project in a few days so stayed tuned.

Online Tutorials

• For Dummies – Ignore the title cause you ain’t no dummy. Includes illustrations.
• Crocheting a Circle Video Tutorial – For your viewing pleasure. All that and fancy nails too!
• Shell Stitch Video Tutorial