Knit (Crochet or Sew) Ear Savers for Health Professionals

There’s been a surge in making homemade cloth masks for medical professionals and everyday people to wear to help slow the spread of the virus and protect workers who might not have other equipment to use.

But the elastic on these and other masks can be really irritating to the backs of the ears when you need to wear a mask all day.

One option is to make masks with ties, but if you are making the elastic ear band ones you can also make ear savers, which is just a piece of fabric that can be sewn, knit or crocheted and placed on the back of the head. Buttons on each end hold the loops of elastic so they don’t have to rest on the ears.

The instructions for all three methods are available on Ravelry. (There are no actual knit photos in the instructions; but it’s just a strip of Garter Stitch.) Or check out my pattern for knit ear savers.

Want to knit a face mask? These are fine to wear over a medical mask, and are a fun conversation starter!

[Photo: Cuddly Crochet Creations.]

Next Pattern:

If you’re looking for a sweater knitting pattern that uses up some of your stash and allows you to make just the sweater you want, the Marlina Rib by Shay Johson might be just the thing.

It’s worked with two strands of fingering weight yarn held together to make a DK weight gauge, so you can use the same two yarns throughout or change one or both regularly for an even more colorful look.

The pattern has options to make it either a crewneck or a henley style with buttons, tapered or relaxed sleeves, and a straight hemline or a split hem with buttons (which sounds so cute if you do the henley with split hem and match the buttons on both parts).

It’s also knit from the top down so you can make the body and the sleeves as long as you want. There are 10 sizes available in the pattern, with a chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 81.5 to 172.5 cm. It’s meant to be worn with 4-6 inches/10-15 cm of positive ease at the chest.

The pattern page on Ravelry includes tons of measurements and yardage estimates so you can make sure you’ll get a good fit for your body before you even buy the pattern. Shay also shows a few variations of the sweater so you can see how different options look before you decide how you want to put them together.

The stitch pattern is 1×2 ribbing, which is really easy to do and gives a look almost like fisherman’s rib that’s relaxed and easy to wear.

This sweater looks like a great option for people who are somewhat new to sweater knitting or those who love to have lots of customization options (because it’s like getting multiple sweater patterns in one!).

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself at Ravelry.

[Photo: Shay Johnson]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply