Crafty post - another pot cozy

A couple of years ago I made pot cozies for my 3 pots.  I also made circles that are used to both protect the pot bottoms when nested and as pot holders in the backcountry. We usually don't bring the largest pot and the bag that came with my pots is plenty big with the cozied pots in it. 

My pot cozies with pot "holders"

I used fabric designed for pot holders. The silver side can be exposed to heat so the white cotton fabric is on the outside. This fabric was very expensive, so I had to be careful when cutting it to ensure very little waste.

When I got the idea to do this, I had seen a couple of online sets of pot cozies that were made out of material you'd get at Home Depot, such as a metal/plastic type of wrap. I prefer to work with fabric and the pot cozies I have now have really stood up to repeated use very nicely.

Here's today's project:

Getting ready to sew!

LT only has 2 pots in his set, with 2 lids and a frypan. There are 3 circles in the picture above as 2 are for pot holders and one is going to be the bottom of the pot cozy I'm making for his bigger pot. He only wanted one cozy. I'm going to make a nylon bag with a drawstring to hold the set. I bought a couple of plastic toggles to tie off the drawstring with.

I've mentioned before that I'm not great with making my own patterns. I cut a pattern out in parchment paper first. My pots were completely cylindrical so no issue there. LT's pots are angled. Hmmmm. I marked a start point on the paper and as I rolled the pot along it on its side, I marked in pencil the shape. I tried the paper shape out against the circle for the bottom. It took a few tries to get the right size.

All sewn up!

I made the cozy a bit higher than the pot. It can be folded down if needed.

LT's full set of pots

And here's the final product in the drawstring bag.

Black nylon = doesn't show the dirt!

I'm going to make a confession here. I tried to extend the fabric from an angle to a straight, but ended up veering to one side. As the opening is just big enough to get everything in, I can't correct it. But it's just a bag and you'd never know unless you were laying the empty bag flat on a surface. 

I paid $2.80 for two toggles (used one), $6 for a remnant of black nylon and the rest of the items I had already (pot holder fabric, thread, shoelace for drawstring). This wasn't an expensive project because I already had the expensive fabric.

This was a fun afternoon project!

Bags, Bags, Bags....

Backcountry canoe camping is all about the bags, 'bout the bags, no trouble......sorry, couldn't help myself there.

We each carry a large MEC backpack.  In those packs are dry bags, stuff sacs, compression bags, bags for the stoves, bags for the clothes, bags for the food, bags for the garbage.  Bags inside of bags.

In the early spring of 2014 we both got new backpacks at MEC.  I had previously used my son's, but he headed off to Australia for a year and took his big backpack with him.  The nerve!  I now have the MEC Aurora 75 and I'm very happy with it.

http://www.mec.ca/product/5032-786/mec-aurora-75-backpack-womens/

A couple of the features I really like about my bag is the swivel hip belt and the ability to open it like a duffle bag with a zipper, not just through the top. It holds a lot and distributes the weight well making it easier to carry.  We got LT a new pack too.  It was his birthday present, but it arrived a bit early.

His 'n Hers Packs - Guess which one is mine?

Inside my backpack I have a huge 35 litre drybag.  If I had the chance to make the decision to buy that big of a drybag again, I probably wouldn't. It is a bit more limiting than several smaller bags.  But I get a lot of comfort knowing most of my stuff is in a drybag in case my pack ever ends up in the lake. Preparing for these things happening is almost a guarantee that they won't. Almost!  

LT saw a bag that goes under the canoe seat that someone had made.  He described it to me and I attempted to recreate a bag that would give him access to a few items while seated in the canoe.  Trying to get an item out of our carefully packed huge backpacks in the canoe is a recipe to end up in the drink!  In his under-the-seat bag he carries his Nalgene water bottle, sunscreen, and bug spray.  When he's portaging and carrying the canoe on his shoulders, he does not remove this bag from the seat it's attached to.

Supplies - I used upholstery fabric

Final Product

His map goes in a totally different bag.  He has an Osprey water resistant clear plastic map case that he Velcros onto the stern thwart (yeah, I had to Google that) and it sits on top of the backpack lying in the bottom of the canoe, a built-in table!

Speaking of homemade "bags", I sewed pot cozies for each of the pots in my T-fal camping pot set.  I found some potholder fabric at Fabricland and made sure I put the fireproof side in to hold the heat as best possible.  This concept allows me to rehydrate food without having to cook it.  I can put the dried food in the pot with the boiled water and just let it sit all cozied up.

Let me just tuck you in....

I could not believe when I bought my sleeping bag how small it is when stuffed into the compression bag it comes with.  I kept walking around Bushtukah with it in my right hand poised to throw it for a touchdown - it's exactly the size of an American football.  

This is one of my favourite bags we carry, just because it's very functional. I'm working up to using it as a shower on one of our warmer trips this summer. I think I need to get it some sort of a black plastic sheath to lay it out in the sun to warm up.

Fill me up with lakewater....

Of course the key is to make sure you NEVER leave a bag behind anywhere! We learned that the hard way on one trip.  

Shhhhhhhh - they're sleeping!

What kind of bags do you carry?