It’s an unusual time – with new opportunities to help others! One of the things I have done is make Quick Crochet Ear Savers for friends who have to wear masks all day, to make it as comfortable as possible. There are lots of patterns for these out there – they are quite simple! – but I thought I’d share how I did it, to help as many as possible.
Disclaimer: Materials provided by Yarnspirations and Clover USA; this post includes affiliate links.
How to Use Ear Savers
Basically, an ear saver is a strip of fabric – cloth, crochet, or knit – with buttons at each end. You put the saver behind the head, and wrap the elastic mask straps around the buttons, rather than your ears.
This takes the strain off the back of the ears, and can make the mask fit a bit tighter too! They are not a “medical” device. But they do need to be washed just like any cloth mask or reusable personal protective equipment you use. So make sure you pick a washable yarn and buttons!
Quick Crochet Ear Savers
Add this pattern to your Ravelry Queue and Favorites
US – G, 4.0 mm – Clover Amour
Red Heart Scrubby Smoothie (100% cotton, worsted weight) – a few yards each
2 3/4″ or 1″ buttons – purchased at JOANN
Sewing Needle and Coats All-Purpose Thread
Size: Approximately 5.5″ long
Helpful Links and Tutorials
FHDC – Foundation Half Double Crochet
INSTRUCTIONS
FHDC 19, hdc 2 in the base of the last st, hdc in the bottom 2 loops of the remaining 18 sts, hdc again in the bottom of the first st; join and break.
Weave in ends. Sew a button on each end.
Quick Crochet Ear Savers Video Tutorial
Stay safe all. Feel free to share this with anyone who needs it!
THE FINE PRINT
Follow Moogly on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr! Thank you to Yarnspirations and Clover for providing the materials shown in this post. Written pattern and photos copyright Tamara Kelly, 2020.
To print or download, use the Print Friendly button below, or go to PrintFriendly.com, or right-click to copy and paste it into a word processing document if those options do not work for you (please note that Print Friendly is a free outside website that the button links to, and you can click here for a tutorial on how to use it, but I cannot provide additional technical support for this service).
Karen
Got a knitting pattern for these?
Tamara Kelly
I would recommend 5mm needles, CO 5 sts, then work in garter stitch to about 5″ long, then bind off and add the buttons! 🙂
Tamara Kelly
Or, I did find a fancier one on Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/knitted-ear-savers 🙂
Beth Hounsome
Thank you so much I have made several for myself and some colleagues.
Diana Enns
On the webpage for the instructions, there is not listing for how many chains to start with – just FHDC in ……
Tamara Kelly
Yes, the FHDC stitch creates the chain and stitch all at once – no need to chain first!
Cheri Diederich
Just like elastic, good luck finding buttons. I have tried 3 times to shop at JoAnns. Each time, I had to wait outside in unpleasant weather. Very few buttons. Their website had shown yarn available before I left the house, only to find it was not available. Tried to order online, and they sent a message they are sending partial number of skeins (no dye lot match then) Those will have to be Returned. Pretty much done with JoAnns for the foreseeable future.
Tamara Kelly
Oof, yeah, they are in high demand! I just ordered a new batch on Amazon US, good luck!
Joanna Elms
For those who can’t make one check out MaskEarSavers.com they give away their profits
Diana Enns
Thanks….I did learn how to do that stitch and am going to work on a few of these mask extenders.
Sharon
I really want to thank you for showing me how to do the foundation stitch with this pattern.
Tamara Kelly
I’m so glad you gave it a try! ♥