A few more handmade gifts ~ barley hot packs

January 1948 in northern New Hampshire

At our house we love these barley hot packs -- or, as we call them,  simply "barley bags".  They are terrific for soothing sore muscles, cramps, etc.,  or just for warming up a cold bed at night.  In the old days people would heat bricks on the wood stove to serve that latter purpose.  My husband (who is not that old) actually remembers doing this.  Now, heating a barley bag in the microwave can achieve the same result.  You can find the instructions for making them here: How to make barley hot packs.

This Christmas I thought it would be a fine idea to make my two older granddaughters their very own barley bags.  I was right.  They were thrilled and put the hot packs to use that very night.  One hot pack was red plaid:

And one was green plaid:

And I have since made a third one since they thought their mom would like to have one too.

As I mentioned in the directions, I think, over time the barley can take on a scorched aroma.  When that happens, you can open up the place where the bag was hand-stitched shut, dump out the scorched barley, put the empty bag through the washer and dryer, add fresh barley, and stitch it up again.  I just did this with one of ours.  Just like new again!

The pictures can't really convey how warm and cozy these flannel hot packs are.  If it's cold in your neck of the woods, you might want to whip up a few of these!