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Frustration is in the bag with boxed cereals

Dear Readers: Today’s sound off comes from a reader whose frustrations center around the bags inside breakfast-cereal boxes.

Jim S. in Houston wrote: “One of my pet peeves is the difficulty in opening plastic bags inside boxed items such as cereal. One would think that in this technological age, someone would have figured out how to make easy-to-open bags. Do you have any solution other than scissors?”

Jim, the best solution I have is scissors, because it’s only sometimes that “the powers that be” are on your side and these bags can be easily opened. Since that’s a rarity, your best bet is a pair of scissors. — Heloise

FAST FACTS

Dear Readers: Here are some things you can consider making when you have skeins of leftover yarn:

* Crochet simple scarves or mittens and give to homeless shelters.

* Knit baby caps and give to hospitals for NICU (neonatal intensive-care unit) babies.

* Knit or crochet large squares or rectangles and send to animal shelters for bedding or covering.

* Make articles of clothing and place in donation boxes/stations.

* Search the web for free patterns for one-skein projects.

— Heloise

GOOD USES FOR

EXTRA SKEINS

Dear Readers: I just gave you some hints for using up those extra skeins of yarn, which are listed in the Fast Facts. A reader wrote in about what she does with her skeins, and since it supports the column so well, I thought I’d share it with my readers. — Heloise

“I crochet small projects and have leftover yarn. My winter project is combining the leftover skeins and making 50-by-6-inch scarves with multicolored tassels on each end and donating them to a local food pantry.

“I use simple crochet stitches, such as single and double. It keeps me busy, and someone can always use a warm scarf. A word of caution: Don’t make them with scratchy-fiber-type yarn.” — C. Duffy in Alabama

FOLLOW-UP ON

BINDER CLIPS

Dear Readers: I’ve seen a few letters cross my desk with other ways to use binder clips. The ones below are hints I’d not considered but were great hints nonetheless. — Heloise

Mary H. in Arlington, Va., wrote: “When the ‘stand’ on my digital egg timer broke, I used a medium-size binder clip to replace it. Worked perfectly.”

Emily S. in Borger, Texas, wrote: “I read your column in the Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News each day and just finished reading your hints for binder clips. I am a quilter and use them to hold the quilt top, batting and backing taut so that I can start pinning everything together before quilting.”

Alice A. in San Antonio wrote: “I make and quilt baby quilts and pads. Instead of pinning the quilt pieces together for sewing, I roll them together and place about five large, black clips on the roll. It holds the pieces in place and allows me to free-motion quilt with ease.”

——

Hints from Heloise run occasionally in Lifestyles. Readers may send a hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000, fax it to 210-HELOISE, or email: Heloise@Heloise.com. Letters won’t be answered personally.

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