Crochet Skills

January 29, 2012 By

Kind of simple and boring, so I put a flower clip on it. Because I didn't have a bird.

Since I’ve been doing s a few projects requiring crochet skills, I decided to brush up on them with a couple of simple projects using yarn I had “laying around”. I made this simple cap with mostly double and triple stitches, in the round, and some decreasing. I forgot the you should really start a cap at the top, so I kind of worked backwards, but it worked.

I’ve also discovered that Kitteh is very much a “ball of yarn” kind of kitteh. I will have to get photos of that as it is quite amusing. I know not to let her around the yarn unattended, though, and keep my projects in a box when I’m not around. I know too many people who have spent thousands getting yarn cut out of cat bellies.

Bridal Tulle (the fine gauge stuff) makes a good everyday scrubbie. For a tough scrubber, you'll want to use the coarser netting.

I also made another set of scrubbies from a roll of that bridal tulle I had laying around. This time, I got the “in the round” right and they are all a nice, flat circle about 4″ in diameter. It seems like one roll of bridal tulle, cut in half (that’s the PITA part) makes 5 of these almost exactly. Now I just need to learn to work the saw so I can cut the roll in half quickly!

Filed Under: Crafts & Sewing, Upcycle

The bag o’ bags

January 25, 2012 By

Oh my crochet skills are weak!

is complete! Towards the end of the project I was literally scrounging around the house looking for two more plastic bags! Something I was swimming in when I started.

If you are looking to upcycle a huge stash of bags in a somewhat useful way, this is a great project. All you need is:

  • A bunch of plastic “t-shirt” bags
  • Scissors (or cut with a straightedge and a rotary cutter, like I did)
  • A large crochet needle
  • Patience

You can find the basic directions for turning bags into “yarn” here. Here are a few project patterns. I kind of winged it.

My crochet skills were somewhat lacking when I started; aside from the scrubbies I made the other day I hadn’t crocheted in years. Nonetheless, I think it turned out ok. I would like to make another, so I’m putting out a call for plastic bags!

Egyptian Grocery Bags

While I was hunting down bags, I found these two from my trip to Egypt. I held them out because I really want to keep the printing on them. Maybe these are good for a fused project?

Filed Under: Upcycle