I love thrifting. Thrifting or buying secondhand is a great way to save money, prevent waste and support local nonprofits. And for those that are a little icked out by thrift stores, then please, instead of tossing your unwanted items in the trash, please, please, please donate them to thrift stores so those of us that aren’t bothered by the ick, can keep the cycle going.
Whenever I need something, I will often look at a thrift store first before buying new. And sometimes I just stop by local thrift stores to see if they have something I didn’t know I needed. 🙂 That’s what I did earlier this week. My husband and I had gone hiking at Project Chimp-if you are ever in north Georgia, check it out! We hiked the very steep white trail and were able to see a couple chimps from the observation deck using binoculars . We also heard them a lot while hiking. It was neat and I hope to one day manage to get tickets to one of their public events to see the chimps up close. After hiking we had lunch at a fantastic Cuban style restaurant in Blairsville, GA called Nani’s. Check them out if you are ever in the area-no website but Google it. The fried plantains and the Chicky plate are fantastic and consistently delicious. After lunch we went to a nearby thrift store that supports the local Humane Society. This place is huge. I was lucky enough to find a set of double pointed knitting needles and a skein of yarn for 50 cents each. Whenever I buy something at a thrift store, the first thing I do when I get home is clean it, aka remove the ick. The yarn didn’t appear dirty but had a slight smell like it had been in storage and therefore needed to be cleaned before using. So how do you clean a skein of yarn? Easy!
First, wind the yarn into a hank or a loose circle. I use my yarn swift but you can do this manually by winding the yarn onto the back of a chair or something else that will create a large circle of yarn. See photo below.
Next, tie the circle of yarn four or five times evenly spaced out around the circle. Make sure you tie up both ends of the yarn. The purpose of this is to keep the yarn together so make sure you knot the ties well.
Now wash the yarn! Check your yarn label for washing instructions. My yarn label stated machine wash and dry so I placed my circle of yarn into a mesh delicates laundry bag and washed and dried it along with some towels. I did remove the yarn from the dryer before the end of the cycle as I knew the towels would take a lot longer to dry than the yarn.
Once the yarn was fully dry, I placed it back on the yarn swift and wound it into a ball. Now the yarn smells fresh and is ready to use! It’s that easy.
In my last post, I wrote about two baby blankets and two bears I made for the North Georgia Pregnancy Services Center. When I dropped of the two granny blankets and bears, I also included a third blanket and bear. This blanket was made with scrap/stash Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice yarn. For this blanket, I gathered all the Vanna’s Choice I had left in stash and separated it into two groups, muted cool colors and warm autumn like colors. I’ve been playing around with the muted cool colored yarn in a different project and will post about it once it is complete. For the the warm autumn like colors I decided to make a baby blanket.
I used the Cute as a Button Baby Blanket as my pattern but had to mix it up some to make the pattern work with the yarn I had. Rather than making the middle a solid color as written in the pattern, I opted for diagonal stripes in order to use all the small amounts of multi-colored skeins. And, since the middle was made with a variety of color, I opted to make the edging solid rather than the multicolored edging as written in the pattern. Finally, I left off the buttons as with the striped center, buttons would have been too busy.
This pattern starts in one corner then increases until half the main section is made, then starts decreasing to finish the second half. My goal was to use as much of my scrap stash as possible without running out of yarn at the end. So I set aside the yarn I planned to use for the edging, weighed what was left, split it into two equal parts and placed into separate bags. The goal was to work the pattern increases until the first bag of yarn was used up then start the decreases with the second bag of yarn. This worked!
I was so excited to use this awesome yarn for a baby blanket that looked really cool. The edging was stitched with a different, but very similar yarn that was given to me. I’m glad I had it as it gave the blanket the perfect edging. And while I had A LOT of ends to weave in (seriously close to 90) I used up all but a teeny tiny bit of off white. Don’t worry, it will get used in a future project. 🙂
Once the blanket was done, I made another Easy Peasy bear to donate with it. I’m really excited with how well they came out and hope they find a nice home with a new mom and her baby.
With a little bit of imagination and creativity, you can make two items from the same pattern that look completely different! Modified version above and original pattern below.
Over the years I have posted about using up stash yarn on charitable projects. It’s now 2025 and yup, I’m STILL working on my yarn stash. At one time my yarn stash was HUGE. Not like yarn store big or anything, but somehow I had accumulated a lot more yarn than I had reasonable storage space for. So I’ve been working on it (for a number of years) a little at a time and I’ve recently completed six projects from stash that have been donated to a local charity. The charity is called North Georgia Pregnancy Services Center (The Center) and it provides some medical services and support to women who are pregnant and their newborn babies. When I stopped in the office to ask if they could use baby blankets I received an enthusiastic “YES!” as they like to include a handmade blanket in the package they give to each expecting mother using their services. I was super excited to hear this as I love to crochet for charitable organizations and very pleased to find a local organization to support.
Last year I completed two granny square baby blankets with no recipient in mind. They were made with stash yarn-super soft Knit Picks/WeCrochet Mighty Stitch 80% acrylic, 20% superwash wool. I stored them for a few months until I decided what to do with them. Once I found out The Center would like them, my decision was made but before I donated them, I wanted to make bears with the leftover yarn from each blanket. I remembered the Easy Peasy Teddy Bears I made a number of years ago for a group called Team Lewis, read about it here. So I took some more stash yarn (yipee! using more stash!) combined it with the leftover Mighty Stitch, and made some coordinating bears.
Since I had made the two blankets a few months ago, I wanted to wash them before I dropped them off at The Center. After a little research, I found some lingerie bags on Amazon that are huge. They are perfect for washing handmade baby blankets. I bought six and decided from now on I will include one of these with each baby blanket I donate or give as a gift. The blankets washed up perfectly and were safe in the bags from washing machine/dryer damage. The bags I bought were 24″ by 24″ and about $10 for a pack of three. After the blankets were washed and dried, I added the washing instructions by cutting the information off the yarn label and securing it to the blanket.
The two blankets and two bears were dropped off along with a third bear and blanket. I’ll post about them next time. The Center was having a staff meeting when I came by and they all seemed really excited about receiving the donations. I’ll be making more for them and have already started on a fourth blanket with, of course, stash yarn.
Pattern information: The baby blankets are basic granny squares work with a pattern repeat of three rounds of main color and one round of contrasting color. Blankets were then edged with six-seven rounds (I had less blue than pink) of main color and finished with a round of sc and then a round of slst.
Hello All! I’d like to share a fun, cute project I just completed…three plarn flowers to adorn a doormat! Earlier this month my husband and I took a three week adventure in our new-to-us travel trailer. About mid-way through we realized we really needed a doormat to help control the amount of dirt/leaves/grass that was being tracked into the camper. I jokingly mentioned the vintage green doormat with the daisies in the corner would be perfect and surprisingly, he agreed! A quick internet search indicated the vintage style doormat is available online and also offered at some ACE Hardware stores. We stopped at the first ACE we could find and unfortunately, they did not have any in stock. Disappointed but knowing we really needed to deal with the debris being tracked into the camper, we purchased a plain taupe doormat. It worked great and a day later I decided I would crochet some plarn daisies to decorate our doormat.
I decided to use plarn (plastic bag yarn) so the flowers would not be damaged or grow mold when the doormat got wet. You can find a great tutorial on how to make plarn here: http://thecrochetfoyer.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-make-plarn.html. Keeping with an upcycle theme, I pulled three random dark blue buttons from my button jar for the middle section. I followed my Spring Blossoms hair clip pattern, only I made five petal flowers instead of seven petals. I sewed the flowers and the buttons to the doormat and then gave each a little squirt with a glue gun both under the button and the back of the doormat where they were sewn.
I’m really excited with how cute the doormat turned out and how great it looks with our blue and white campground mat! We have another trip planned for the last week in October and I am really looking forward to using our new, adorable doormat!
A couple years ago, the image below showed up in my Facebook feed with a challenge to use less plastic in during the month of July. Plastic drives me INSANE. I don’t want to use it but it has become almost impossible to avoid, particularly at the grocery store. Produce is pre-wrapped or pre-bagged in plastic, sour cream comes in plastic, lunch meat, bread, cereal, snacks are all packaged in plastic. Juice and vinegar and milk are bottled in plastic. It is EVERYWHERE. So what do you do when you want to do what is right for the planet and cut out plastic? That is where the 3 R’s come in. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Say it with me… Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Did you notice recycle is last? It is last for a reason. Recycling, while better than tossing plastic in the landfill which leaches toxins into our ground water and may eventually find its way in our oceans, should be your last option. Recycling is expensive and uses energy. The best thing you can do is reduce your use of plastic. And when you have plastic, reuse what you have. And when you can no longer reuse the item, recycle it.
So what does this have to do with crochet? A lot. Because when you add crochet to anything you add fun. Adding crochet to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is nerd heaven for me. I’m passionate about the Earth and I’m passionate about crochet. While there are lots of ways to reduce your use of plastic, below are a couple suggestions on how you can use crochet to help reduce your plastic use.
First #1! BYOB. Bring your own bag is #1 on the list above and by far the easiest way to cut back on single use plastic. Really any bag will do but if you like, you can crochet a bag or two or more. When my oldest was in kindergarten (he is now a senior in college) I made a bag out of plarn (plastic yarn made from used plastic bags). I love it and it is super strong. I always load it up with cans and jars when I grocery shop. I didn’t use a pattern but there are a bazillion patterns out. A quick Ravelry search yielded over 1,000 market bag patterns.
2. BYOW. Bring your own water bottle. I’m not going to suggest you crochet a water bottle as that would be weird, but you could crochet a water bottle carrier. This would make it a lot easier to bring your own water with you. Here is a quick Ravelry search for water bottle carriers. Next time you go to restaurant and they ask if you would like a drink/straw, you can say, “No thank you. I’m doing my part to reduce the amount of single use plastic waste and brought my own water in this awesome water bottle carrier that I crocheted myself!” or something like that.
3. BYOC. Bring your own cup. Post-covid this one is a little harder as some companies are not refilling reusable cups or offering refills. Like everything, I think this will eventually pass but if you need a coffee fix every day, just brew it at home and bring it to work with you. Or get your own personal coffee machine for your office. I make coffee using a French press and use this homemade cozy to keep it warm while brewing. Or you could crochet a cozy. Skip the lines, save time and money, and make your coffee yourself.
4. BYOL. Bring your own lunch. Pre-covid I would bring my lunch to work and intend to again once I’m back in person next month. I pack it in an old personal sized cooler that one of my boys used to use in grade school. The strap is broken and the zipper is messed up on one place. But it still keeps food cool. So I carry it in-you guessed it-a crocheted bag I made. I use reusable containers for my lunch and do not use single use plastic baggies. I bring real forks and spoons and a cloth napkin.
5. BYOU. Bring your own utensils. This one is my favorite because this one took me awhile to figure out. When we eat out, we often go to casual dining places (pre-covid and we will begin again, eventually). Not quite fast food but you still order at a counter. These places often have plates or baskets that get reused but tend to offer plastic forks/spoons/knives and cups and straws (see above for BYOW) that end up in the trash. The light bulb turned on one day when we were eating out and I now use an eyeglass case to carry my own utensils with me. I keep it in my purse and never need to use a disposable fork/spoon/knife while away from home. Read about it here, Eco-Craft, Plastic Utensil Carrying Case
6. BYOPB. Bring your own produce bag. Yup, there is a pattern for that! Crochet Produce Bags. I never understand the purpose of produce bags. You are going to either peel or wash the produce before you eat it. And you are going to put it in a bag after you check out. One day I watched a guy put bananas in a plastic produce bag and then tie it shut. WHY? They are already bunched together and sealed in a natural wrap that you don’t eat. I’ve seen some people single items in plastic produce bags. One butternut squash in a bag-again, why? you are going to peel it before you cook it. Oh well, not my job to judge. Unfortunately, so much produce is pre-bagged in plastic. But if you feel you need another bag for them, try crocheting a light-weight bag to transport the loose fruit and veggies.
7. Eat at home. I think covid has taught us all that this is not only possible but a great way to slow down and enjoy dinner time. Dinner doesn’t have to be eaten in the car. However, if you can support restaurants and businesses struggling to come back, do. Just do it Eco responsibly and make the trips to fast food the exception, not the norm. Crochet some hot pads and placemats and enjoy a home cooked meal.
Pizza! Pizza!
8. Food storage. No need to buy plastic or even glass storage containers. Clean and reuse what you already have. And why not dress them up while you are at it?
9. Share the tips. Done.
Do you have any other ways you use crochet to reduce plastic usage? I’d love to hear them.
Happy Crocheting and Happy Reduce Plastic Usage! Darleen
For a long time now, my husband and I have been wanting to buy an RV and drive off into the sunset. We began looking over eight years ago. We used to drag the boys with us but they quickly got bored of it and so we would usually go look on our own. We looked at EVERYTHING. New, used, Class A’s, B’s and C’s, 5th wheels and travel trailers. We looked at 40 foot million dollar motorhomes, (just for kicks) to tiny teardrop campers. It was entertaining for us and helped us determine what we wanted. Eventually we decided we wanted something less than 30 feet so it would be easier to drive and allow for smaller campsite options but also big enough to allow for a little elbow room. We also decided we would get either a Class A or B. For those not familiar with motorhomes, that is either the one that looks like a bus (A) or one that looks like a UHaul (C). Neither of us wanted to drive a large pickup truck on a regular basis and that is what would be needed to pull a trailer or 5th wheel the size we wanted. Purchasing a new motorhome was cost prohibitive so we looked at used. However, finding a used one that passed the sniff test was a challenge as so many smelled of either smoke or mold. There were some that smelled so bad we wouldn’t even get up the two steps into the house because the stench overwhelmed us.
Eventually we did find an RV that checked all our boxes and this past January, we purchased our first RV. We purchased a 1998 Safari Trek 2480. Yup, an RV that is over 20 years old. Some thought we were nuts but we are excited about it. Our first step was to get the “motor” part of the motorhome up to speed and we brought it to a repair shop. It was there for almost three months. I don’t like to complain so that’s all I’m going to say about our experience with that shop. Right now it is with a local mechanic who is finishing up on our needed repairs. We are excited we found a local guy willing to help us get this awesome coach back on the road where it belongs.
Since we purchased it in January, most of the time it had been in the shop but we did have it at home for about six weeks total. In that time we have been cleaning and cleaning and cleaning some more. While it didn’t smell, it is over 20 yrs old and in need of a deep clean. We have also been making repairs to the house, getting it ready for paint and other updates as well as learning the systems. I hope to have some before and after photos to share with you. One of the great things about the Trek is the amount of cabinet storage. As I’ve been cleaning I found three awesome hideaways for yarn and WIPS. 🙂 Eventually we will be taking the Trek out on extended adventures and yarn storage is a must.
While the Trek was in the shop, I spent my free time scouring thrift stores for kitchen must haves for the motorhome. I’ve always been a huge fan of buying second hand when possible. This is no exception and I believe I have just about everything now to fully stock the kitchen. I also missed the Trek and designed a new hot pad. I then made a second that matched our RV. I think it’s a pretty good likeness!! I’m looking forward to cooking meals in our Trek and using the hot pad.
Although we aren’t quite ready to drive off into the sunset, we are excited about our new home on wheels and the adventures that await. Stay tuned!
Happy Crocheting! -Darleen
EDIT: 2023 update-we traded in our Trek for a small travel trailer. Super excited about our upcoming adventures!
I’ve mentioned before that I am trying to use up my much too large yarn collection. While I’m not near the end of it yet, I had noticed I was getting more and more partial skeins and bits and pieces. I also had a collection of swatches, unsuccessful design WIPS and projects that were abandoned when I realized I didn’t have enough yarn to finish. So I took some time this weekend to work on my scrap yarn stash. I pulled out all the scraps, partial WIPS, design fails and swatches of yarn that had been discontinued. Everything was frogged and balled up. I’ve been inspired by Grace’s Bits and Bobs Mother Bears so I put all the tiny scraps in one bin and the even tinier ones in another. I’ll need to make a magic ball with them at a later date. It was like going down memory lane frogging some of those items. Some dated back to my very first published design, theI Do Blanket, where I was working out different ways to attach the rings.
I’m excited to have this section organized. When a yarn is discontinued, I won’t use it for a new design. The discontinued yarn is what I use when I make Mother Bears or other small items for personal use. Having them all together and ready to use will make it a lot easier when I’m ready to start a new project. I haven’t yet dived into the partial skeins, unsuccessful design WIPS, abandoned projects or swatches of current yarn, but I’ll get to it. For now, they are in the appropriate stash box with full skeins of the same yarn.
I belong to a few groups on Ravelry. I love how groups have themes and I love when someone in the group starts a thread with a theme. In honor of Earth Day, one of the groups started a thread called Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and I was super excited to see what others would post. I wasn’t disappointed when KristyRecycles posted about three hot pads she made out of tarn (T-shirt yarn = tarn). While I have seen a lot of projects made with recycled t-shirts, I was really touched by her motivation for the project.
After my Grandma past away (a few years ago), my aunts, mom, and I were going through her things. Any t-shirts that didn’t have a side seam I took home and made tarn out of. When not working on it, I kept it in a sealed bag so that her smell stayed on it. I made these hot pads from one of the shirts, and gave them to my mom and 2 of my aunts for Christmas.
Hot pads Kristy made with tarn from her grandmother’s clothing.
I asked Kristy if she would like to interviewed for my blog and she graciously said yes. Please read about this eco-concious crafter.
How long have you been crocheting and/or knitting?
I have been crocheting for 33 years, knitting for 17 years, and weaving for 24 years.
Was your grandmother a crafter?
My grandma was a quilter and a sewer. I own a couple of quilts that my great-grandma pieced from my mom and her siblings’ clothing, and my grandma quilted. My grandma sadly had to stop sewing when her arthritis got to bad. When she passed away, the family agreed that I could keep her mother’s singer sewing machine, because I am the only quilter in the family (blood relative that is…and it’s a very large family). One of my childhood memories is of her letting me raid her fabric stash, which I made some Barbie clothes and clothes for myself from.
What was your inspiration to make the hot pads from your grandmother’s t-shirts?
The day after her funeral, my mom, some of my aunts, and I went to her trailer and were going through her bedroom. We were sorting items to be given to different family members, to be donated, and things to be thrown away. There was a shirt that didn’t have any side seams, which is perfect for making tarn (t-shirt yarn) from. I asked if I could have it, which got a few surprised looks from my aunts (because who asks to keep a brown t-shirt). When I told them that I planned on making something from it, then they put aside all of her t-shirts for me to pick through before adding them to the donation box. Sadly I think that that was the only non-seamed shirt in the bunch.
Do you use the hot pads or gift them?
I was only able to get 3 hot pads out of the tarn that I had made, so I was only able to gift them to my mom and 2 of my aunts. My mom is one of 8 surviving siblings, so I had some unhappy family members that Christmas.
How else have you incorporated Reduce, Reuse, Recycle into your crochet or knitting?
For Reduce, I try to only buy yarn and craft supplies as I need it and not buying it just because. The exception to this is souvenir yarn, but I do have a go-to pattern for that yarn (and I usually make it soon after the purchase).
For Reuse: I do a lot more sewing projects under the Reuse heading, but I think that my use of scraps might fit in this group. Not only do I save all of my “too small to use” scraps of yarn, but my friends and crochet students save theirs for me as well. On a weekly to monthly basis I use them as stitch holders. Around Christmas I put them into clear ornaments and give them to friends and family. During the off season, I like to add them to shadow boxes to make fun pieces of art for my home.
After Christmas I like to crochet around my Christmas cards and turn them into ornaments. It’s a great way to have the card and to see them (and the sweet words written in them) every year. I use the inside of the card as the back of the ornament.
One trick that I learned from some knitters at the yarn shop that I use to work at (and which I have passed on to a lot of other people) is to reuse the plastic bread tags to wrap up my yarn tails so that they stay out of the way. This prevents me from accidentally working with the tail instead of the ball of yarn. I make a lot of amigurumi which require me to start with a long tail to use when the section is finished (for sewing with).
I’ve used found sticks for weavings and for coiling string and embroidery floss around. I have also used cardboard food boxes to create the cards used in card weaving, and shuttles for weaving with. Once I even made a weaving shed out of a coral box.
For Recycle: For a while recycling was a big part of my crafting world. I even had a local t.v. show based on it. I use recycled materials in all sorts of crafts. For knitting and crochet I mainly focus on making and using plarn (plastic bag yarn) and tarn, plastic bottle caps, metal jar lids, plastic bottles, pull tabs, plastic bottle rings, corks, and toilet paper tubes. I have knit and crochet plarn bags, a hat, and an amigurumi jellyfish. I really like spinning with it, especially plying novelty yarn that I no longer care for with it, because the crochet bags from it look really cool. Since moving to California I haven’t made any plarn, because plastic bags are hard to come by here. With tarn (t-shirt yarn) I have crochet bags, a walker bag, hot pads, and a rug. With the pull tabs I have crochet bracelets, purses (one used over 800 tabs), earrings, flowers, and garland. With plastic bottles, I have crochet drawstring bags where the top is crochet and the bottom is the bottle. I have also made a tool caddy out of several 16 oz soda bottles. With the plastic bottle rings (that are just under the bottle cap), I crochet around them to create mini wreath ornaments and brooches. Those rings and the pull tabs also make great ways to hang the wreaths that I have made. I have knitted little hats and outfits to put on the wine corks so that they look like little people. My husband and I don’t drink, but I have a large collection of corks because of friends and family. Right now I actually keep them and the pull tabs in shadow boxes so that they can serve as a fun decorations until I get around to crafting with them. Last but not least are the plastic bottle caps and metal jar lids. I don’t actually knit or crochet with them, instead I make pincushions out of them which I used daily. The caps and lids are the base of the pincushions. I sew felt around them, and have the stuffing (inside of felt) on top of them. The jar lid ones I use for my sewing pins, and the bottle cap ones I use for my yarn needles. The bottle cap pincushion that looks like a mushroom is the one that is in my yarn tool kit that goes in my current project bag. I like to make hat ornaments with the toilet paper tubes. They aren’t knitted or crochet, but they do use yarn and make great gifts for my yarn friends.
How else have you memorialized someone with your crochet, knitting or other crafts?
A friend had asked me to use her grandmother’s nightgowns to make pillows for her and her family members as well as 2 little purses for her daughters.
I’ve used the buttons off of my grandpa’s shirt to use as eyes on a sock plushie for my youngest son.
When my grandma passed away, I got back most of the things that I had made for her (crochet and sewn). In a way that is a memory in and of itself. Every time I see them I think of her.
In college we learned how to make paper. I embedded some childhood family pictures in the paper. You could still see the image.
I have a box of t-shirts that contain their own memories that I plan on turning into a quilt.
A few years ago I started knitting a California King sized afghan. It’s one of my movie watching projects. Each colored stripe is a whole skein of yarn. It is actually inspired by a crochet afghan that I remember my mom making for years when I was a kid. She would crochet the length of the blanket until she ran out of yarn, and then she would start with another color. It became this warm colorfully striped afghan on my parents’ bed. She still makes versions of this on a wooden knitting board. She doesn’t really care about if the colors match or even if the yarn weight is the same, its about the process for her (about relaxing). I can’t be random like her, but this afghan is an ode to her.
Once I did an exquisite corpse drawing of my grandma with family members. I’ve drawn and painted lots of pictures of friends, family, and myself over the years.
I still think of a college friend every time I look at some small woven bags that I made in college, because I used her waste yarn (cut from the warp) from a hand dyed floor loom project that she did. I used my tiny table loom to weave the scraps with.
I have also dedicated several bears for the Mother Bear Project to family and friends. The one most like the person is my Swiss Bear, which is named after my dad. Once he saw the picture of the bear with his forever friend, he asked me to make him an identical one for his birthday.
What is your environmentally favorite crafting item (crochet/knit/other)?
My favorite one to craft with are pull tabs. I love it when people don’t realize until closer inspection that that’s what the metal part is. But the 2 things that I use the most when crafting are bread tags and my bottle cap pincushion. They are a staple in my yarn tool bag.
What else have you made with tarn?
Here is a link to the tarn items on my project page. There aren’t too many things, because shirts that work the best, and that you don’t mind cutting up, are not usually easy to come by. I have made a large market bag (my favorite one to use), hotpads, a walker bag, and a rug. Surprisingly the tarn rug is not very absorbent. I do plan on making a dog toy out of tarn in the future.
Any tips or tricks when working with tarn?
When making tarn (t-shirt yarn), look for a shirt that does not have a side seam (see the first 3 images). Also when it is time to cut the inch of the un-cut t-shirt so that you have a continuous piece of yarn, I like to lay that part on my leg so that the cut lines are very clear (See images 6 & 7). A suggestion when making the tarn is to make it outside while wearing clothes that you don’t mind changing out of afterwards. This is because little bits of the t-shirt (like fuzz) go all over the place, especially when stretching the tarn and winding it into a yarn cake.
Thank you Kristy!! Kristy is VERY EXPERIENCED in the world of eco-crafting. She sold her eco-crafts at different craft fairs for years, had an environmental local tv show for a few years, ran her town’s Earth Fair for 5 years and several years ago was the runner up in an environmental contest run by TerraCycle!
I’m still, slowly, working on my stash. I had a lofty goal of reducing my boxes of crochet from 12 to 6 by the end of 2018. It is the end of 2018 and I now have…drum roll please…9 boxes. While I didn’t make it to 6 boxes, the 9 boxes aren’t quite as stuffed as they once were. Not what I had hoped but a little progress. In 2018 I only purchased two skeins of yarn. This was to make a hat for my brother. And I received some yarn support for two designs that will published in 2019 by third parties. So overall, my yarn stash did decrease, just not as much as I had intended. Once again, the second half of 2018 was busy and I just did not get to crochet near as much as I had planned. Here is what I did complete in the last 6 months of 2018-
Pumpkin Eyeballs
#AwkwardFamilyPhoto Halloween pumpkins with crocheted eyes
Ghost Pumpkins with crocheted eyes.
Harvest Corn Pillows
Christmas Tree Pillows
Mother Bears for donation
A potholder gift
An ear warmer headband for me.
And last, but not least, 3 more octos for donation to local NICU.
I’ll be back at stash busting in 2019. However, I think I’ll make my 2019 goal a little easier to measure. I plan to set a goal by weight rather than volume.
Happy New Year to you all. May 2019 be filled with lots of happiness and lots of crochet.
This Halloween, Decorate Your Pumpkins with Crochet!
It is almost that time of year. My favorite holiday, Halloween. I love the silliness of the holiday, the tackiness of the decorations and of course, the candy. I love seeing children using their imaginations and turning into a character for the afternoon. I love trick-or-treating, haunted houses and spooky snacks. And I love carving pumpkins and making jack-o-lanterns. But pumpkin carving is messy. Sometimes we don’t want to make a mess. So here is a non-messy alternative to pumpkin carving. Crochet some eyeballs and attach them to the pumpkin! Make a patch of scary pumpkins with some alien or demon eyes. Or go for silly pumpkins and crochet surprised eyes or eyes with eyelashes. Attach the eyes with double stick tape and use them year after year. Whether you go for scary or silly, have fun and Enjoy!
Crochet By Darleen Hopkins 