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Month: May 2010

Spike Stitch Tote Bag

Cindy2 Comments

Here is my latest recycled tote bag which features spike stitch striping. I added the recycled pink newspaper plastic bags in an effort to spice up my mainly white tote bag. It’s amazing how just a few brightly colored bags can add a nice touch to a plain-looking bag.

So if you only have a few colored bags, you might want to try this crochet pattern to add some diversity to your tote bag project. Should anyone be interested in purchasing this bag, it is available on my products page for sale. For all those crafters out there who make their own recycled tote bags, please enjoy my free plarn pattern below.

Spike Stitch Recycled Plarn Tote Bag Pattern

Materials needed:
One large ball of plastic bag yarn aka Plarn
Approx. 50 plastic grocery bags – white in color
One smaller amount of pink plarn – Approx. 8-10 bags

Hook: N (9 mm) metal crochet hook
Description: Recycled Plarn Tote Bag
Bag measures 14″ wide and 13-1/2″ tall with 12″ handles

Directions:
Ch 26 with white plarn.

My Gardening Venture

Cindy7 Comments

I am excited to start a new category here at my blog. In a effort to become more self-sustaining and frugal, I have started gardening. Of course when you live in the mountains and want to be successful gardening, you need a greenhouse. Well here is my new greenhouse. It was built from a kit and we finished it last weekend.

Here is my DH working hard on the greenhouse. I must say that he built most of greenhouse by himself and while it was a kit, it wasn’t easy to put together. The instructions were not very clear and he had to improvise quite often but he made it work and got my greenhouse built. Personally I think its beautiful and I am so proud of my husband building it for me.

Here are some seedlings I started in the house and moved out to the greenhouse. I’ve used recycled containers for my starts. The white buckets are recycled from my local bakery. I have my one big tomato plant in a white bucket as shown in the photo. I plan to transplant more tomato seedlings into the big buckets this weekend. We also will be building some wooden planter boxes for each side of the greenhouse floor area.

I will blog more about my gardening venture in the days to come. I will share my ideas, my successes and my failures as I explore the world of gardening. I will incorporate my recycling ideas into my gardening and will share my experiences as this gardening season progresses. Please feel free to contribute and help me as I develop my gardening skills.

Crocheted Jar Helper

Cindy10 Comments

This project is for a jar helper that I crocheted to help you open those tough jar lids. The center is a plastic mesh that is cut from a dollar store roll of shelf liner.

I cut down the middle of my roll which was 12 inches wide. So for every 12 inches from the roll, you can cut four squares.

Work with a smaller crochet hook around evenly with your cotton. I used a D hook for my base row and then you can change to a G hook if desired to finish off your crocheted edging. I made a number of these jar openers and plan to use them as gifts along with matching dishcloths.

Crocheted Jar Helper Pattern
Finished crocheted piece measures: 7 inch Square
Hook: Metal D USA sized crochet hook

Materials:
1/2 oz – cotton yarn
6 inches x 6 inches piece of plastic shelf liner

Cut a 6 inch x 6 inch square from the plastic shelf liner roll. I purchased my non-slip shelf liner from the dollar store. The roll was 5 inches x 12 inches so I was able to cut 20 squares from the 99 cent purchase.

Rnd 1
Using a small D crochet hook, attach yarn at a corner and ch 1.

Recycled Denim Coaster

Cindy55 Comments

Got some old jeans? Well how about recycling the hems into some cool coasters. I saw the idea over at Going Green Crafters where they used the hems from old jeans to create denim coasters.

I just love recycling denim and had to try this craft project. I used two inside hems from a pair of old jeans to create my coaster. Trim the edges very close and evenly with a pair of sharp scissors.


Next I spliced my two hem strips together with a thread and needle. Just do a few hidden slip stitches to secure your two denim pieces together. You can click on any of the photos to supersize them.


Using a fabric glue, roll up your denim hem and apply a line of glue along the inside of the strip. Work your way along by tightly rolling up the denim and applying the glue until you get to the end. I added a extra bit of glue at the end and left the coaster to dry for several hours on a flat surface to make sure the coaster would set up nicely.


Here is my finished denim coaster. It measures about 4 inches wide. I left the bottom hem end on it as I thought it added character. You could cut it off or add another hem strip to make your coaster larger as desired. Now I’m ready to go out and enjoy a hot cup of coffee using my new recycled denim coaster.

Crocheted Plarn Basket

Cindy6 Comments

I crocheted this plarn yarn basket using recycled plastic trash. The sides are made with recycled plastic bags that I make into yarn which is known as plarn. The base is a recycled plastic frozen dinner tray I fished out of the garbage at work. I cut the rim off the dinner tray and punched holes all around the outside as shown in this picture below.

Next using plarn (plastic-bag-yarn), I crocheted a single crochet base round through the holes and around the complete base. Once you get the base row done, it’s much easier crocheting into the plarn of each stitch as you work the additional rounds for your basket. I changed colors several times and used up some of my unique colored stashed plastic bags.

These trays work wonderfully to provide a nice sturdy base for the basket. You could crochet more rounds with the plastic yarn to make your basket taller or add a handle for a cute carrying basket. Either way recycling these plastic trays is a great way to keep them out of our landfills and provides a useful purpose in the recycled crafting field.

Free Pattern for Recycled Plastic Basket

Materials needed:
Plastic bags cut into 1 inch strips into plarn is several different colors
as desired for stripes
1) Plastic frozen dinner tray with the rim cut off
(One used in project was 6 inches long)

Hook: J (6 mm) sized metal crochet hook

Description: Recycled Plastic Yarn Basket

Basket measures 6 inches long, 4-1/2 inches wide and 4 inches tall

Directions:
Using the tray after cutting off the rim, punch holes around the base as shown in the photo. I used heavy duty hole punch to put my holes in the plastic base.