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Japanese Knot Plarn Wine Bag

Cindy2 Comments

Just finished up crocheting this recycled plastic bag wine holder. It used about 40 salmon-colored recycled newspaper bags made into plarn aka plastic bag yarn. I added a few white plastic retail bags for the stripe.

This particular recycled bag project was crocheted using my free Japanese knot pattern that I first published in 2015. If you are not familiar with a Japanese knot, it is a closure that features two handles. One handle is shorter than the other so you can pull the longer handle through the shorter as a quick and unique closure. I used a K crochet hook for this bag as I wanted a smaller tote bag for a wine bottle holder. My finished size following the original pattern with a K hook is 11 inches tall by 9 inches wide at top.

Here is a photo of the tote bag without the wine bottle.

Heart Dishcloth

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Here is one more quick heart project I just completed in honor of Valentine’s Day. This is a cute and easy pattern worked in the round or should I say heart-shape. It is all worked on the right side without turning. My finished size is 8 inches wide using a G (4 mm) crochet hook.

I crocheted my cloth using a small amount of scrap red Christmas cotton that contains a silver metallic thread throughout. The free heart dishcloth pattern by Janelle Schlossman is no longer on her blog site. But you can find the pattern still here by using the Wayback Machine on the web.

I thought I remember crocheting this pattern before and sure enough I crocheted it 10 years ago. Here is that heart cloth with a white contrasting yarn for trim.

Danish Valentine Heart

Cindy1 Comment

Time to gear up for the next holiday coming up, right? Here is my Danish heart that I crocheted for a little Valentine’s Day gift. It’s a cute ornament that you crochet in 2 oval pieces and then weave together to create the final woven heart.

The Danish heart pattern is available here at Ravelry. I had a little trouble getting started with the oval pieces at round 3 until I saw a photo of a completed oval. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So with that being said, here is a photo of my 2 oval pieces.

New Year 2020

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Happy New Year! I can’t believe its 2020. That sounds so futuristic. It is also the 13th year anniversary of my blog that I began back in January 2007. So much has happened since then but the blog has continued.

As far a my new year resolutions, I have set crafting resolutions for the coming year. I will continue to craft for Warmth for Warriors (W4W) by crocheting hats and mini Christmas stockings. Of course I will continue to make recycled craft projects and share all my recycled patterns free on the blog.

While I don’t post as often as I used too, there are still over a 100 free crochet patterns and other craft projects that are offered on my pattern pages. You can find everything from recycled plastic bag patterns, denim projects, baby patterns, kitchen towel and dishcloth patterns, to purses and totes. There is something for everyone.

So happy crafting in 2020 and thank you for allowing me to continue My Recycled Bags for all these years.

Pom Pom Hats

Cindy1 Comment

The grand kids asked for crocheted hats with a pom pom for Christmas. I will be the first to admit that I am not very good at making pom poms. I remember I tried making some many years ago and failed miserably. But the girls wanted them so I thought I’d better try my hand at pom pom making again.

I did not have a store-brought pom pom maker so I used this on-line tutorial to make my pom poms. I looked at several different tutorials and found this one very useful with many step-by-step photos.

Here are my two crocheted hats complete with a homemade pom pom.

I used my ribbed hat pattern and just adjusted down the stitches to work even to get the correct sizes for the girls. As for the pom pom, after having an issue with the first one where the tying yarn broke, I finally got it fixed. My pom poms required lots of trimming and shaping but in the end, I think they turned out looking pretty good. I hope the hats fit nicely and the girls enjoy their hats for Christmas.