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Diagonal Cotton Dish Towel with Ring

September 24, 2012 1 comment
Diagonal Cotton Dish Towel with Ring

I present my diagonal cotton dish towel that I crocheted that features a ring as a hanger. I love using the round recycled rings as I can hang up my towel over any hook or knob in the kitchen. I crocheted one kitchen towel using regular weight cotton and another using sport weight cotton below.

Sport weight cotton hanging towel.

Cotton Diagonal Dish Towel Pattern

Materials needed:
3-3/4 ozs. Cotton yarn (Summer Prints used for main color)
1/2 oz. Cotton for trim in Hot Blue and Yellow
Plastic milk or juice jug ring 1-1/2 inches wide

Measurements: 17 inches long from top to bottom corner and 19 inches wide from tip to tip.

Hook:
H (5 mm) crochet hook

Directions:
Ch 28.

Row 1
Working in back loops only (BLO), Sc in 2nd ch from hook and in next 13 sts, 3 Sc in next st and then Sc in the remaining 13 sts. Ch 1, turn. (29 sts)

Disintegrating Plastic Bag Plarn

September 16, 2012 3 comments
Disintegrating Plastic Bag Plarn

I guess it’s inevitable that all good things do come to an end. My favorite recycled plastic bag tote is disintegrating. I crocheted this plarn tote bag back in 2007 so its 5 years old now.

I use this recycled bag for groceries and produce all the time. A few months ago, the stitching started coming apart below the handle so I spliced in a strand of plarn and repaired the hole. I could see then that the existing plastic bag yarn was very brittle and starting to disintegrate.

Here is the latest disintegration of my plastic bag tote. I actually found another hole after I took this photo. As you can see the ends are very brittle and when I tried to weave the ends under, they just break off.

So as my favorite recycled tote bag ends it useful life, I am crocheting a new plarn tote bag. I’m making it a bit bigger and with a strong handle. So until my new reusable tote bag is finished I will try and mend this tote bag again. It just has been my favorite recycled bag for years and it is hard to let it go. So as I type this I am preparing another repair to the holes that have appeared. A good thing is just difficult to let go of.

Mini Denim Christmas Socks

September 11, 2012 5 comments
Mini Denim Christmas Socks

I know it may be early to start crafting for Christmas but I just had to share these mini recycled denim Christmas socks that I have been making. I used one of my crocheted small Christmas stockings as a template and traced around the sock to create the shape on a piece of paper. I then used the template to cut out two sock shapes from old denim jeans.

The sock shapes before sewing are about 8 inches long and 3-1/4 inches wide. Just use a stocking shape you like and the size of your sock can be bigger or smaller depending on your preference.
Put the right sides together and machine stitch a narrow seam around the sock. Leave the top edge unsewn as you will fold in the top edge about 2 inches to create a finished edge without having to sew along the top opening. The crocheted top and loop is then added to the top edge of the denim stocking.

Below the denim sock is shown with the narrow hem sewn and before it was turned to the inside.

Felted Wool Dryer Balls

September 1, 2012 8 comments
Felted Wool Dryer Balls

Felting wool into dryer balls is a good alternative to using dryer sheets or adding fabric softener to your wash. Here are three dryer balls I felted and I have been using them now for over a month. I am happy to report that they worked wonderfully. I have no static cling and my clothes are soft after coming out of the dryer.

Apparently the felted wool balls not only help with static cling by moving around the clothes as they dry but it also may help with drying the clothes faster. I can’t say for sure but it seems as though my clothes aren’t taking as long to dry as normal. I am still hanging most of my clothes outside on the line but I have been using the felted dryer balls for our dress clothes in the dryer with great results.

Materials needed per ball:
2 ounces wool (Scrap pieces used)
1 small stone – quarter size

First step is to get a small stone about the size of a US quarter. The stone adds weigh and provides a firm base for the dryer ball center.

Just start wrapping wool scraps around the stone.



About Me

Hello, I’m Cindy or aka RecycleCindy. Welcome to my blog site that is dedicated to recycling and crafting. I love to crochet and create crafts and other useful things from recycled materials. I share many free tutorials and patterns for creating recycled projects as well as other handmade items.


Here is a direct link to all my free patterns available here on My Recycled Bags.


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