Come Learn and Share Information about Recycling, Crocheting & Recycled Crafting


Cast Iron Handle Cover

April 28, 2020 No comments yet
T-Yarn Cast Iron Handle Cover

My little No. 6 cast iron skillet needed a new handle cover. I made the other one several years ago and after time, the covers do fray and need to be replaced. I love crocheting my own homemade handle covers using recycled t-shirt material. I cut the old t-shirts in thin strips and create what I like to call t-yarn. The t-yarn makes great handle covers, potholders, and trivets. You can find my t-yarn making tutorial here.

I cut my t-shirt yarn very thin for this project. It’s about 1/4 inch wide and gently stretched to curl the “yarn” which makes it smoother to crochet. Here is the link to the free t-shirt yarn skillet cover pattern.

I crocheted this handle cover for a total of 12 rows using an I crochet hook. This is a bit smaller than the original pattern because

Striped Mother Bears

April 12, 2020 No comments yet
Mother Bear

The Mother Bear Project is featuring striped bears for April. With the extra time I have this month with the stay at home order due to the Coronavirus, I crocheted two mother bears.

This bear has a striped skirt that I crocheted using this bear skirt pattern. My bears are crocheted seamless without joining and done in rounds. This bear was done in BLO (back loop only) single crochet except for the head. I have experimented and think the head looks better crocheted through both loops in single crochet.


Now here is a striped bare bear crocheted using Red Heart Stripe yarn in colorway Parrot Stripe. This little guy was crocheted in BLO for the entire bear. As you can see his head appears smaller and not a nice looking as the first bear. I think if I added more stitches the head would look better in BLO so I may try that next time.

If you are new to the Mother Bear Project, you can find the Ravelry group here. The Mother Bear Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing comfort and hope to children, primarily those affected by HIV/AIDS and by giving them a gift of love in a handmade teddy bear.

Come join in the bear-making



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.


Thank you for stopping by to visit and for your interest in My Recycled Bags!