I crocheted it to 42 inches wide and decided to finish this project off as a lapghan for my local nursing home. My pattern is 6 rounds for the center in the tan, then 5 rounds in green with 2 rounds of tan between the rounds of green after that. I reduced each round of green so it started as 5 rounds of green, two rounds of tan; 4 rounds of green, two rounds of tan; 3 rounds of green, two rounds of tan, two rounds of green, two rounds of tan; and the final round in green using the reverse single crochet stitch.

I crocheted the edging using the reverse single crochet or crab stitch. I hadn’t used this stitch before and was extremely pleased how the edging turned out. The reverse single crocheting gives the lapghan a nice corded finish.

Here is a close up of the reverse single crochet edging on the round ripple. I just worked one stitch evenly around and two stitches in each point so it laid down flat.

Never done reverse single crochet before? Here is a great reverse single crochet video that I found very useful.

Here is a more information on how to reclaim yarn from old sweaters. This lapghan was delivered today to my local nursing home. I’m hoping someone is enjoying it tonight as much as I did while crocheting it for them.[…]

There are several excellent resources on the Internet where seams that can be unraveled easily are shown. Most importantly the bad type of seams are shown so you can avoid those sweaters as there is nothing more frustrating than trying to unravel a sweater when it’s unravel-able. Here is a link to an outstanding post that shows detailed pictures of the seams and how to unravel sweaters.

Here is my latest thrift store sweater that I got for a dollar. It had a new stains but otherwise was an outstanding candidate for me to reclaim the yarn. It’s 100% cotton and was an extra large men’s sweater so it contains lots of yarn.

Cotton yarn is something that I use frequently and it’s very versatile. I can make baby blankets, dishcloths, baby bibs, hotpads, potholders, placemats, rugs, totes, and purses from the recycled sweater I unraveled.

Here is a up-close photo of the seam. If you look closely you can see that the seam doesn’t have a serged edge. I have marked the stitching of the seam in the photo. The stitching is what you want to use a seam ripper to remove so you can open the seam and separate the pieces for unraveling. You want to avoid edges that are serged as the piece won’t unravel. Click to supersize the photo if you want to see a closeup.

I wrap the reclaimed yarn in a hank form for washing as shown here. Once I have it in a hank form with a few ties to hold it in place, I gently wash and rinse it in the sink. Then I hang it to dry so my reclaimed yarn is clean and fresh smelling. And because I like balls of yarn, here is one sleeve that I wound into a ball after washing and drying.

Now I just need to finish unraveling the rest of the sweater and decide on a project or two for the recycled yarn. I’m thinking about using some of the reclaimed yarn for dishcloths and because the yarn is so soft, I plan to use some it for a baby blanket.

With the cost of cotton rising these days, it seems reclaiming yarn is not only a green thing to do but also very frugal. I hope you have found this post informative and if you find yourself strapped for money or yarn that you consider reclaiming yarn. As always, happy crafting to all.

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I used Rachel’s free sweetheart Valentine heart pattern over at Crochet Spot to create my hotpad. I followed the posted pattern but added an extra round of single crochet by repeating round 4 twice. I crocheted two red hearts and then put them back to back for a double layered heart hotpad. I finished off my hotpad by working a round of single crochet around and through the double layers with a contrasting white cotton yarn. I then worked the final round as outlined in the pattern to create the scalloped edging.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Valentine’s Day and as always happy crafting!

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Here is a before picture of the sweater and then a picture of one of the balls of reclaimed yarn I got from unraveling this thrift store sweater. My baby RR measures 36 inches across and I still have leftover yarn from the unraveled sweater for another project. I found reclaiming the yarn from this old cotton sweater fairly easy and very rewarding to create something new and useful.

Next is a starghan baby blanket I crocheted using some worst yarn from my stash. I had some issues with this pattern and it does not lay completely flat but still turned out okay.

Both of these blankets will be making they way to Kathryn who heads up the charity drive for the 4th Annual Baby Blanket Drive at her local hospital. It was a joy to crochet these blankets for the sweet little babies and I hope they bring comfort to the little ones and their families.[…]

I put on my thinking cap in an effort to upcycle this old sweater into some new and useful items. First I used the lower portion of the sweater to create a scarf cowl. Using some scrap yarn, I added two rows of single crochet along the lower edges to finish off the raw edges where the sweater body had been attached. My upcycled cowl was finished off with some wooden buttons from my stash.

Next I tackled using the sleeve as a plastic bag holder. The natural cuff on the sweater was perfect for transforming the sleeve into a handy bag keeper. As shown in the pictures, I folded under the top of the sleeve to the inside. Using a basting stitch, I sewed around the top edge about 1 inch from the top to create a casing for the ribbon tie closure. I machine stitched the basting to hold the fold in place and also so I could crochet in a straight line to create my casing. I left the back of the casing open where the sleeve seam is. Then using a small D crochet hook and some scrap brown yarn, I worked a slip stitch over the basting and through both layers to create my casing for the ribbon tie closure. See photos below and you can click on any other them to enlarge the pictures.

I added a hook hanger at the back by chaining the length I wanted and then worked back down the chain by working a single crochet stitch around the chain and attached both ends into the back of the bag keeper. I threaded a piece of ribbon through the casing and tied it at the back with a bow to complete the plastic bag keeper. I present the upcycled thrift store sleeve which has been transformed into a plastic bag holder.

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