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


Baby Dog Lovey

September 18, 2023 No comments yet
Baby Dog Lovey

I crocheted this baby dog lovey using Aggie May’s round ripple blanket pattern. I started with 4 rounds using aran cream yarn for the center of the lovey. An important tip is to use the same color for center of lovey as the animal so you can hide the joining. The dog lovey pattern is available
free here.

I first crocheted the round ripple blanket to 21 inches wide. Some loveys are smaller but I like it a little bigger to accommodate the dog head. Here is the lovey blanket before adding the dog to the center.

Next is a photo of the head after I added the muzzle and nose. I had to play around with it quite a bit to get everything lined up and get the nose just right.

Here is a closeup of the dog lovey below.

Baby Bobble Blanket

September 6, 2023 No comments yet
Baby Bobble Blanket

Our local Stitchers group was asked to make some baby blankets for the hospital nursery. I chose this bobble baby blanket pattern to crochet for the hospital charity. There are many different sizes you can make using this pattern. I started out by chaining 133 stitches using a H (5 mm) hook to begin the crochet pattern with a single strand of yarn.

Crocheting the bobbles for me was very labor intensive and hard on my hands. So rather than having bobbles every 4th row, I only crocheted two rows of bobbles on the ends of the blanket. The remainder of the blanket is worked in half double crochet (HDC).

Here is a closeup of one edge of the baby blanket.

Dyeing Yarn with Kool-Aid

July 22, 2023 No comments yet
Before Dyeing Wool Yarn

This post is about my test of dyeing wool yarn using Kool-Aid. This is my first time dyeing wool yarn using Kool-Aid. I used a small 50 gram skein of 100% wool yarn from Thorobred in white for this test. Here are before and after photos of this dyeing test.

I used the Woolfest bag method to dye my wool yarn. I love that it just uses the sun’s power to work the magic of dyeing the yarn.

Here is how I processed my yarn. I unwound the skein of yarn and unfortunately found it had several breaks and wasn’t a continuous strand of yarn. That is why you see a few separate pieces hanging to dry in later photos.

I used grape Kool-Aid in a gallon sized ziplock baggie for this test. I added one packet of Kool-Aid to a small amount of water in the baggie with gloves on. I then added more lukewarm water about halfway to fill the baggie as shown in the photo below. Next I mixed it around and added dampen yarn. With my gloved hands, I mixed up the yarn and swished it around to get all the yarn wet and colored. Next I placed the baggie flat in the warm sun to dye for about 3 hours. I did squeeze the yarn and swish it around a bit a few times just to make sure it would all get dyed from the Kool-Aid.

After 3 hours out in the summer sun, I rinsed the yarn gently in lukewarm and then cool water as not to shock the yarn. As suggested, let the yarn cool down and then rinse it until the water runs clear. Here is a photo of the yarn after rinsing.

Patriotic Rectangle Granny Blanket

July 9, 2023 No comments yet
Patriotic Rectangle Granny Blanket

I meant to post my patriotic red, white, and blue rectangle granny for the fourth of July but got distracted. So a few days late but in honor of our Country’s freedom, here is my Veteran’s honor blanket.

This blanket was crocheted for the local Veteran’s outreach program and will be given to a Veteran who needs a blanket.

Finished size of this rectangle granny blanket is 40 inches by 50. I chained 41 to start and used this free rectangle granny blanket pattern from Suzetta Williams. I have made this pattern before and have a few modifications that you are read more about here.

Below is a closeup of a corner that shows the edging.

C2C Shawl

June 26, 2023 No comments yet
C2C Mosiac Shawl

I am excited to share my first corner to corner or C2C shawl. The pattern I used is called corner to corner start and is a free pattern found here.


The pattern has you create little squares and chains as you proceed with the increases. After I got passed row 4, I got the hang of the pattern and everything went smoothly from there. Check out all the picture tutorials as they were very helpful for me to understand how to crochet the pattern.

I only did increases as I crocheted the pattern as I wanted a big triangle for my shawl. I used 3 skeins of I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby in Moody Mosaic colorway. I had just a small amount of yarn left so used about 14.9 ounces total. Final size of my shawl is

Crocheted Round Ripple Dishcloths

June 11, 2023 Comments Off on Crocheted Round Ripple Dishcloths
Cream & Green Round Ripple Dishcloth

I bought the Blue Ribbon Round Ripple dishcloth pattern many years ago. It is a great crochet pattern and makes a beautiful dishcloth. Here is the link to the crochet pattern.

I crocheted two of these round ripple dishcloths. This one is crocheted using the original pattern as written with the popcorn stitch center.

I also have crocheted the pattern using a flat center. The flat center is nice to crochet if you are using the pattern to make a decorative cloth so you can place a dish or other item on it. With the flat center, your item can sit flat and not be tipsy.

Here is a cloth with the flat center.

I crochet the flat center using the following modifications for round 2.

Walker Tote Bag

May 4, 2023 No comments yet
Walker Wheelchair Tote Bag

Here is a walker tote bag that I crocheted using red, white and blue yarns. I found these cute buttons at Walmart that I thought just looked right for this patriotic themed project.

Here is the link for the free walker-wheelchair tote bag pattern. This is an easy pattern that is crocheted using half double crochet (HDC) stitches and is worked in the round. The finished size for this walker carrier bag is 9.5″ long by 11.5″ wide.

These tote bags can be hung off a walker or

Pocket Prayer Cross Square

March 16, 2023 No comments yet
Bobble Prayer Cross Square

I am sharing a wonderful little crochet project called bobble pocket prayer squares. These squares are about 3″ by 3.5″ and use around 11 to 12 yards of worst weight yarn to crochet.

The free crochet pattern for the bobble pocket prayer square is found here at Jamie’s blog. Quoting Jamie, “this hand-held prayer square gives you something to hold while praying and the cross itself is a beautiful texture that is soothing to hold.” The squares are a wonderful little item to give to someone who may be going through a difficult time or just as a small gift of comfort to provide to a person.

Here is a poem that can be added to the bobble prayer square that is used with permission from Nana48532 from Ravelry.

Grey Ring Towel Topper

February 24, 2023 No comments yet
Recycled Ring Towel Topper

This project uses a recycled milk jug ring as a base for a towel topper. It’s a simple crochet idea that I created as I needed a ring to hang up a towel on a hook in my kitchen. So I used a milk jug ring and crocheted it onto my towel topper using a kitchen towel folded in half.

Here is a closeup on the crocheted towel topper.



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!