As many of us are under stay-at-home orders, I have taken this time to enjoy all the extra time I have to crochet. I have lots of yarn, plastic bags to recycle, and so many projects to work on. There are all those charity crafting projects to work on. There are hats and mini Christmas stockings to crochet for Warmth for Warriors. Then there are gift items I can get done for upcoming birthdays and of course in-advance Christmas gift making. Anyway for those of us who love to knit and crochet, this is a grand time.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I do miss my work and my friends. I wish I could use this time to get-together with loved ones and friends but this is not the time. We need to stay home and keep our social distancing with the Coronavirus raging in so many areas. We don’t want to needlessly chance the spread to those more vulnerable.
So check out all my free patterns for crafting ideas should you be looking for a new pattern to try. Come join me in making hats and mini Christmas stockings for the troops through Warmth for Warriors. And of course, grab those stashed plastic bags and recycle them into some plarn to crochet a tote bag, purse, or other useful item. But overall stay safe and healthy.
I tried two new hat patterns for Warmth for Warriors this last month. Both of these patterns are free from the author’s website. First one I did is the cable & stripes hat by Dianne Hunt. Her blog Cre8tion Crochet has the hat pattern available free. I love the results of this hat pattern!
This second one is called ribbed wonder hat. This pattern calls for the hat to be crocheted with bulky yarn but I crocheted it with worst weight yarn. The free ribbed wonder hat pattern is found at 365 Crochet Knit Too site.
This hat pattern is worked by crocheting in the back loops to create a knit-look ribbing. As I said, I used worst wool for my hat. I started with chaining 45 stitches using an I hook for 44 rows. The hat is a bit tight on my head so next time I think I will do 46 rows but I do crocheting tightly. So if you use worst weight yarn, check your fit before fastening off. My length was fine at 8 inches with the folded cuff as shown above.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Here is my version of the Bloomin’ Bag pattern from Cathy Phillips. The free pattern link is available on Ravelry where you can download a PDF of the crochet pattern.
My tote bag was crocheted using Red Heart with Love Metallic yarn in fuchsia. I used about 410 yards of yarn for my bag.
I changed up the pattern just a bit to make it taller by crocheting one additional set of repeats of the main bag body. I then crocheted different handles using the same method I do for my recycled tote bags.
For my Bloomin’ Bag handles, I started in 7 inches from sides, chained 36 for handles, leaving 22 stitches unworked, then sc in each stitch until other side. Repeat for other side’s handle to match first side.
Row 2 – Sc in each stitch and work 38 sc around handle chain, repeat for other side.
Row 3-5 – Sc in each sts around.
Finished size of my Bloomin’ Bag with measurements taken flat are:
20” wide by 13” tall with 11” handles.
Overall a very good pattern and I love the look of the stitch design. Next I want to crochet this pattern using recycled plastic bags.
I just finished up this round ripple blanket for a local Veterans Outreach Program. I thought it would be timely to post about it in honor of Veterans Day. This 12-point round ripple is mostly crocheted with some scrap yarns and a few skeins of vintage yarn.
I just love crocheting round ripples as you just can’t go wrong with color combinations. It seems that no matter what mash-up I do with yarns, it always comes out looking good. The local Veterans facility gave me many of the skeins used in this project. And while I tried to keep colors coordinated, it all worked out nicely. This round ripple pattern is from Aggie May of Crochetville. If you have problems finding the pattern, just send me an email and I will help you out. Finished size of my round ripple is 47 inches wide which should make a nice throw or wheelchair lapghan.
So in honor of Veterans Day 2019, thank you Veterans, active military and those who gave all. We are forever in your debt for keeping our country safe and free.
Recent Comments