Here is my new sewing machine. It’s a 1950 vintage Singer 66 treadle sewing machine. I’ve been on the hunt for a Singer 66 treadle. After searching the internet, eBay, Craig’s list and other vintage sewing machine sites, I finally found this beauty just down the road from me at a yard sale. The sweetest part was that is was only $75.
She’s a Singer 66 treadle in a cabinet some call the schoolhouse cabinet. Apparently this cabinet was used in school home ec classrooms because they were a cheaper model sold by Singer and thus the name. I’m told this machine has the Filigree decals.
I was so excited to find this machine in such great condition. This later model even has reverse which is a real bonus. Plus it came with the original owner’s manual and a box of attachments. It just needed a new belt as the old one was dry rotted and broke. So I oiled it all up and installed a new belt, it was time to test it out.
This baby doll dress was crocheted to fit the cloth body dolls that are about 14 inches long and have the wider bodies. The doll has a 11 to 11-1/2 inch chest. I crocheted using Caron Lt Peach Country yarn for the baby doll dress and hat. Both items used less than 3 ounces of yarn to complete.
Doll’s head is 10-3/4 inches around. The hat I crocheted is about 11 inches around and 4-1/4 inches long.
Shoulder straps measure 3-1/3 inches long, dress from shoulder to hem is 7-1/2 inches long and 12 inches around chest with back closed with Velcro closure.
Crocheted Baby Doll Dress and Hat Pattern
Fits a 14 inch tall baby doll with 11 to 11-1/2 inch chest
G (4 mm) crochet hook
2 oz of Caron (aran weight) yarn for dress and less than 1 oz for hat
1 strip of Velcro for back closure
Ch 45
Row 1
Sc in 2nd ch from hook and in ea st across. Ch 1, turn. (44)
I bought myself a new cast iron skillet today. I love cooking with cast iron. No worry about non-stick coatings coming off the skillet and eating the coating material. Cast iron cooking pots and skillets literally can last a lifetime if cared for properly.
So I needed a medium-sized skillet for cooking and bought myself a new Lodge cast iron #10SK 12 inch skillet. Of course I needed a new handle cover for the new pan. I have crocheted pot covers for my other cast iron pans and they are so handy. You don’t need a potholder to move it and the handle cover is always on the pan. I just leave the cover on the pan as generally the handle doesn’t need cleaning or seasoning.
Here is the free crochet pattern for the t-shirt yarn handle cover. I cut my t-shirt strip in one continuous strand about 1/4 inch wide. Then I gently stretch the narrow strand which causes it to curl in on itself. I call this material curled t-yarn.
This skillet handle is a bit narrower than my big cast iron 14 inch pan so I had to work a decrease on each side of the cover
I have been crocheting some baby doll booties and hats for Molly’s Babies. Molly’s Babies is in need of baby doll clothes and blankets for their dolls that they give away to children in need.
When I asked about the sizes they needed for their dolls, I was told just to crochet newborn baby sized items. So I used my crocheted cuffed baby booties pattern to make the booties. I used sport and fingering yarn to crochet the booties following the pattern exactly to make the off-white and blue booties below. As you can see, the booties are different sizes but I figure that they have many different sizes of dolls so the booties should fit one of their dolls.
For the rose colored hat and bootie set pictured at the top, I crocheted them with some worst weight yarn. Because this yarn was heavier, I altered the booties by only crocheting 18 stitches around for the toe portion. Then I only chained 7 stitches for the cuff and
I have tons of white plastic bags as many people do. Most people that craft with recycled plastic bags find it difficult to find pretty colorful bags. You can usually find a few unique colors but it’s almost impossible to find enough bags to crochet a complete tote bag. So I’m always on the quest to find new ways to embellish my white tote bags. Here is my latest crocheted recycled plastic bag. It’s a red, white and blue striped reusable tote bag. It uses around 30 white retail bags and only about 3 blue plastic bags and 3 red newspaper bags. As you can see, just a few colorful bags can dress up an otherwise boring white plastic bag tote.
To crochet this recycled tote bag you basically use my Ultimate Grocery Bag pattern and add the stripes using the red and blue plastic bags cut into plarn. I also changed up the handles a bit and will detail the changes below to explain how to crochet this recycled plastic tote bag.
I used a N (9 mm) crochet hook to work this tote bag. The finished size is 13 inches wide and 14 inches long with 9 inch handles.
Following the basic pattern link, crochet with white plastic bag yarn (plarn) for 19 rounds. End at side of bag with a slip stitch.
It has been over six years now since I started this recycled bags blog. When I first started out I wanted to share the idea of using plastic bags for craft projects. I wanted to promote the reuse and repurposing of plastic for useful items. Over the years, I have crocheted tote bags, rugs, scrubbies, purses, baby bibs, soap dishes, coasters, baskets, gift bags, water bottle holders and much more using recycled plastic.
You can find all of my crochet free plastic bag patterns here at my site. Over the years I have shared all my patterns free so that everyone could enjoy crafting with recycled plastic materials. I have used every type of recycled plastic such as retails bags, toilet paper packaging, hotdog and hamburger bun packages, frozen vegetable packages, paper towel packaging, bread bags, hashbrown bags, and taco shell bags.
Trash Rug from Recycled Plastic
Recycling plastic to create yarn has endless possibilities. I only named a handful of plastic items you can make plarn from. Plarn (PLastic yARN) is the term my friend Joy coined first over at Crochetville
I have been asked to crochet a recycled plastic soap dish holder so this is up I came up with. I crocheted this soap dish using about three recycled plastic bags so it’s a great project if you only have a few bags in a special color.
It’s just the right size if you have a large square bar of soap. Here is my plarn soap dish with a scrubbie also crocheted from recycled plastic bags.
Here is a plarn soap dish pictured with a oval bar of soap along with a crocheted dishcloth to match.
Here is one other crocheted soap dish with white plastic retail bags along with a scrubbie added with a cotton yarn trim. The cotton yarn edging adds a colorful touch to the otherwise boring white bags. You can also use the soap dish crocheted from recycled plastic bags as a scrubbie holder. Just rinse it out in warm water if it gets too soapy or dirty. Either way this recycled soap dish is a handy holder and provides a useful way to reuse those plastic bags you may have stuffed in your kitchen drawers and cabinets.
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Free Crocheted Plarn Soap Dish Pattern
Materials needed:
3 — plastic bags cut into strips 3/4 inches wide and interlocked to create plarn
Here is the link to my plarn-making tutorials should you need it
Hook:
J (6 mm) US size metal crochet hook
Gauge: 3 Sc = 1 inch; 3 rows = 1 inch
Description:
Recycled Plastic Soap Dish – measures 5-1/2 inches long by 3 inches wide
Directions:
Row 1
Ch 13, Sc in the 2nd st from the hook and in each st across.
I created this oven mitt by crocheting the crocodile stitch in the round. Working the crocodile stitch in the round is so much easier than making two panels to join together. While the oven mitt is very thick with the crocodile scales, I did line it just to be sure that a person’s hand was protected.
I have the free crochet pattern written below for the crocodile stitch oven mitt. If you haven’t tried working the crocodile scales yet in the round, I think you will enjoy crocheting this pattern. Please read the complete pattern through before beginning and adjust the opening should you need a larger size as my wrist is small so I made my opening tighter.
Crocodile Stitch Oven Mitt Pattern
J (6 mm) hook and G (4-4.25 mm) hook
Materials:
2 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver Chunky (Bulky) yarn in Windsor Blue
1/2 oz. of white cotton yarn
Fabric for lining
Finished crocheted oven mitt measures 10 inches long by 7-1/2 inches wide with a 5 inches wide opening at top
Special Stitch:
Crocodile Scale Stitch: Dc 5 stitches down first post of the 2-Dc base set, Ch 1, and then work 5 Dc up the 2nd Dc of the 2-Dc set.
Directions:
With J hook and chunky yarn, Ch 42. Join to form a ring making sure your chain is not twisted.
I’m always looking for new ways to recycle and repurpose plastic waste such as this large toilet paper packaging. When I see something like this plastic I just want to find some useful way to reuse it. So I set out to create plastic yarn or plarn from this piece of packaging.
Because this plastic packaging is very large, I cut it into one continuous long strip about 1 inch wide. I started at the one opened end of the packaging to begin cutting. I placed the piece of plastic across my leg and used the scissors to cut around and around. I just kept cutting the strip around the plastic and through the seams. The seams on this packaging are very strong and glued so I believe it will hold for crafting without having to worry about the seams coming apart.
The result is one ball of plarn that netted 45 yards of yarn for crafting.
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