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Honor Crocheting

November 11, 2024 No comments yet
Unfinished crochet project

When a crocheter dies they many times leave behind a unfinished project. Often family who find the project(s) don’t know how to go about finishing the item. Sometimes you see these things at thrift stores or estate sales. I am always sad when see them and wonder about the crafter who left behind some work of theirs in progress.

I recently was given a big tote with lots of yarn from a friend’s relative that had passed away. Inside the tote, I found this partially finished crochet project. All the yarn was in a bag with even the crochet hook still attached to the project. It looked like a scarf and it was in a basic double crochet stitch which I could easily identify.

So I set off to finish up this project. I call this honor crocheting as I am honoring the person who started it by finishing their project for which they left behind when they died. I am not positive that she was crocheting a scarf but it was easy for me to finish it and honor her work. Here is the finished scarf below.

Sea Blue Granny Shawl

October 7, 2024 No comments yet
Sea Blue Granny Shawl

I found this pretty Sea Muse Print Yarn at Hobby Lobby. I thought it would make into a lovely granny shawl. I purchased 3 skeins of 5 ounces each to crochet this granny shawl pattern by Louise Howe. The free pattern is found here.

I used a H (5 mm) crochet hook and followed the pattern as written. I did crochet one row of SC

Potholder Towel Combo

September 13, 2024 No comments yet
Fall Potholder Towel Combo

Here are a few potholder towel combo ideas. First is a Fall themed potholder from the Dollar Store that I added a towel to the bottom of the potholder.

The towel is folded in half and I used a needle and thread to run a baste stitch through the center for gathering. I then gathered the center of the towel to match the bottom of the potholder.

Below is a photo of the front with it pinned in several areas. You can either machine stitch the towel to the potholder or hand stitch it in place. For this project, I hand stitched the towel to the bottom edge of the potholder. I was able to hide my stitches using brown thread and pulling up under the red trim edge of the potholder. I secured the towel tightly by doing many stitches and making sure it wasn’t going to pull loose. See photos below for more details and you can click on them to supersize the photos.

More Baby Lovies

August 25, 2024 No comments yet
Brown Granny Bear Lovey

Here are a two more baby lovies that I have crocheted for the local hospital. These lovies are crocheted using a ponytail hair tie for the centerhole and then a store-bought stuffed animal used for the center.

The first lovey is crocheted using lavender and white yarn with a stuffed dinosaur. This lovey features a round ripple design. Here is the link for the round ripple baby lovey pattern details. My finished size is 21 inches wide.

Next is a granny stitch styled lovey with a white dollar store bear added for the animal. The pattern details on how to crochet this lovey are as follows

Bar Towel with Crocheted Topper

July 13, 2024 No comments yet
Spa Blue Bar Towel Topper

Here is a Dollar Store bar towel with a crocheted topper added. I used a milk jug ring for the hanging loop.

This is a quick towel topper as it uses a small triangle shape and about an ounce of cotton yarn to complete. There is no cutting or sewing necessary for this towel topper. I used this free triangle ring towel topper pattern to crochet the project with a few modifications. Because this towel is smaller, at row 3, I did single crochet (SC) decreases (Dec) all across in BLO, then SC in every stitch next row. Repeat these two rows, twice.
At row 8, Ch 1, turn.

Yellow Dog Granny Lovey

June 6, 2024 No comments yet
Yellow Dog Granny Lovey

Just a quick post to share a new child’s granny lovey. This lovey is crocheted using a granny stitch and features a yellow store-bought stuffed dog for the toy. The granny lovey is started around a stretchy hair tie with a stuffed animal inserted through the center hole.

You can find more pictures and pattern instructions at my original granny lovey post here.

Here is one more photo showing the granny lovey more closeup.

Jar Opener Helper

May 6, 2024 No comments yet
Crocheted Jar Opener Helper

There has been a renewed interest in an old pattern of mine so I thought I’d crochet a few of the jar opener helpers to revisit the pattern. I haven’t crocheted any of these jar helpers in years.

These jar helpers are the handiest things to have and so easy to make yourself. They really do help you get a good grip on a jar lid so you can open it easily. I use shelf liner and you can make a lot of them from just one roll. Then just under a half ounce of yarn and you have the materials to make a jar opener helper. Plus you can color match the jar helper edging to match a dishcloth or potholder to crochet a pretty matching set.

The free crochet pattern for the jar helper is found here.

Round Ripple Baby Lovey

April 4, 2024 No comments yet
Round Ripple Baby Lovey

I am excited to present a new baby lovey that features a round ripple pattern. It has a centerhole which is created by crocheting around a thick ponytail hair tie. By crocheting the baby lovey with a centerhole, you can use a store-bought stuffed animal for the project. That way you can wash the round ripple lovey separate from the stuffed animal.

Here is the lovey with the stuffed animal removed so you can see how it looks separated.

Here is another round ripple lovey that I crocheted using the same round ripple idea for the project.

I want to detail how I start my round ripple lovies. I use a 2″ thick ponytail tie for the center and it gives a 1.75″ opening on 24 stitches. Here is a photo with the first round of single crochet (SC) stitches around the ponytail hair tie. I work 24 stitches around the tie as show and slip stitch to join.

My round ripple baby lovey is based off of Aggie May’s round ripple (RR) blanket pattern. After the 24 single crochet stitches for the center start, and following Aggie May’s RR pattern, work row 3: Ch 3, 1 DC, ch-2, 2 DC in same stitch as join. Then skip 1 stitch and work 2 DC, ch-2, 2 DC in next stitch and repeat. Join to top of ch 3. Total of 12 sets of shells. See photo below for a closeup photo of this round.

Crocheted Flower Coasters

March 1, 2024 No comments yet
Crocheted Maybelle Coasters

I used the Maybelle flower pattern to crochet these cute coasters.

The pattern is very versatile as you can use the flower motif for headbands, blankets, bags and many other things by simply joining the flowers.

I used a G (4 mm) crochet hook and just a small amount of



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.


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