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ripped and restarted

As I’ve mentioned, I have too much acrylic yarn. I decided to start knitting and crocheting my way through it instead of just giving it away. I made three hats for my friend’s students* and then I kind of got sidetracked by my flowers for Haiti.

*Here’s my first hat finished with a flower and my third hat. (Hat no.2 here.)

crochet hat

While on Craft Hope’s website, I saw that they had recently partnered with The Orphan Foundation of America’s Red Scarf Project. I’ve wanted to do this, but always seemed to miss the deadline for some reason or another. I was excited to hear Craft Hope has a special deadline: Valentine’s Day! I grabbed some red yarn (I have a lot!) and got started.

Things were going well until today. I took it to the library to work on while my daughter was in Story Time. I forgot my hook and using a different size was really noticeable. As I sat there with it in my lap, I realized I didn’t like the direction this scarf was taking. I had a dilemma: work through it anyway or rip and start over. I decided to rip.

I restarted it tonight at knitting group. I have nothing to show you except some re-wound yarn balls. I really like where the new scarf is headed, though, and I’m glad I ripped. Hopefully it will be ready for pictures next week.

donate: It feels like I’ve been making a lot of projects for others lately and I promised myself this year I’d make more things for me. It’s just so darn cold outside. I can’t get over the need to bundle everyone up!

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a weekend of sweater unraveling

I’ve been thinking about white lately. Not bright white, but ivory, soft white and ecru. I’ve been keeping my eye out at the thrift stores, but all I could seem to find was that yellowish cream. Yuck. I even strolled down the yarn aisles at craft stores, which I haven’t done in a long time. I couldn’t bring myself to buy new. Not when I had so much at home.

Then one day while I was digging around in my stash closet I saw a beautiful, un-felted Gap sweater. It was the perfect color white and so soft: wool, nylon, angora rabbit and cashmere. And it had perfect seams for unraveling (those Gap sweaters always do!)

Friday evening I used a seam ripper to carefully take apart the front, back and sleeves. Saturday evening I unraveled it with the help of my swift and ball winder. This is what I had Sunday morning.

unraveled wool sweater

Don’t you just love how un-knit yarn looks like ramen noodles? Usually I will just work from noodle-y yarn, but I decided to try and get some of the kinks out. I soaked each bundle in cold water for 15-30 minutes.

unraveled wool sweater

After soaking, I hung them up to dry. I put a few wooden blocks in plastic grocery bags to weight the yarn at the bottom.

unraveled wool sweater

Look at what I have now! Isn’t it beautiful? Goodwill is having their 99 cent sale this weekend. I might have to check out the sweater rack.

unraveled wool sweater

thrifty reuse: I bought this sweater at a garage sale for $1. Can you believe it? Here’s my favorite online tutorial for unraveling a sweater for yarn.

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flower pins for haiti, doctors without borders

crochet flower brooch

As soon as I hit “publish” last week on my flower pin post I decided to donate all of the proceeds from my flower pins to Doctors Without Borders. I figured I needed a few more in my shop, though. There are currently four, but I plan to make more. I’ve also created a special section for them in my shop.

recycle: These pins are crocheted from unraveled sweater wool. Remember these balls of yarn?

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garden scarf

birthday garden scarf

Have I mentioned that I’m addicted to crochet flowers? I made this as a gift for a friend’s daughter and it was so much fun. What a perfect pattern for little girls. My daughter loves it! I think I’ll be making a lot of these this year.

handmade crochet flower scarf

I love these colors together, but I think it’s time to add some new colors to my stash of acrylic yarns.

project notes: Pattern is the Garden Scarf from The Happy Hooker. This book is a really great resource for crocheters, especially beginners. Thrifted yarn from my stash.

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cheery flower brooch

attic 24 flower brooch pin

Yep, I’m still crafting over here. Now that the holiday pressure is off, I’m doing some fun small projects. Last Spring I became a little obsessed with crochet flowers and I’m at it again. They are so quick to whip up and are a great way to use up odd bits of yarn. I’m thinking these would be nice to send to someone instead of sending actual flowers. They’d last longer and can be pinned to almost anything. They definitely bring good cheer!

stash: Thrifted yarn from my amigurumi stash. Brooch pattern from Attic24.

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my first crochet scarf

lily chin nolita crochet scarf

Do you ever have an empty feeling after the big holiday gift/package/mail rush is over? Everything got done in time, but who knows with the weather if it will arrive on time. Now I don’t know what to do with myself. I should be doing all of the laundry I’ve neglected for crafting the past few weeks.

Instead, I crocheted a scarf for my daughter. It’s not a Christmas present. It’s just because I was gifted some yarn and it was fuzzy and cute and she needed a scarf that matched her brown hat and mittens.

The yarn is Lily Chin’s Nolita* and from my friend Amy. She destashed a lot of her fuzzy fibers and brought them to our last knitting guild meeting. It’s the perfect amount for a toddler sized scarf. It’s soft and cuddly, but a pain to rip if you make a mistake. I have another ball in green that I think would make a perfect cowl for me.

pattern: 16 double crochets across with a J hook. Final size was 4 x 30 inches after steam blocking.

*Don’t judge this yarn based on the awful photo on the website. It’s actually very pretty.

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finished: granny square scarf

granny square scarf

Yay for pictures! I was so excited that the sun was out today, as we were expecting more rain. It’s still kind of chilly — perfect scarf weather.

lion brand wool ease scarf

Some squares were a little smaller than others. I’m not sure if it was daily life that messed with my tension or my learning curve. I arranged them smallest to largest for seaming and you really can’t tell.

woolease granny square scarf

I got 7 squares out of each skein for a total of 14. It blocked nicely considering it’s only 20% wool. I can’t wait to wear it tomorrow!

project details: here and here.

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my creative space

recharging creative spirit at the beach

Today I’ll be at the beach relaxing and renewing my creative spirit. I’m planning to finish knitting a wool hat for my husband. There’s also a cute yarn and fabric store that I spied last night on the way to dinner. I’m going back today to take a little look around. I might even come home with something. After all, if I finish the hat, I’ll need a project for the plane ride back, right?

What’s in your creative space today?

Visit more creative spaces over at Kirsty’s blog.

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mixing bread bags and wool with crochet

A long time ago I started to crochet a tote out of plastic grocery bags. I thought it would be a good way to keep the bags out of the landfill. It wasn’t fun. The plastic was sticky and it hurt my wrists. Then my recycle guy started accepting the bags for curbside pick up. That was the end of the guilt and the project.

The past few weeks, I’ve been taking a hard look at what we put in the trash. Was there anything else I could possibly recycle? Tea bag envelopes? Receipts? Bread bags?

I did some investigating and my recycling guy only accepts newspaper, dry cleaning and grocery bags. If I can’t put them at the curb, what else can I do with them? I know others have crocheted them just like grocery bags, but when I tried, they kept breaking. Plus, I’d need to eat a lot of bread to make anything substantial. Then I got an idea. What if I cut really thin strips and held them along with something else?

crochet bread bag and wool

I am totally loving this! I’m using recycled sweater yarn that has a bunch of knots. The plastic hides the yarn imperfections and the yarn keeps the plastic from breaking. If the plastic does break, the yarn holds the “fabric” together.

This is so much easier on my wrists! And check out the pretty colors! Not bad for some plain old gray recycled yarn.

crochet bread bag and wool

So far I’ve used bread and tortilla bags. I’ve also got a salad bag to throw into the mix. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

recycle and reuse: I love thinking of new things to knit and crochet. The yarn is from my first attempt at recycling sweater wool. This is a good project for both frugal and green crafters!