It’s Christmas in July for me as I’m working on mini Christmas stockings. The Warmth for Warriors organization needs 2000 mini Christmas stockings for the troops. They have just kicked off their 2013 Christmas Stocking Drive. The socks need to be around 6 inches long and will be filled with a small bar of soap, shampoo, body wash or similar item and given to the troops as a little Christmas gift. The socks can be sewn, knitted or crocheted and do need to be all handmade.
These recycled denim Christmas socks were all sewn on my Singer treadle sewing machine. It was fun to use the treadle to sew the denim sock shells. Once sewn, I just turn the socks so the right sides are showing and fold under the top to the inside. I then crochet a top
Here are two plastic baskets I crocheted from recycled plastic packages and plastic retail bags. The red basket has several rounds from a large red hashbrown plastic package that I cut into plastic bag yarn or plarn. The blue basket has two large recycled toilet paper packages cut into plarn too.
All of the plastic package materials were cut into plarn using a single strand. I used the single strand cutting method as the plastic was so thick and it was easier to cut it about 3/4 inch wide in a single strand to crochet with it. For the plastic retail bags, I made plastic bag yarn using my plarn making tutorial which is done using the looping method.
I wrote up the pattern details and have listed it on my free pattern page. In case you aren’t familiar, I offer all my patterns and tutorials free of charge. You can find everything from recycled bag patterns, repurposed denim projects, to crocheted regular yarn items. I have a large library of free patterns available so check out the link above to see all my patterns.
Free Crocheted Plarn Basket Pattern
Materials needed:
Plastic bags cut into strips 1 inch wide (Approx. 15 bags)
and recycled plastic packaging from hashbrowns and toilet paper packaging cut about 3/4″
wide using the single strand method
All pattern details are written in US crochet terms.
Hook: K (6.5 mm) size crochet hook
Description: Crocheted Recycled Plastic Bag Basket –
Basket measures 6-1/2 inches tall, 6-1/2 inches base and with 3-1/2 inch wide handle openings
Directions:
Rnd 1
Starting with a magic circle, work 8 Sc into circle. Join with Sl St to first Sc.
I have been crocheting helmet hats for the troops. After using a few different patterns, I tweaked my own basic pattern and thought it might be helpful to write out the crochet pattern for everyone’s free use.
These helmet caps are designed to only come to the edge of the ears. If you want a longer hat or a cuff, repeat round 6 a few extra times for a longer hat. Then add the 2 rounds of single crochet for edging trim. The two rounds of single crochet add a nice tight trim for the hats.
I only chain 2 for the beginning of my rounds. I find the joining seam is tighter this way. Here is the back joining seam. You can click on it to super size it. If you prefer you can chain 3 but I think by just chaining two, the seam looks better.
As always please enjoy the free crochet pattern below!
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Free Crochet Helmet Cap Hat Pattern
Finished adult helmet hat measures: 21″ circumference by 8″ long
Hook: H (5 mm) US sized crochet hook
Materials: 3 ozs Wool or Worsted Yarn
Mix and match yarn to add stripes as desired.
With H hook, Ch 4 and join to form ring.
Rnd 1
Ch 2, work 11 Dc in ring. Join with Sl St to beg Ch-2. (12)
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
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