Check out this cool reusable tote bag I received in the mail. I just love the size and the message of this bag. It’s a roomy 14″ by 14″ tote constructed of heavy canvas and is one of the go green items that Dakota’s Personalized Gifts is offering their customers. They generously sent me this bag along with a set of their bamboo kitchen utensils to review.
The bamboo kitchen set includes 4 different spoons and spatulas along with tongs, chop sticks, and even a potholder. Plus it comes in an authentic bamboo stalk for storage. It features the wide grain of bamboo slats for beauty and durability. Overall an attractive and useful set for the price which includes free personalization on the items.
All the items I received were very nice but I must say that the tote bag is my favorite item. While I love making my own recycled bags, I am really going to enjoy using this beautiful tote bag with its great eco message. So if you are looking for some green gift ideas, please check out Dakota’s green living line of products.
Here is my latest felted wool purse project. It’s crocheted using 3 different colors of wool yarn. I crocheted each section using the blue, teal, and then creme yarn. Below are my before felting pictures of the bag and a side shot.
I felted my pieces on the hottest setting on my washer for about 18 minutes.
Here is a picture taken after I felted the main bag.
Click on photos to supersize
Here are photos of each side of my strap which was crocheted using one of main colors on each side.
I finished off the felted purse by attaching the strap and lining my bag complete with a zipper. Here is a my purse lining tutorial if you need instructions for lining a crocheted bag. The full detailed crochet pattern is below — Enjoy!
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Free Pattern for Crocheted Felted 3-Color Striped Purse
Materials needed:
3) 100% Wool Yarn (100 grams/110 yard skeins each)
Blue, Teal, and Cream colors used
Small amount of fabric for lining and pockets
9 Inch Zipper
Hook: H (5 mm) U.S. size metal hook
Description: Felted Blue Striped Bag
After felting bag measures 13 inches wide at base and 9 inches long with 39 inches strap
Directions:
Using blue wool yarn, Ch 45.
Here are two thread crosses I crocheted with #10 thread. I used a “C” crochet hook (2.75 mm) for both. The first one I used a single strand of #10 thread and the larger one was crocheted using double strands of thread. The small one is 6″ long and the larger one is 7″. The pattern calls for a #7 steel crochet but it was too small for me as I tried to work the pattern. But now that I know how to work the pattern, I want to try it again with the steel hook.
The pattern indicates that you can use it to make a cross bookmark or ornament so I may just not add the tassel and use these for ornaments. Here is the free crochet pattern link for the cross bookmark.
This was my first real experience using thread to crochet. I got two small balls at the thrift store for 49 cents so I wanted to give it a try. I love the pretty and delicate look of thread but it’s a far cry from crocheting with recycled plastic bags like I usually do. I do love my thread crosses and hope to make more for Christmas gifts now that I’ve learned to crochet with the very thin yarn.
I am sharing a reader’s designs and crochet pattern for a plastic water bottle carrier. These water bottle carriers are made from recycled plastic bags and have been fashioned into some amazing designs by Cecile Chi.
Cecile has allowed me to reprint her pattern and photos in this post. Her designs are beautiful and shows how plastic trash can truly be transformed into treasures. While she doesn’t give all the details for creating the special designs shown in the photos, her beautiful creations do provide us with numerous ideas for crocheting our own unique designs with recycled plastic bags.
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Recycled Plastic Water Bottle Carrier Pattern By Cecile Chi
Directions for a carrier for a half-liter water bottle:
Cut strips across the bag, 5/8 to 3/4 inches wide to create your plarn (plastic bag yarn)
Beginning the carrier
Begin by making the base, a flat circle with one end of the yarn, make a slip knot loop
Use size F and G crochet hooks as directed
Ch 3
Need a new trivet hotpad? Well grab that old t-shirt and start cutting. This cute flower hotpad was crocheted from the front piece of an old cotton tank top of mine. This particular tank top had side seams so I cut it across from side to side so I could stretch it to created what I call curled t-yarn. Here is my picture tutorial on how to make curled t-yarn.
The nice thing about these trivets is that they are a quick project and only require about 40 yards of t-yarn. Because this was a shirt with side seams, when I reached the side, I just cut at a diagonal to turn so I could work across the front again. Little “tags” are created when you make the turns but can be trimmed once you curl the t-yarn and can be easily hidden within your stitches or at the back of your work. As you can see, all my little tags don’t show. Anyway enjoy this recycled t-shirt project and happy green crafting to all!
Free Crochet Pattern for a T-Yarn Flower Trivet Hotpad
Materials needed:
One-half of a T-shirt – approx. 40 yards of t-yarn
Cut into 1/4 inch – 1/2 inch wide strips and gently pull to curl your t-yarn
Hook: J (6 mm) size metal crochet hook
Finished Trivet Hotpad is 6-1/4 inches wide
Rnd 1
Make a magic circle with t-yarn, work 14 Dc in circle. Join with Sl St to top of 1st Dc to complete first round. Do not turn your work in this project.
I crocheted these felted baby slippers using just a small amount of chunky wool yarn that I had left over from a thrift store purchase. I was inspired by the cute felted woman’s slippers that Guro created. Guro has a new blog site where you can find all kinds of beautiful new craft projects that she has created. I just love all her beautiful crochet projects. Click on over and check out her gorgeous designs.
I wanted to make baby slippers to fit my Granddaughter who is 10 months old. So through trial and error, I finally came up with a pattern that after felting fit her feet.
My finished slippers before felting were 3″ wide by 5″ inches long with a toe depth of 2″. After felting the slippers are 2.5″ wide by 4.25″ long. Guro has graciously allowed me to post my baby version of her slipper pattern below. Enjoy and happy crafting to all!
Felted Baby Wool Slippers
Crochet hook: J (6 mm) crochet hook
Yarn: 2 ozs Bulky/Chunky weight wool yarn
2) small star buttons
Rnd 1
Ch 2, work 6 Sc in 2nd ch from hook. Don’t join as this pattern is worked in rounds without joining.
This is my new denim eyelet tote bag. I am so excited about how it turned out. I bought this big piece of denim from a yard sale and set out to make a nice new purse for myself.
It is my first time using eyelets on a tote bag for the handles. In the past I’ve always found it tough sewing the heavy denim handles or straps to the bag. Most of the time your sewing machine doesn’t like sewing through the thick layers of denim so I wanted to try putting in eyelets. They worked out great and I just threaded my denim handle straps through the eyelets and tied a knot at the end to secure each side.
I did take lots of pictures as I created this tote bag and will detail them below for anyone who would like to make their own denim tote bag.
Picture Tutorial for a Denim Eyelet Tote Bag
Materials needed:
One piece of denim 28″ long by 16″ wide
Two denim strips 3″ wide by 38″ long for strap handles
One scrap piece of denim for flap
One piece of lining fabric 28″ long by 16″ wide and extra scrap pieces if pockets are added to lining
One magnetic closure
Thread for denim and lining
Four 7/16″ eyelets
One hammer
I’m here to introduce my camo plarn ditty bag. My camo plarn is made from green, tan, brown, creme, white, grey and orange recycled plastic bags. Making camo plarn is a wonderful way to use up your odds and ends of plastic bags. I used just one or two bag strips of the same color together and as I worked the ditty bag then I added more bag strips as I crocheted in an effort to create a staggered camo look.
Here is my first sample of the camo plarn after 6 rounds complete of the ditty bag pattern. I used Dot’s Ditty Bag pattern found here.
I did have to change the pattern a bit to make it work with recycled plastic bags. First I used a N (9 mm) crochet hook as I did in this plastic ditty bag version. My finished camo ditty bag is 7 inches tall and about 7 inches wide.
Then I did another experiment and made a winter or snow camo ditty bag. For this recycled bag project, I used only black, white, and grey plastic bags. While I like both of the camo plarn bags, I think I prefer the snow camo bag best.
My plan is to crochet a few more of these camo plarn bags and donate them to soldiers for Christmas. Hopefully some soldiers will find it useful for toiletries or just as a little storage tote.
I present my All American Plarn Recycled Bag! It is crocheted using red and blue newspaper bags and white grocery bags that were recycled into plarn. Here is my plarn making tutorial and I use the same method for cutting and attaching the newspaper strips together. They are much shorter strips but it’s the same loop method as regular plastic grocery sacks for making your plarn.
I got these nice wooden handles from a local thrift store for just 99 cents. This is my first recycled purse project using round wooden handles and I wanted to make sure to attach them firmly to my bag. I ended up working two rows of single crochet stitches around the handles and into the bag. I have explained the process below and hopefully it’s understandable to everyone. You could work this same pattern with bulky yarn and end up with about the same sized bag. Either way I hope everyone enjoys my free crochet pattern below.
Happy Crafting!
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All American Plarn Recycled Bag Pattern
Materials needed:
Plastic bags cut into 1 inch wide plarn strips in red, white and blue.
(Approx. 17-18 bags in each color.)
1) pair of 7 Inch wide wooden handles
Hook: N (9 mm) size metal crochet hook
Description: Red, White and Blue Plarn Striped Bag
13-1/2″ wide by 12″ tall with 9″ at top opening
Directions:
Using salmon red plarn, Ch 26.
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