Floppy Plarn Hat Pattern

Several people have asked about hats lately so here is a recycled floppy hat made from plastic bags or plarn. It’s crocheted using plarn and you can add ribbon to the finished project as shown in the pictures.

Here are several photos showing the floppy hat. It stretches nicely to fit your head as shown above. I hope you enjoy this recycled hat project and happy green crafting to all!

Recycled Floppy Plarn Hat Pattern

Materials needed:
One ball of plastic bags cut into strips to create a ball of plarn approx. 22-25 bags
2 yards of ribbon

Hook: N (9 mm) USA size metal hook

Description: Floppy plarn hat measures flat 9 inches long from top center to edge with 19″ head circumstance and 4″ brim

Directions:
Ch 4 and join with a Sl St to form a ring. (Don’t turn throughout)

Men’s Crocheted Fingerless Gloves

Now that Christmas is over, I can share my men’s fingerless gloves. I crocheted these for my dh out of wool. He saw my fingerless gloves and said he would like a pair so I whipped these up for him. I used one Patons Classic Wool skeins of yarn in the natural mix color. This yarn is a medium weight or ww yarn. Because of this, you can use my free pattern with any type of medium weight yarn for these gloves. You can be creative and use reclaimed yarn or even acrylic yarn if you’d like to crochet these fingerless gloves.

Here is a shot of the gloves being modeled. And another taken laying flat. Click on any of the photos to super size them.

Men’s Fingerless Glove Crochet Pattern

Yarn:
Patons Classic Wool – natural mix color. 210 yards or 192 m

Hooks:
F (3.75 mm) size crochet hook
G (4.25 mm) size crochet hook

Description:
Men’s Large/XL sized fingerless gloves
Measurements: 9-1/2 inches long, 3-3/4 inches wide at cuff & 4-1/4 inches across at palm.

Directions
Make 2 gloves as follows:
Using F hook for ribbing, leave a long tail and ch 15.

Row 1 (Cuff Ribbing)
Sc in 2nd ch from hook and in ea st down to the end. (14 Sc)

Reclaimed Yarn Round Ripple Lapghan

Reclaiming yarn from old sweaters and other previously crafted items is a great way to obtain yarn for new projects. I was lucky and got a free crocheted vest at my local thrift store. The yarn was in good condition but the vest wasn’t the best looking item. So I unraveled the vest and got this pretty oatmeal yarn with little specks of color throughout it. Because it was a vest, there wasn’t a lot of yarn so I added some green worst weight yarn to compliment this round ripple.

I crocheted it to 42 inches wide and decided to finish this project off as a lapghan for my local nursing home. My pattern is 6 rounds for the center in the tan, then 5 rounds in green with 2 rounds of tan between the rounds of green after that. I reduced each round of green so it started as 5 rounds of green, two rounds of tan; 4 rounds of green, two rounds of tan; 3 rounds of green, two rounds of tan, two rounds of green, two rounds of tan; and the final round in green using the reverse single crochet stitch.

Reclaiming Yarn From a Thrift Store Sweater

Reclaiming yarn from thrift store sweaters is a wonderful and frugal way to get some very nice yarn at a terrific price. I’m always on the lookout for great deals on sweaters that I can unravel the yarn. You have to make sure you get the right type of seams otherwise the sweater won’t unravel properly making it difficult to reclaim the yarn.

There are several excellent resources on the Internet where seams that can be unraveled easily are shown. Most importantly the bad type of seams are shown so you can avoid those sweaters as there is nothing more frustrating than trying to unravel a sweater when it’s unravel-able. Here is a link to an outstanding post that shows detailed pictures of the seams and how to unravel sweaters.

Here is my latest thrift store sweater that I got for a dollar. It had a new stains but otherwise was an outstanding candidate for me to reclaim the yarn. It’s 100% cotton and was an extra large men’s sweater so it contains lots of yarn.

Cotton yarn is something that I use frequently and it’s very versatile. I can make baby blankets, dishcloths, baby bibs, hotpads, potholders, placemats, rugs, totes, and purses from the recycled sweater I unraveled.

Here is a up-close photo of the seam. If you look closely you can see that the seam doesn’t have a serged edge. I have marked the stitching of the seam in the photo. The stitching is what you want to use a seam ripper to remove so you can open the seam and separate the pieces for unraveling. You want to avoid edges that are serged as the piece won’t unravel. Click to supersize the photo if you want to see a closeup.

I wrap the reclaimed yarn in a hank form for washing as shown here. Once I have it in a hank form with a few ties to hold it in place, I gently wash and rinse it in the sink. Then I hang it to dry so my reclaimed yarn is clean and fresh smelling. And because I like balls of yarn, here is one sleeve that I wound into a ball after washing and drying.

Now I just need to finish unraveling the rest of the sweater and decide on a project or two for the recycled yarn. I’m thinking about using some of the reclaimed yarn for dishcloths and because the yarn is so soft, I plan to use some it for a baby blanket.

With the cost of cotton rising these days, it seems reclaiming yarn is not only a green thing to do but also very frugal. I hope you have found this post informative and if you find yourself strapped for money or yarn that you consider reclaiming yarn. As always, happy crafting to all.

Recycled Plastic Bag Sandals

Here is the long awaited recycled plastic bag sandals. Many people have been asking for just such a pattern and with the help of another recycled crafter Tera, I was able to finish up this sandal pattern. Tera’s original design has a back strap and I’m still working on that version. I will be adding that option later on another pair of sandals that I will crochet in a smaller size so that I will a few different sizes in this sandal project.

This version of the recycled sandals could also be used as an indoor/outdoor type slipper. I like it because I can just slip it on and go. Kinda like flip flops but I can still wear my socks too.

As always I hope you enjoy the free crochet pattern and happy crocheting to all!

Recycled Plastic Bag Sandals

Materials needed:
One ball of plastic bag yarn aka plarn cut 1 inch wide – Approx. 40 plastic grocery bags
Here is my picture tutorial on how to make plarn from plastic bags
Hook: J (6 mm) metal crochet hook

Description:
Recycled Plastic Bag Sandals – Women’s Size 9-10 M
Directions:
Make 2 soles for each sandal.

Rnd 1
With plastic bag yarn (plarn) Ch 23.

Recycled Plastic Baseball Cap

Here is the long awaited recycled baseball cap. It’s crocheted from plastic grocery bags made into plarn. This ball cap fits snuggly on my head and actually looks better on my head than this picture shows. I added some ribbon but you can add many different embellishments to spice up your hat.
Anyway if you want a cool recycled hat, try out this project.
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Free Recycled Ball Cap Pattern
Materials needed:
One ball of Plarn approx. 20 bags
12 inch piece of ribbon

Hook: N (9 mm) USA size metal hook
Description: Recycled Ball Cap – 21-1/2″ around cap base

Directions:
Ch 3 and join with a Sl St to form a ring.

Recycled Plastic Bracelet

I’m excited to share with you all my recycled plastic bracelet that was crocheted from bread bags and plastic packaging material. I just love the colors and look of the bracelet. I added this blue button but then I found this cool pink glittery button and had to try it on the bracelet too. Which one do you like better? I really love them both!

Click to supersize any of the photos

I also want to mention that I used one of those big plastic packages that toilet paper rolls come in to complete this project. It had such pretty blue and pink colors and I was able to cut it into 1/2 inch wide strips and joined the ends just as I do here with my regular plarn (plastic bag yarn) making projects. So roundup some plastic and upcycle yourself this fashion bracelet. I guarantee that yours will be one of a kind and be a definite eco fashion statement when you wear it. Enjoy!

Free Crochet Pattern for Recycled Plastic Bracelet

Materials needed:
One small ball of plastic bread bags cut into 1/2 inches to 5/8 inches strips
Approx. 4-6 bags
1) 1/2 inch button

Hook: N (9 mm) size metal hook
Description: Recycled Plastic Bracelet
Bracelet measures 1-1/2 inches wide and 10 inches long
with wrist opening appox. 8 inches around

Directions:
Ch 21

Recycled Plastic Hanger Cover

Want to cover up those old metal hangers? Do you have some old chipped up hangers that need a new look? Here is a quick and easy method using recycled plastic bags. First you need to create some plarn or plastic bag yarn. Here is the link on how to make the yarn using recycled plastic bags. You only need about 5 bags or so to complete this project.

Using a “H” US crochet hook, join your yarn at the throat of the hanger with a slip stitch. Single crochet (sc) around the entire hanger ending back at the beginning of the hanger throat. Fasten off and use the ends to weave in around the hanger throat to make a nice smooth finish to the hanger cover.

Here is a close-up of the beginning to show in detail.
Click to view full-sized

Be creative and mix or match your plastic bags for unique hanger covers. Once your old hangers are covered, these are very handy for line drying items.

This is a great way to recycle old metal hangers and give them a new colorful life while saving them from the landfill!

Simple & Comfy Cowl Scarf

This is a very simple crocheted cowl scarf. The crochet pattern is very easy to follow and works up quickly. I purchased one skein of Red Heart Black and one skein of Burgundy yarn and was able to make 3 scarves. I love how you can just loop it around your head twice and it creates such a nice looking scarf. Simple but cute and easy for a beginner too.

I have two different version of the scarf. The shorter cowl scarf is about 56 inches long and a longer one measures about 6 feet long.

Here are photos of both cowl scarves.

Short Cowl Scarf

Long Cowl Scarf

The Simple and Comfy Cowl Scarf Crochet Pattern

All crochet terms in US terms.

Hook: N (9mm) crochet hook

Materials: 3-4 ounces of Red Heart Black & 3-4 ounces of Burgundy (Red) yarn.

Total yarn is 6 ounces for shorter cowl and approx 7 ounces for longer scarf.

Starting with black yarn, Chain 57 inches to start