Camo Plarn Ditty Bag

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.

Cosmetic Bag Crocheted from Bread Bags

Here’s my little cosmetic bag I crocheted from old recycled bread bags. I’ve had this on my to-do list for quite a while and finally got it done.

Here is a picture taken with the flap open.

Here is the bottom of the bag.

This very durable cosmetic bag can hold several things and easily fit into your purse or overnight bag. Below you will find the free pattern for this bread bag project. If you don’t want to use bread bags, just substitute plastic bags for your cosmetic bag.
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Pattern for Crocheted Cosmetic Bag

Materials needed:
One ball of plastic bread bags cut into 1/2 inch to 5/8 inch strips
Approx. 15-18 bags
One small button

Hook: N (9 mm) size metal crochet hook

Description: Cosmetic Bag
Bag measures 6 inches wide and 4 inches long with 2-1/2 incches bottom

Directions:
Ch 11

Crochet a Recycled Clothes Pin Bag

Last month I purchased a sunshine umbrella. It’s one of those clothes line things you unfold and put in the ground to hang your clothes on to dry. I haven’t had anything outside to hang my clothes on for quite awhile at this home. But wanting to do the eco friendly thing, I want to hang my clothes outside to dry. It saves electricity and money on my power bill and of course is environmentally friendly!

Anyway I didn’t have a clothes pin bag. So I got busy and crochet myself one. I love to make things that I need from recycled materials and hope others do too. If you need to know how to make plastic bag yarn, here is the link. Once you have your yarn, you are ready to go!

Here is a picture of the little hanger I used for the inside. It is 10 inches long and fits perfectly inside my peg bag. You might also use a baby hanger as they are small.

So what are you waiting for, grab that crochet hook and get to work!

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Free Pattern for Crocheted Clothes Pin Bag

Materials needed:
One large ball of plastic bag yarn aka Plarn
One 8-10 inch long plastic hanger to fit inside bag

Hook: N (9 mm) size metal crochet hook

Description: Clothes Pin Bag
Bag measures 12 inches wide and 12 inches long

Directions:
Ch 28

Crochet a Star from Plastic Bags

Crochet this star / flower using plastic bags. This little star or flower was made from recycled plastic bags. It’s a quick and simple project that can be used to make a hair barrette as shown.

The star or flower can be used to embellish any project as it’s a cute addition to any purse or bag. Use your imagination and have fun adding this to your crafting item!

Here’s the free pattern.

Crocheted Dog Leggings

If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you know that I often make things that I need rather than purchase them. I so enjoy creating something to fill a need I have. Well, my dog has been having these issues of licking her forelegs and they were getting very sore. There is nothing wrong but it’s just a bad habit of her’s to lick her legs. I tried putting some socks up on her legs to prevent her from licking but that didn’t work very well.

Here is a closeup of the dog legging I crocheted. My dog’s foot is about 7 inches around at her paws. I tried to make the leggings loose enough to fit over her paws but tight enough to stay up once on her legs. I found if you roll them up a bit it’s easier to get them on over her claws and up on her legs. They stay on pretty good but she did manage to lose one outside in the snow but I found it. So just a word of caution, they do stretch out so make sure you make them tight to begin with so they stay on. I usually just make her wear them in the house now so we don’t lose them outside.

The final word, they do work and it does help prevent licking and has allowed her sore legs to heal. Now maybe I won’t have to put them on her for awhile. So another problem solved and here is the free crochet pattern below.

Crocheted Plarn Basket

I crocheted this plarn yarn basket using recycled plastic trash. The sides are made with recycled plastic bags that I make into yarn which is known as plarn. The base is a recycled plastic frozen dinner tray I fished out of the garbage at work. I cut the rim off the dinner tray and punched holes all around the outside as shown in this picture below.

Next using plarn (plastic-bag-yarn), I crocheted a single crochet base round through the holes and around the complete base. Once you get the base row done, it’s much easier crocheting into the plarn of each stitch as you work the additional rounds for your basket. I changed colors several times and used up some of my unique colored stashed plastic bags.

These trays work wonderfully to provide a nice sturdy base for the basket. You could crochet more rounds with the plastic yarn to make your basket taller or add a handle for a cute carrying basket. Either way recycling these plastic trays is a great way to keep them out of our landfills and provides a useful purpose in the recycled crafting field.

Free Pattern for Recycled Plastic Basket

Materials needed:
Plastic bags cut into 1 inch strips into plarn is several different colors
as desired for stripes
1) Plastic frozen dinner tray with the rim cut off
(One used in project was 6 inches long)

Hook: J (6 mm) sized metal crochet hook

Description: Recycled Plastic Yarn Basket

Basket measures 6 inches long, 4-1/2 inches wide and 4 inches tall

Directions:
Using the tray after cutting off the rim, punch holes around the base as shown in the photo. I used heavy duty hole punch to put my holes in the plastic base.

Crocheted T-Yarn Wash Mitt

Here is a car wash mitt I crocheted using t-shirt yarn I recycled from several old white tee-shirts. I cut this t-yarn as narrow as I could to crochet this wash mitt. The result is a very thick wash mitt that you can use to scrub the car or other things you may need to clean.

I crocheted the wash mitt using the crocodile oven mitt pattern as the base of the mitt. I changed the cuff portion of the pattern to finish off the wash mitt using a colored t-shirt cut just as thin as possible. Make sure you stretch your t-shirt strips to create curled t-shirt yarn. Crochet the cuff using the colored t-yarn to complete the project.

I hope you enjoy this free crochet pattern and make yourself a cool recycled wash mitt from your old tee-shirts.

Crocodile Stitch Wash Mitt Pattern
J (6 mm) hook

Materials:
T-shirt yarn cut 1/4 inch wide (about 2 white tee-shirts)
Small amount of a contrasting color for the cuff (1/3 of a colored tee-shirt)

Finished crocheted wash mitt measures 7 inches wide by 9 inches long. The cuff portion is 1-3/4 inches long with a 4-1/4 inch wide opening.

Special Stitch:
Crocodile Scale Stitch: Dc 5 stitches down first post of the 2-Dc base set, Ch 1, and then work 5 Dc up the 2nd Dc of the 2-Dc set.

Directions:
With J hook and t-yarn, Ch 42.

Draft Dodger From Recycled Plastic Bags

Drafts from around doors and windows is never a good thing. But you can craft your own draft stopper or dodger from recycled materials to save on your heating bill and help keep your home warmer.

You can use scrap pieces of plastic bags or other stuffing material to fill the shell of the draft dodger. For this particular project, I crocheted my draft dodger from recycled plastic bags. It was a great opportunity to use the many different colored plastic bags that I have been saving. Each stripe only takes between 2-3 bags each. It’s hard to find colored bags in large qualities so this was the perfect project to utilize the pretty colors that I have been collecting but didn’t have enough of one color for a large project.

I crocheted my draft dodger and then stuffed it using the scrap pieces that you get when you make plastic bag yarn or plarn. When I make my plarn, I have the end pieces and the handle portion that I don’t use as I assemble the loops. So I took those leftover plastic bag pieces and used them for the stuffing of my draft dodger. You want to stuff the draft dodger before you close the ends. I put in a few pieces of plastic and then used a broom stick to push them into the shell of the draft dodger. You want to stuff it somewhat loosely so that your shell isn’t too stiff and so it doesn’t stretch out the shape of the tube. I stuffed from one end until it was nicely filled to the halfway point and then closed that end of the tube as shown in the pattern below. Then I repeated the stuffing for the other end.

That completes the project and below you will find the free crochet pattern details for the draft dodger. Adjust the length as needed for your door or window. But most importantly enjoy working this recycled craft project.

Draft Dodger Crochet Pattern

Materials needed:
Variety of plastic bags made into Plarn
Approx. 56 plastic grocery bags
Stuffing material for inside the draft dodger shell

Hook: J (6 mm) U.S. size metal hook
Description: Draft Dodger
Measurements: 3 inches wide x 38 inches long (or width needed for your door or window)

Directions:

With J hook, ch 18 and join to form a ring. Make sure your chain is not twisted and your stitches are facing out. This pattern is worked in the round and is done in single crochet stitch.

Sc in each stitch and don’t join at the end of each round but rather just continue working in the round for 5 rounds in each color. At the end of the 5th round. Finish off at the end of 5th round by cutting the plarn and working a slip stitch into the next two stitches to end the round smoothly.

Ch 1 at the beginning of each new color and slip stitch into the last […]

Felted Cell Phone Cozy

You know if you have been reading this blog site for awhile that I’m all into being practical and creating things I need. So I really wanted to have a nice little cell phone holder and I just love felting so I crocheted myself this little cell phone cozy from some scrap wool yarn.

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Free Felted Cell Phone Cozy Pattern

Crochet this cozy using about an ounce of 100% wool yarn with a G (4mm) crochet hook. Chain 14, single crochet (sc) in 2nd stitch from hook and in each stitch down to end of chain (13 sc). Working around the back side of chain, sc in each stitch to create a seamless cozy. Do not join. Continue working in rounds until your cozy measures 4-1/2 inches long before felting (approx. 19 rounds.) Slip stitch into last few stitches of final round so your finished edge is smooth. Fasten off and weave under ends on the inside of your cozy. Finished size before felting was 3-1/2 inches wide by 4-1/2 inches long.

Buttonhole Loop:
Join yarn with slip stitch in 5th stitch from edge and ch 15. Attach in the 2nd stitch over from loop base to create the buttonhole with a slip stitch. Then Sc back up the chain evenly (approx. 18 Sc’s.) Join with slip stitch back into the beginning with a slip stitch. Finish off and weave under ends.

Felting:
Place your completed cozy inside an old pillowcase and tie it closed with a knot. I felted my cozy 15-20 minutes on the hottest water. Check your cozy after 10 minutes of agitation to make sure it hasn’t felted too much to fit your cell phone. Mine needed more so I put it back into the washer. After a total of 20 minutes, mine was perfect. I pulled it out and cold water rinsed it in my sink. Shape your cozy so it’s square and check to make sure the opening is wide enough to insert your cell phone. If it’s a bit tight, just stretch the opening a little. Air dry and shape as it dries if needed.

My final felted cozy measures 3 inches wide by 4 nches long which fits my Motorola cell phone that is 2-1/4″ wide by 3-3/4″ long. This cozy is a great way to use up scraps of wool yarn you may have on hand. Just make sure you use 100% wool so your project felts properly.

Once your felting is done and its dry, add a 1 inch or larger button as desired to the front of the cozy. Voila you are done — Enjoy your felted cell phone cozy!