Reduce, Reuse & Recycle

Plastic grocery bags are horrible for the environment, making them, filling landfills, getting in bodies of water where animals mistake them for food and can be killed by them. So I'm doing my part to help in my little way. I started saving reusable bags from whatever, a couple from a convention I went to, one that was a sample, one from work, basically anything that could be used as a grocery bag.

Occasionally though, I would find myself at the checkout without my bags. Usually when my husband took them out of the car to haul something and forgot to put them back (sorry honey). So I found myself with some plastic bags. Rather than sending them out to be recycled into more bags that could end up as landfill, I decided to turn them into reusable grocery bags. So I dug around the internet and watched several videos on turning the bags into "plastic yarn" and set to crocheting.

I did the bottom in a tighter stitch for support, then a nice open V stitch with double crochet until it was as tall as I wanted. Lastly I did handles with singly crochet and viola, another reusable grocery bag and about 80 bags kept out of landfills. As more countries outlaw plastic grocery bags, and stores start doing the same, it will be nice to be prepared with my own bags already.

A few take aways from the project
- If you aren't using bags from one store, pay attention to the thickness of the bags, and cut the strips a little skinnier for heavier bags.
- The plastic yarn is a little harder to work with, it tends to stick coming through and needs to be carefully worked through.
- When making the yarn, don't pull too tight or you can break it before you get started - once crocheted in, it's very sturdy though.
- If you want to work in a design, add the strips to the yarn one at a time as you go so your color changes land where you want them to.

We'd love to hear your experiences working with recycled grocery bags or other green crafty ideas.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Captive Embroidery

&

Crafty Family

Crochet Afghan

My first Christmas project in progress. I have modified the colors so the recipient won't guess who it's for. Sneaky, right?

Anyway, I'm crocheting an afghan, in a chevron stitch. Now, its been a long time since I've done one, so I drew on my database to see what I remember. This is how I decided to proceed.

I stitched a loose chain (ch) in increments of 17 to about twice the length I wanted the afghan. Add one for turning, and turn. Now I am doing the entire blanket in single crochet (sc).

Turn, skip one stitch, *sc in the next 7 ch, skip 2 ch, sc in next 7 ch, 3 sc in next ch, repeat from *, if counted right, you should end on a 7.
{ch 1, turn, 2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in next 5 sc, this should put you in a valley of a chevron. **Skip 2 sc, sc in next 7 sc, 3 sc in top sc (peak of chevron), sc in next 7, repeat from ** until you get to the end of the row, 2 sc in last sc, ch 1 and turn}.
Repeat { } until you have the height you want for your finished afghan.

Well, at this point I'm about halfway done, and putting in a little time each night. There's 2 ways to do this, the long way (working up and down the long direction) or the short way (working side to side from the bottom to the top). I am doing the short way, in which case I recommend not leaving the tails when you switch colors for tassels, but weaving them back into your work as you go.

 I'll be finishing with an edging around the entire blanket. If you work the long way, you can leave long tails when you change colors, then make tassels with your leftover yarn and include those tails as part of the tassel, trimming to match length.


Will update when it's all done. Have fun crocheting, let us know what you're up to.

Until next time, Happy Crafting

De'Anna

Free Crochet Patterns

As my fingers get back into the crochet work I love, I find myself searching the net for patterns, and finding thousands of them. So, I'm going to start posting links to some of the patterns I find. Eventually this will be a VERY long list, so I've broken it into groups. If you have or find a link for a free crochet pattern I'm missing, feel free to add it. If you notice any broken links, or links to patterns that are no longer free, please let me know so they can be removed.

Accessories


Bags


Bed and Bath


For Kids


Blankets


Holiday


Kitchen


Pets



Tutorials

Enjoy!

Until next time, Happy Crafting!
De'Anna

And the Knitting Continues... Maybe

Well, I gave knitting a fair shot. First the can cozy, and to really give it a go, I decided to make a quick scarf. I grabbed a spool of ribbon I had purchased to crochet with (that I never decided what to make out of), and set about making a skinny, cute scarf.

Using my size 8 needles (still my only set), I cast on 15 times. Sticking with the regular knit stitch, which is the only one I know, I stitched until I ran out of ribbon. Well, the scarf is a little shorter than I would like it, by about half. I admit, it looks really cute, and if I had enough material to finish it, I would have.

But I did discover something about myself. I am most definitely, NOT a knitter. More power to all you knitters out there, I'm going back to my crochet hooks. After more than 25 years of crocheting, that is definitely in my blood. When I crochet, I can feel the stitches, and can sometimes work on my project without looking at it (which amazes my husband). When I knit, I have to stare at every stitch and totally concentrate, I'm always worried I'm going to drop a stitch, and I panic when I do. I like to relax and enjoy myself when I craft, and knitting is not the way for me.

After taking the time to make a real attempt at knitting, and falling a little short of my completed product, I elected to reuse that ribbon to crochet a scarf instead. By using a really big hook (size ) I did a quick skinny scarf (11 ch, skip 1st ch, sc in remaining 10, ch 1 turn, repeat). I'm quite fond of my new scarf, although it won't exactly keep me warm this winter, it will look so cute!

The more I think about it, the more I believe that anyone just learning to either crochet or knit, should really learn both at the same time. I think exposure to both of these crafts at the same time would make it easier for someone to switch between them, and find a love for both.

So to my knitting friends in blogland, grab those needles and knit something I can't. And to my crocheting friends out there, grab that hook and make something fabulous those knitters can't. Lastly, to those lucky few who can do both, I'd love to see them combined into one project, blend those two arts, and do up a little something none of the rest of us can.