Tag Archives: knitting

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Yarn from T-Shirts

This inspiration came from a dear friend of mine who crochet a beautiful round rug from t-shirt yarn. Well she actually used a bed linen which gave her much upcycled yarn.

I only got to the mini version but now have a beautiful coaster for my tea pot and cups. This was made out of one women size M t-shirt that was washed too many times and unwearable.

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With a special cutting technique the t-shirt is easily turned into a string of yarn. It is much thicker than conventional wool yarn so it is perfect for more hardy or robust things like rugs or coasters. It also means that you progress quickly when knitting or crocheting.

To cut the yarn you simply fold the t-shirt, cut strings (not all the way through), unfold the t-shirt and finish off the cutting to make infinite strings.

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Here is how it’s done explained by video:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ez0gn5lxz8k

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My flatmate went even bigger. She crochet a bathroom mat from an old linen.

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knitting with plarn

The plastic revolution – upcycling plastic bags

Most products are wrapped in plastic. It is hard to avoid in your daily shopping from food items to toilet paper. Plastic bags are easily turned into plastic “wool” for knitting or crocheting. Start reusing plastic bags by making yarn out of them. You can then knit or crochet anything that comes to your mind. I was inspired at Peats Ridge Festival – a New Years festival near Sydney know for it’s sustainability focus. The little workshop tent was full of hand bags and clutches. 

In the picture below I have started knitting a curtain for our bathroom window out of the plastic bag that toilet paper is stored in. Preparing the plastic wool is more time consuming than buying wool but it takes rather time than money and then the knitting is much faster as plastic is thicker than wool. The outcome also makes for different purpose than wool. It is more robust and can also turned into e.g. a mat for shoes. You can go colourful. You can knit hand bags and braid the handles. You might want to experiment with different size needles.

Be creative and share your ideas with me!

IMG_0040upcycling plastic

How to create yarn out of plastic bags:

1. stretch a plastic bag
2. roll it up like dough for cookies with the longer side facing you.
3. cut off the end parts – the bottom rim and the handle
4. cut the long dough piece in 2cm wide pieces
5. unfolded they turn into a large loop.
6. now you connect loop through looping and you will have a string of yarn

This is a great video to explain the process http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdTm2V4ssvY