What an incredibly awesome idea! I'm trying to figure out how to work this into one of my Sundays....I could have the bulk of the bag done (ie. the 2 seven foot squares and have all the batting) and then we could put together?

It's also a wonderful way to upcycle and reuse and recycle and reduce what would otherwise be thrown away. Saving the Earth and helping the homeless--what a good combination!

This scarf was my first foray into upcycling. I remember reading about unraveling sweaters on the internet and becoming instantly intrigued. It all seemed so....incredibly earthy. The excitement of transforming an object back to it's original state also seemed incredibly earthy and spiritual.

In some ways unraveling a sweater also seemed sad in a way....especially if it was a handmade sweater. All those many hours creating the object only to have someone else rip it apart? But if you think about it there is also joy in unraveling a sweater. Bringing new life to a forgotten object is always joyful.

I remember purchasing the sweater from value village and being quite excited, yet unsure that it would actually work. I remember painstakingly snipping each individual stitch in each panel. That first sweater took me FOREVER to get into panels. I remember being so proud that I took the panels to my grandmothers to show her. My grandma, mother, and myself ended up unraveling the panels and winding the yarn back up again together.

I remember crocheting the scarf from the upcycled yarn and enjoying the knowledge that doing this had been an act of green and that I was really keeping with the 3 R's (reduce, reuse, and recycle). I was amazed (and addicted!) with the knowledge that I could take an object that had been discarded and was unwanted and turn it into something beautiful and appreciated. I was even more pleased when a co-worker purchased the scarf this past December as I had not found it a home yet.

I made this set for my good friend Anne back in the summer when she was visiting her. The hat was an experiment that I didn't think had gone very well and I had unraveled a zillion times. I found the pattern in a crochet book from the 70's that I picked up at Value Village for about $1. The scarf is a mesh stitch that I made up quite quickly. I can't remember what pattern I used or if I just made it up as I went along.

It's all made from upcycled materials. A co-worker gave me the sweater that she had knitted years ago and I unraveled it. & the underpart of the hat is made from yarn that was given to me by one of my Grandma's friends.

Anne tells me that it's quite warm and that all her friends are quite jealous of her. :) I've even seen pictures of her wearing it in real life so I am quite chuffed! A big thanks to Anne for taking the lovely picture of it too. Thanks Anne!

This is my latest foray into plarn. I made this for a friend of a friend who said she would buy one off me if it had thick straps and very long straps. The bags are from Zellers in BC that my Granma brought back for me after her trip there.

I quite like the red and white. I think it looks super sharp. I even reinforced the straps. This sucker is not stretching at all. I was surprised at how well the red bags worked for crocheting. The bag worked up quite quickly...maybe I'm just getting better at working with the plarn. I think in total this took abotu 2.5 evenings to make (not counting making the plarn--my grandma actually made it all for me this time round...)

In other plarn news someone else wants me to make a bag. She only wants me to use that bags from the store she works at. I think this is a brilliant idea...as long as she doesn't just steal the bags but rather saves them up or gets customers to save them up. At first I thought that the bags were some kind of colour like green or red or purple...but no, they are simply white with green and yellow...

Weeee. I love picture posts.

these are my snowflakes. i adore them. initially they take longer to figure out how to make but eventually they do get easier. there is a lot of counting involved in them. six chains here and 8 chains there and single crochet into 4th chain from hook. lots to remember. The pattern has 10 snowflakes to make and i've been giving them all a whirl. there have been a couple that i haven't been able to figure out. picots confuse me apparently.

the instructions say to starch them. that seems like quite a bit of work, so i don't know if i want to do that and it seems quite 'grannyish' (not that i want to insult my grandma cause she always starches her crochet and it always looks gorgeous--i'm just not sure it's the route i want to take). i think they look perfectly adorable all soft and floppy. but maybe i'm the only one that sees that?

i am planning to make 1 snowflake for each of the children's church kids. there was 16 of the little buggers today! so i've got lots of crocheting to do! i would also like to make some for the craft show and some for christmas. the smaller easier ones i can make 2 or 3 in a night (i think). the bigger more complicated ones take longer. i think i could 1 of those in a night. i don't know if you can tell, but for some of them i've added these tiny little cream beads just to give it some sparkle. i love sparkle. :)


i took a picture of all the ones i've made so far. it's my group shot.

i'm feeling quite proud of myself today. i'm dead chuffed. chuffed indeed.

ps. in case anyone is wondering how i've upcycled these (or if i've upcycled them) the answer is: 1. the hook is handed down to me from my grandma and 2. i bought the thread at a used store.

pps. chuffed = british speak for pleased with yourself

The Salvation Army was having a 50% off of clothing sale today. My eyes glazed over and I went crazy with sweaters to unravel. I picked up 5 sweaters (pictured below), a set of knitting needles, and a roll of thick string (which is always handy to have around the house for tying up stuff) for just under 16 bucks. Score!

Here are my scores before I wash them and with the Sally Ann Tags still on them.
The Pink Sweater (handmade..some kind of angora maybe?--i'm seeing a shawl out of this)

The Purple Sweater (acrylic & cotton, it feels delish and will make an excellent scarf and hat)

The Red Sweater (100% cotton...here come the dishcloths!)

The Cream Sweater (acryllic & wool, nice and soft--i see a cabled hat with a brim, y'know?)

The Beige Sweater (100% cotton--The Dishcloths march on!)

All Stacked Up!

I'm being featured on a blog! it's a crafty blog and i wrote about unravelling sweaters to use for yarn.

Check it out.

http://www.mscraftyifyourenasty.com/2008/04/love-your-sweaters-frog-way.html