How-To Make Yarn from a T-shirt

How-To Make Yarn from a T-shirt

Making yarn and crocheting items, mainly washcloths and scrubbers, out of it is a great way to reuse/up cycle old t-shits. I always end up with bleach stains and holes in my t-shirts and gym shirts and like reusing them instead of trashing them. Here is my tutorial on how to make yarn out of old shirts.

What you need:
An old T-shirt (Cotton or Cotton blend works best)
Scissors

1. Lay your t-shirt flat and cut off the bottom hem of the shirt.

2. Start at one seam and start cutting a strip. I prefer using 1/2 inch wide strips for thicker fabrics and 3/4 to 1 inch for thinner cotton fabrics. If the fabric is lightweight and the strip is too thin the yarn will break. If the fabric is heavier and the strip is too wide the yarn will be too hard to crochet with.

3. Continue cutting the fabric in even-ish in a circular pattern keeping the strip thickness about the same throughout, but it doesn't have to be perfect.

4. If you are working with a mainly cotton fabric follow this step if not skip to step 5.
Once you have a few feet of yarn gently tug the fabric until it rolls up.

5. Continue cutting the shirt in a circular pattern and rolling newly created yarn into a ball as you go.

6. Now just keep working up the shirt untill you reach the bottom of the arm holes.

 Don't worry you can cut through graphics and screen prints. Just make sure if the graphic is thick you make the strip width a little thinner.

6. Once you reach the bottom of the arm holes end the yarn at the seam of the second arm hole.

Congrats you just made your first skein of t-shirt yarn!

I am not good with resoultions

Obviously I am not good with resolutions. Oopsy. That is why I don't like making them. The Olympics end tomorrow evening (I am going by EST time) and I still have a lot to do. Which means I will be posting frantically tonight and tommorow.
I currently need to weave in the ends on 2 goose dresses and make pom poms and jack-o-lantern phase and sew on to dress, write tutorial for goose dress and how to make yarn from a t-shirt, and 1 more post. I think I can do that. I just hope you don't get sick of me.

Happy Hooking.

So Far Water Polo is My Favorite Sport

I found this on Knit & Crochet Now's Facebook page and it is very very true for me.

Ironless Hemming aka How to Hem a Pair of Pants With a Hair Striaghtener

What do you do when you need to hem or (fix a hem) on pants (or skirt/dress) and don't have an iron (or don't want to drag yours out)?

Go to the bathroom and grab your hair straightener aka flat iron!

I am not a domesticated diva and don't claim to be. I hate ironing. Let me say it again I HATE IRONING! I have shirts in my closet I never wear solely because I don't want to iron them.

I have found that a flat iron is perfect for ironing collars and ruffles on shirts. (Even while you are wearing the garment)

The below How-To explains how to use a flat iron in the place of a regular iron when hemming garments.

How to Hem a Pair of Pants With a Hair Straightener

What you need:

Flat Iron (Hair Straightener) 

Scissors

No-Sew Bonding Agent Tape 

Pants (or garment that needs hemmed)

1. Make sure your flat iron is clean of hairspray/ hair goo. I damp paper towel works great. Heat iron to medium-high setting. I was using a cotton garment in dark blue so I wasn't worried about burn marks. Adjust the heat based on your fabric type and color. When in doubt use a lower setting and hold the iron in place longer.

2. Preheat hem by folding fabric over desired amount and using flat iron to press the hem. Hold the fabric and hem in one hand and flat iron in the other. Place iron at one end and slowly pass over fabric just like you were straightening a section of hair. Repeat if necessary.

3. Place a small section (1-3 inches) of no sew bonding tape (or other iron on bonding agent) on the fabric in the bend of the hem.

4. Using the same method as step 2 use the flat iron to adhere the hem together. Work slowly in small sections. Once complete check to make sure the bonding agent is holding the hem together. If not work over the section again. See it is just like doing your hair!

 

5. Repeat step 4 until the whole hem is completed.

Final product: 

Here is the before:

And the After:

 I ended up hand sewing the hem on top because these are my favorite dress pants and I don't want to rip out the hem again the first time I wear them.

You can also use a flat iron to pre-fold them hem in regular sewing when you don't want to drag out the real iron.

Happy Hooking!!!

My Ravellenic Games Project(s)

Once again the Olympic Games are upon us and thus countless hours glued to the TV and computer (sometimes both at the same time) of watching the games. The 2008 games were the first time Ravelry held their Ravellenic Games. Now Ravelry itself has teams and more rules but the concept is simple; start the projects during the opening ceremony and finish by the end of the closing ceremony. That is ruffly weeks to complete a project. Most people pick something big or challenging; a pair of socks, a sweater, or a blanket.

Personally, I've decided to use this as a quick kick in the ass towards my New Year's resolution of resurrecting this blog. In lieu of a big project I've set myself a few goals

- Posting about Ravellenic Games Project
-Making yarn from a t-shirt how-to
-Hemming pants with a flat iron how-to (not yarn related but it's my awesome contribution to domestic laziness
-Crochet Goose Dress pattern and tutorial
-Make one more Goose Dress
-Finish Goose Cheerleader Goose Dress (Already done, finished while watching a road cycling race this morning. Kazakhstan won. )
Plus at least 3 other posts (I hope the internet doesn't get sick of me).

Happy Hooking!

PS: I am a Lockte fan. Phelps is too cocky, not as cute, and his Subway Commercials annoy me. (Note: I always find the divers the cutest even though they are usually short)

Yarn Diet

I saw this on another blog and LOL'ed literally. Then I immediately sent it to my yarn whore friends.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Tx32hwJ28&feature=youtu.be


Even though it is for knitters if you just substitute the word crochet it describes me.


Happy Hooking!

I should be cleaning but instead I am crocheting

So my parents and grandparents are coming to visit this weekend and I am not a very good maid. So I should be cleaning and vacuuming (my least favorite chore ever). But instead I watched reruns of Toddlers and Tiaras and finished this project.

I call it the Love Eternal Infinity Scarf.I used a modify version of the pattern found here.

 http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2012/02/project_crochet_heart_scarf.html#more

 But I upped the yarn size to bulky and a J hook (they use a fingering weight and a small hook). I shortened this and made it a short eternity scarf. I love mobius, cowls, and eternity scarfs. Especially since it takes less yarn and is quicker.

I plan on posting my version of the pattern soonish.

Happy Hooking!

Best Grandaughter Ever

I made the dress for this Yard Goose as part of my Mother's Day Present to my Grandmother. When I was younger she used to own a yard goose and would have my mother sew clothes and costumes for it. Due to an insane landlord she was unable to keep the goose when she moved. Thankfully she is now living in a friendlier establishment she is able to have such (ridiculous) yard adornments. I was able to find the plastic yard geese at a store where I currently live and got the genius idea to buy her a new one and make it dresses as her present. And she loved it! I made 2 dresses, one in variegated pink baby yarn as a spring dress and this one from leftover acrylic yarns. In my stash I currently have supplies to make Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Valentine's Day dresses. I used the pattern at the following link as a guide and made up my own. I hope that I can post the pattern and basic steps when I make the next dresses. I am terrible at taking picture oh my WIPs. http://www.allfreecrafts.com/crochet/goose-santa.shtml Happy Hooking!

Spring Stash Cleaning

So I have started the arduous task of sorting out and figure out what is actually in my yarn stash. I haven't sorted through my stash much since I moved (oh about 4 months ago). To move my mother thought it would be best to pile my yarn into 20 gallon plastic storage containers. This has done with haste and neglect to actual sorting. I moved right after the holidays and had previously been traveling back and forth between my previous and current locations for several months. Since the move I have only been working little projects at a time while dust settled on my 4 storage containers in the basement. In an attempt to figure out what I have completed, what I need to finish, what is finished but needs the end woven in (I hate weaving in the ends), scraps and project yarns. I've spent the last few days sorting things out. Here are the results. My Stash Has Exploded!

A pile of inherited charity squares.

One Giant Knot for Mankind!

Don't worry I untangled most of it. I would say I promise not to let this happen again but that is very doubtful. Happy Hooking!

Lions & Yarn & Crochet OH MY!

I saw something about this several months ago while it was a work in progress and I think it is awesome. Too bad I won' t be able to go to London this summer to see them in person. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17915318 http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/at-a-glance/main-section/the-lions-are-advancing-and-they-ve-got-knitting-needles-1-4504413# Happy Hooking

Resurrecting the Dead

I am back. It has been while. Well over 3 years, so a lot has changed. I guess I should change the name of this blog since I am no longer in college. But I won't. Or at least until I come up with a better name. Between the last post and now I've graduated college,( 2 years ago, oh how time flies), got a good job in corporate America, then relocating twice (so far) for said job. Sadly my job isn't in the yarn/fiber industry or anything close to it so I still love crocheting and crafting in the mean time. Resurrecting this blog was supposed to be my New Year's Resolution for 2012. Considering that it is now the end of May I'm obviously not too good with resolutions. The other part of my resolution is that I'd start an Etsy shop to sell some of my creations and make some spare change. At this rate it won't get done till October, but we shall see. I am hoping to organize my yarn stash soon since it has been sitting in plastic tubs in the basement since the last move. Then I need to figure out what I can currently sell and set up a site. I know it isn't hard but once I get done with work the last thing I want to do is mess with computers again. In the meantime I will try to post some picture of the recent things I have done. The most recent was crocheted dresses for a plastic yard goose for my grandmother for Mother's Day. That got me the best grand daughter of the year award. Happy Hooking

Sara's Stripey Scarf

I made this scarf as a b-day present for my friend Sara while I was in Europe. She said she wanted something cool from Europe and I figured what could be cooler than a scarf made while I was traveling around the continent. I bought the yarn for this scarf in Bern and began working on it on the train from Italy to Vienna. I actually didn't finish it until I got back but it technically was in every country I was in so it is well traveled.

I used about 3 skeins that were approximately 80 meters each. The yarn was a wool, cotton, and acrylic. Approximatley 275 yards 2 parts color A 1 part color B

Size J hook

With color A chain 16 turn and then 15 sc in the previous row ch 1 to turn
repeat color A for 19 more rows. (20 rows total)
Join in turn with color B. Sc in each stitch turn. Repeat for 10 rows.

Continue pattern with 20 rows of color A and the 10 rows of color B until desired length.
End with block of color A.

finish off and join in ends.

Here are some pictures of the xmas presents I made. The above is the purse I made for my cousin Anna. It was made out of Modea Dream in purple and black. In 2007, I bought several skeins, about 10-ish of it in purple and black because I found them at Hobby Lobby for 74 cents each. With the purple I made a stuffed animal (the purple people eater in my picture box), 2 sets of scarves and purses for my lil' cousins last year and a pair of mittens.This project used almost all of what I had left from it. I ended up with enough black to make a couple scrap squares and about 2 feet of purple. I am so glad to be done with that yarn.

This is one of the hats for my lil boy cousins and they ended up being too small so I took them back and I am trying to figure out how to fix them.

This is the pre felted pre sewn picture of the coin purse I made for my grandmother out of the mill ends from Lamb Pride. It ended up felting beautifully but when I sewed in the zipper and sewed the rest together it ended up looking like a clamshell but my grandmother seem to like it anyway.

Of course their is a knot (or 2) in my plans

Sorry for the long delays of posts. I was on vacation with my family from xmas through New Years and then I was gone for a week at a rural service retreat. While I was gone I let my family borrow my computer and it managed to get a terrible virus and crash. Then school started and my computer was in computing services for 3 weeks. I finally just got it back and I have spent the whole weekend trying to just updates and such. I am trying to work on updates and such as quickly as possible but work and school are taking up all my time and energy at the moment.

Done +24 hrs early

I have fished all me Christmas presents super early. The Boys hats were started and finished by Friday. The girls' scarfs were done Saturday evening before we wrapped the presents. Grandma's purse was felted and dried but I waited to sew the zipper in because I knew it would be difficult and I am lazy. I finally sewed in the zipper today and sewed the peices together. But somehow my sub-par sewing abilities made the circular shaped purse turn out to be sea shell shaped. Oh well its done. Yay for Xmas present being done. No mid-night hours on christmas eve.

1 week to go and I am alomost done!

In the past 24 hours I have made a lot of progress on the remainder of my Christmas list.
-the 2 hats for the boys are done
-grandma's coin purse is made now it needs to be felted, sewn together, and zipper sewn in (after I buy it of course) I am going to felt it as soon as the laundry is done but I am nervous about this because the last time I felted something it ended disastrously
-I still need to buy and sew a button on the purse for Anna
-I need to finish the 2nd scarf for the girls and add fringe to both.
I think we are wrapping presents on Saturday so I'll need to have them done by then.
I will post the ear flap hat patterns as soon as I get to writing them out in understandable directions.

8 Days and Counting

So its 8 days till xmas and I still have a list to work through.
-Finish 2nd scarf for the girls and add fringe
-buy and sew button from Anna's purse
-grandma's coin purse-make, felt, sew in zipper
-2 hats for the boys. The yarn came in Monday afternoon so I have added 2 more things to my list. I plan on wrapping mom, dad, and bro's presents today.
Here is a picture of the hat I made for my dad. I made it out of green and white worsted weight Wool of the Andes from Knitpicks.com. I used the Toujours Hat from the Interweave Crochet Quick Gifts ebook (see previous post)

xmas morning is a go but xmas eve is not

I finished the hat for my dad. So that means mom, dad and bro are done. But that still leaves 2 scarves, 1 purse, 1 coin purse, and 2 hats. The hats are a new addition to the list because of a recent stress induced yarn purchase. The spinner/knitter roommate wanted help reaching the free shipping price from WEBs. So I helped and found the perfect yarn. It is 100% wool worseted weight with a black/yellow/Grey dye pattern. I think they will make the perfect Steeler colors hats for my 2 little cousins. I haven't made little earflap hats yet but I figure it can't be too hard. I also ordered some more of the Jeager natural fleece that I made my easy 2 stitch scarf with. It is being discontinued as it was about 5 a skein and only in a red wine color but I love that yarn it is so warm. I got enought to make a hat and a scarf.

Last night I went to a Christmas party and we had a dirty santa gift exchange. While taking a final on Friday I came up with the great idea of buying a bunch of bananas and using some scraf yarn making a banana cozy/sock. I figured the guys would get a kick out of the perverted/practical ness of the gift. I used some bubblegum pink Lion Brand Homespun that I have had forever. I worked int eh round starting small and increasing as needed so the sock would fit the banana I was making it for. (I put the sock on an acutal banana and gave it with a bunch of the fruit) Because I am in college and college boys always have thier minds in teh gutter I made a card for the top of the present that said "Protect Your Banana" The gift was quite a hit. By chance it was the first gift to be picked and was never stolen (we play with a lot of rules). I actual was complimented byt eh usefulness of this gift and a couple fo the guys asked me to make them some. I just laughed. Like I said college boys always have thier minds in the gutter.

I would have pictures but My camera battery is dead and my charger is somewhere in the mess that is my room.

Winter Neck Warmer

Here is the pattern for a neck warmer I made for my mother. She wanted something to keep her warm since scarves are dangerous when skiing.

Winter Neck Warmer

Size G crochet hook
160 yds of worseted wieght yarn-I used a thick and thin yarn by Himalayas the Queensland Collection. I used a smaller hook so that the stiches would be smaller, tight, and warm.
yarn needle

Chain 31
Turn and sc 30 stiches
Turn and sc in each stitch across in the back loops only thorughout (you can pull through both loops but it would not create the ribbed look)
Repeat until desired length. then sew 2 ends together this is worked from short end to short end then sewn together to for the circle.
The final meaurements was a circumference of 21 inches and a width of 6 inches.
It is wide so it can cover the mouth and nose because that is how my mother wanted it to be wide. Except I would wear it folded down if I wore a neck warmer. the width and length can be changed accordingly.

How My Mom Will Wear It
How I Would Wear It

I hope she likes it!

1 Down upteen to go!!!

Mom's x-mas present is done!!!
I made her a neck warmer with a matching ear flap hat per her request. I think it is a tad ridiculous but it is what she wants so I hope she likes it because she didn't like the socks I made her for her birthday.

Here is a picture of the matching set:
I made the present out of Himalayas yarn from the Queensland Collection. It is 100% wool worsted weight yarn which is thick and thin. It is a variegated beige,light brown, peach, and blue mix. I am posting the patterns separately so that searching will be easier.

I am convinced I look like a ninja in this combo.