Day 27 and the Keyhole Stripper

Shocking! Not really. In the last few posts I took repurposed fabric and used it as you would any normal fabric. This time I have taken the fabric and turned it into yarn.

This scarf is made of t-shirts which have been cut into inch wide strips and knitted. It does require a bit of extra work since you have to make the yarn as well as knit with it, but because the stitches are so large and a single yard covers a great amount of real estate, you'll be happy to know it won't take nearly as long as you might be guessing right now.

This particular scarf required the lower half of 3 t-shirts. The upper half of the shirts (the part with a neck and armholes) are mere scrap to be reused some other way. Each scrap was cut into inch long strips across the body so that long loops were formed. The loops were snipped so they were just lengths and the ends were knotted together. I used a square knot, but if you know many knots and another would be more attractive, go for it.

I didn't use a pattern and I didn't keep track of my method since this is one of those untidy and meant to be sort of styles. I do know that I cast on 9 stitches using a 35 needle and when it came time for the keyhole, I used knots to tie on the next strand and knots to tie off the ends as well. I did this mostly in Stockinette, but added a garter row here and there to help with some of the curling.

Day 6 and the Jersey Cowl

Thank goodness for recycling! My t-shirt that is in perfectly good shape except for the stain way up by the collar can still be put to good use!

Find yourself a t-shirt that you no longer would wear the normal way and which is of the seamless variety. (if you don't mind the seams, well that's fine too) If you have a rotary cutter, this would be a great time to use it, but if you don't just do your best to make nice neat cuts. Cut off the bottom hem and cut off the top of the shirt just below the arm holes. Give it a slight stretch and hang that bad boy 'round your neck. Double it if you wish, you're bound to have plenty of stretch and extra fabric!

365 Scarf Project

2011 marks the start of a new year, and in my case a new project! I'm calling it

The 365 Scarf Project

Mission: To create 365 different scarves over the course of the year and share one scarf daily via this blog. To sometimes provide tutorials as well so others might create scarves of their own.

Vision: To snuff out the dreaded "crafter's block" in myself and anyone who wishes to follow the project. To nurture a sense of pride in one-of-a-kind handmade goods. To expand my own sense of fashion, art, and unconventional thinking. To encourage individuality.

Why?

One might ask what drives me to set such a lofty goal. I might go completely gray-haired before I could think of an answer that made even a lick of sense. I guess the most straight-forward answer is this: Because I think I can do it.

It's going to take more dedication than I've ever put into a project. It's going to take more inspiration than I've ever intentionally had to search out. It could possibly consume every waking moment that I don't spend at my place of employment.

Still, I think I can do it. Oh sure, I might have to start a scarf for March and October this very moment, and I might have to have ten projects going at any one time. I might have some daily posts in which I'll be forced to show some *gasp* mediocre work. I might have to buy a pattern now and then. These are risks I'm willing to take!

Necessary Information

In each daily post I intend to include the following.

A photo: I will pray and pray and pray that my camera holds out. I will pray and pray and pray for bright sunny days for best picture opportunities. I will post a photo even if I can't get a good one! There's always the camera phone as a last resort!

A title: Every scarf deserves a title. A generic title is still a title, but I will put forth every effort to at least use an adjective. It might be only a stitch pattern. I say that's acceptable!

A method of construction: I will categorize every scarf into one of the four main categories of knitting, crocheting, sewing, or crafting. Since it is my vision that followers will be able to make scarves of their own, I will provide enough information such that a similar pattern or design can be hunted down or self-designed. Sometimes I will provide a full pattern (learning about proper pattern making along the way!)

Support and Inspiration

Let's face it, folks. There is a LOT of room for failure in this project. I realize it and I am ready to face it, but if I can get a hand now and then, I will be ever so grateful! Please, offer your support in the comments of this blog. Send me links to images and designers that inspire you and might inspire me via twitter ( http://twitter.com/nerdytogether ) Send me photos when you decide to make one of the daily projects. It gives me inspiration just knowing that someone is enjoying the creativity along with me.

Let's Get Started!

I've a giant project in the works for the new year, friends!

I know I usually neglect my blog, but starting on New Year's Day, it will be an integral part of keeping me to my goal.

Anticipate daily updates throughout the year and it will be of greatest interest to fellow crafters, knitters, and crocheters. I'm really going to need support with this one, so leave comments, leave links, and maybe leave photos too once it's well underway.

Here's to creativity in 2011!! (You'll find out the project soon enough!)

Plarn Making, Version 2

Oh my, but I have been slacking in my posting! In any case, I've come into possession of a ridiculously large amount of plastic. Indeed it is the same plastic used to make the snowflakes in the previous post. However, these bags are really too slender for my preferred method of making plarn to be practical. Thus, I give you version 2. In reality, this method is far more common than the spiral method I use, but in case you haven't seen it, here it is.

Step 1- Once again, acquiring and flattening your plastic bags is the first step. This method is especially suited to slender bags such as those in which your newspaper is delivered. Flatten your bag and snip off the handles if there are any and the bottom most edge which is often fused. This way you will have an open cylinder of plastic.

Step 2- With the open edges at the right and left, fold your plastic over once or twice vertically to allow for quick efficient cutting.

Step 3- Cut strips. Straight through this time! Don't leave a strip at the top or stop short, but simply cut all the way through. When you open up this cut pieces you will have loops. I have had success with strips as thin as a half inch and as thick as two inches. There's every reason to experiment here!

Step 4- Make a chain a follows.
a) Begin with two loops.
b) The left loop will go inside the right loop.
c) Then the lower edge of the right loop will be pulled through the left.
d) Use the newly made chain as the left loop and a fresh loop as the right to continue this pattern from (b) until you have as much plarn as you wish to use.


Or you could just ask me for some. I think I have more plarn now than any human on the planet ever has.

Snowflakes

Here in Cleveland, the snow is just stopping and maybe in the next week or three we'll see less slush and mud and more grass. But in our apartment, it's going to look like winter all year round because i just can't stop making these plarn snowflakes! The qualities of plarn are perfect for these! They are stiff enough not to need starch, and yet they are flexible as well. Plus, the plastic's slight shininess makes these flakes almost sparkle.

So fun!

No Recycle Bin

I know. It makes you sad, doesn't it? Kevin and I live in a small apartment in an average sized apartment complex. There is no recycling pick up. Still, we are avid recyclers and while sometimes it requires a bit of sacrifice, we do what we have to do to avoid enlarging our carbon footprint.

The nearest recycling drop off that takes everything (plastic 1 and 2, aluminum, cardboard, paper) is roughly a 20 minute drive That means we have to make every drive really count. We make as little trash as possible. And when we do make trash, we save our trash. We save it until we know that the trunk and backseat will be stuffed before we make the trek.

In our one bedroom hole in the wall, saving up trash can take up a lot of space! Here are just a few of our tips.

• Instead of a bin, try a cardboard box. They are everywhere, so you won't have to look too hard. I find enormous clean boxes at my workplace which supplies were shipped in.They serve as my recycle bin, and I don't have to bring back the container!

• Smash your cans! Not just the aluminum cans, ALL the cans. Aluminum cans buckle easily (save your pop tabs though! That's another post!), but soup and veggie cans can be a little tougher. Use your can opener to remove the bottom of the cans and you'll have a much easier time flattening them.

• Use market bags. Avoid bringing in what you don't need by keeping your eco-friendly market bags in your car, purse, or bike basket. Every rare once in a while, go ahead and use a brown paper bag so that you can....

• Have a separate paper recycling container. Keeping paper separate from plastic and metal makes for much tidier recycling areas. Break down cardboard boxes (like cereal boxes) to save space and stand them up in the brown paper bag. You'll be shocked at just how much paper and cardboard will fit in the bag without tearing by sliding your papers in vertically. As a bonus the bag is recyclable too, so there is no bringing back a container after drop-off!

• Very important! Before you toss something in the recycle bin, consider whether you might have a use for it. I'm a crafter, so tins, glass jars, boxes, zipper pouches and many other things make excellent containers for my knick-knacks and notions. Cereal boxes turned wrong-side out make excellent mailers for small non-fragile items. Plastic jugs from milk or cider can be washed and reused. While waiting for the water to get hot for dishes what have you, why waste it? Use a jug and put that water in the fridge for drinking or boiling later.

Plarn, my way

We interrupt these paper recycling ideas for a quick plarn making tutorial.

What is "Plarn"? Plarn is a slang acronym for Plastic Yarn. Most often it is made from used grocery bags or new trash bags, but any thin flexible plastic sheet could theoretically be made into plarn. There are a few ways to make it, but here you will find my favorite method.

Plarn, My way!

Step 1 - Acquire and prepare your bags. Smooth and flatten them with your hands and cut away the handles and the very bottom edge where the plastic is fused. I usually do about three bags at a time and fold them in half for efficiency.



Step 2- Open your bag and roll it up. Roll or fold in such a way that the open cut edges are at the right and the left. Leave about an inch at the top unrolled.









Step 3- Cut strips. Use scissors or a rotary blade and make cuts at the intervals you like. I personally like my plarn to be about an inch wide. Make sure to leave the unrolled section at the top UNCUT.



Step4- Complete the spiral. Right now, you have a many dangling loops. Make diagonal cuts from the bottom right to the top left (or vice versa if you are left handed) of the strip cuts you've just made. In the photo I have drawn the lines where the first four cuts should be made to help you visualize this pattern. What you are basically doing is jogging each strip to meet the one to the left of it therefore creating a spiral all the way down the bag. I find the best way to accomplish this step is to thread my arm through the bag. This prevents the dangling strips from getting tangled up in each other or accidentally getting cut while the spiral is being completed. If you do accidentally cut a strip, it's not a problem, just see step 5.


Step 5- Connecting plarn ends. Like wool, simply twist the ends of the plarn together. This tightly twisted section will all but disappear in the completed plarn fabric (I say plabric!) If it makes you feel safer, use a tiny dab of glue. I haven't found it neccesary but no one, especially me, will fault you for being careful.





But what do you make with it? Anything that can be made with yarn can be made with plarn. The plabric makes sturdy bags and rugs. Plabric that gets soiled is easily rinsed clean and is therefore great for the beach or the tool shed.
Plarn is also ideal for sculpture as it tends to hold its shape.

Here's to keeping one more non-biodegradable material out of our landfills!

Christmas Card Recycling, Part 3

Welcome back to Christmas Card Recycling...

Part 3 (Polar Attraction)
This time your refrigerator is the star attraction as the ideas here require some magnets. Magnetic stripping can be found in any craft store or big box store both in the craft section and usually in the hardware section as well! To be really Earth friendly though, use some of those promotional magnets that every business everywhere hands out.

Magnetic Poetry
1) Cut the most beautiful and most meaningful words from your cards (or silly or funny or whatever!) and glue them to the magnets.
2) Enjoy them on your fridge!
Just look at the multitude of pretty words!




Magnetic (or not) Paper Dolls
This is just like the magnetic poetry, but instead of the words, you'll be using the colors, and patterns of your cards.
1) Draw out a doll's body (or search for one on the net). You'll need two copies. One copy is the doll: Color her, and cut her out. She doesn't necessarily need a magnet since her clothing will be able to hold her to the fridge. But you can still use one if you want.
2) The second copy is your stencil. Take a deep breath and cut off her head. I know! Shocking! But this way you'll easily be able to trace her neckline. While you're at it, cut her hands off too so you'll know the maximum length of her sleeves.
2) Get fashion crazy! Think outside of the box. That night sky could look like a polka dot dress. A tree might look like a fluffy green tulle skirt. Any unusual element can be a hat or a purse or anything that you can imagine! Just trace your headless doll for perfect fitting garments.
3) Cut them out, tack on the magnet, enjoy your new little fashion icon!

Magnetic Frames
What better thing to frame with cards from loved ones than your loved ones themselves?
1) Lots of cards have built in frames which surround the main picture. Cut out the center and use them in tact. If your pictures are small, miter the corners and shrink those frames tot he size you need!
2) Make rectangles, make squares, make circles, ovals, and flowers! Is the card so beautiful you want to keep the whole picture? Cut a shutter and peek inside to see your picture!
3) Add the magnet to the back and post them on the chill chest. Or not...Those frames would look smashing in your scrapbook too, don't you think?

Christmas Card Recycling, Part 2

Last time, we covered the easy stuff. The next round of recycling, reusing, and repurposing is a little more involved.

Part 2 ("Some Assembly Required")
This time, scissors, glue, and a hole punch will be joined by a stapler, and a little more labor.

What's Old is New Again!
Reuse all the elements (pictures, words, fibers, anything!) from your old cards and turn them into new cards. No explanation needed here. Use your imagination.

Matchbook "Books"
Matchbooks don't have to have matches inside. They could be filled with a small stack of paper and made any size you like for a quick and sweet little notebook.
1) Choose the size of your filler paper. Use the blank side of junk mail if you have it or you might like some notebook filler paper if you prefer lines.





2) Cut the cover of the matchbook 2 and a half times the width of the filler paper and as long as the filler paper plus a quarter to a half inch extra. Fold it to fit around the paper like so.








3a) Visible staple- Staple it at the bottom. Leave a little room so the top flap can easily slide under the lower flap to secure. You could make these over sized and use paired holes and ribbon instead of a staple.
3b) Invisible staple - If you don't want to see the staple, place the card picture side down on the filler paper and staple. Fold as shown in the pictures. Don't let the photos fool you! I did use junk mail (yay reusing!) but those words won't be visible because the backs of the papers are blank. The blank side of the paper should be against the picture side of the card and when folded, the blank sides will be properly visible.












Of course, you can pretty up real matches by removing the cover and replacing it in the same way. Save the strip on the back of the old cover and glue it to the new cover or you won't be able to light your matches!

Advent Calendar or Peekaboo Frame
This card was just a happy find. The flags made perfect little shutters for small pictures that I had received over the holidays. But consider this idea for next year's advent calendar. If you don't have enough photos, use images from your holiday cards hidden behind the shutters. Use a separate piece of poster board or a large card if you have one and use a craft knife to cut 24 shutters. Number them and open one every day in December! The shutters could be fun shapes or haphazard rectangles or anything. Glue the pictures to the back of the poster board or large card so when the shutters are open, you will see the surprise image!

Coming Soon- Part 3 ("Polar Attraction")
Stuff for your fridge.

Christmas Card Recycling, Part 1

It's nearly the end of January and if you haven't already, you're just about ready to take down the decorations. I know I have. I've got a collection of Christmas cards too. I can't bear to just toss them in the recycle bin, so it's time to craft.

Part 1 ("The Easy Stuff")

Paper is paper. Anything made of paper can be made from Christmas cards. Let's take a look at the old classics. You'll need scissors, a hole punch, and glue.

Gift Tags
SO EASY. Templates for interesting shapes are available all over the internet, but rectangles can be just as nice if the image is particularly pleasing and there's no reason you can't just wing it. Any card from any occasion can be made into a gift tag beautifying your gifts. Cut any shape you want and punch a hole wherever you think it should be. Here's a great site for templates and envelopes.

Post Cards
This one is a no brainer. Cut off the back page of your cards and use the front as a post card. (And post cards are quite a bit cheaper to send than regular cards, so next Christmas you'll not only save coin on the stationary itself, but the delivery fee as well) Just be careful that if the front has words on it, that they are complete thoughts, or at least complete the thought when you write your note.

Bookmarks
A little more body and a lot prettier than that ripped piece of notebook paper. You could just cut a strip, or you could cut shapes, punch holes, add tassels, glue bits onto other bits, weave, sew, and tear. A bookmark really can be made into a work of art with a little creative thinking. As you can see from the picture, elements from your cards are readily adaptable to the slit style bookmark because the paper is just a bit stiffer. Simply cut a right angle and slide it onto the corner of the page! You could also cut curves or shaped outlines and fit the bookmarks over the edges of the page rather than the corners.

Recipe cards
Same as postcards but cut to index card size. This would be an excellent project if you have a repertoire of recipes that you really only use around the holidays. Print your recipes by hand directly onto the cards or print them on your computer and paste them onto the cards. Maybe you could add envelopes to your scrapbook and keep the recipe card there to remember the look on your mother's face when she realized your cookies were better than hers.



Next time...Part 2 ("Some assembly required")