Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

RECYCLE – RY

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I fell in love with this free project from Crafts n’ Things Magazine.  It’s not actually crochet as you make it with wool sweaters scrounged from the thrift store or your closet.  But, I’d have fun embellishing it with crochet appliques.

felted purse 092401

http://www.craftsnthings.com/Projects/Newsletter/2009_09/D_felted_purse.aspx?email=

RECYCLE  a pattern and turn it into something entirely different, like this coaster pattern:

http://www.kaleidesigns.com/crochet/patterns/archive/coas008.html

that was turned into this beautiful beret:

coaster beret 0909

http://sandyshook.blogspot.com/2009/09/going-around-again.html

Imagine the ingenuity and artistic eye that looked at that coaster and saw a beret.  I’m quite impressed.  Great yarn choice too.  Sandy gives the whole story of the process on her blog.

I like the idea of using doily patterns to create larger items.  It’s not much of a stretch to make a larger doily with perle cotton instead of bedspread weight and end up with a runner or place mat.  But, there are books out there (Amazing Lace is one of my favorites) that use doily patterns for everything from shawls to rugs to afghans.  Try your hand at that with a pattern you have in your stash and see what you come up with.  Maybe a pretty bedspread is hiding in a doily book!

Read These Next

Have you read?

Knit a Blanket with the Texture of a Ceiling

Knitwear designers can get inspiration from almost anything when it comes to re-creating a color scheme, an image or a texture in stitches. Sometimes the inspiration isn’t always obvious in the finished project, but sometimes it’s more literal. 

That’s the way it is with the Tin Ceiling Blanket from Purl Soho. Not just because the inspiration is in the name, but if you’ve ever seen one of these old ceilings you can see that the design of the blanket is quite similar to the pattern of the tin tiles. 

This is also a good example of the idea that you don’t have to use fancy stitch patterns or lots of color to make a big impact with your knits. This single-color blanket (designed by Gianna Mueller and inspired by a washcloth and towel set designed by Sandi Rosner) is made completely with knits and purls, other than slipped stitches at the beginning of rows to make neater edges. 

The pattern is written out row by row, but there’s also a chart, which means this project is a great opportunity to practice reading a chart where you can check your work against the written pattern if you need to. 

It comes in two sizes, a crib blanket and a throw. The yarn used in the sample is an organic cotton sold by the cone, which is a great way to get a large quantity of yarn and have fewer ends to weave in. In fact, you can knit either size of the blanket with just one cone of yarn, which isn’t inexpensive but makes you a great, sturdy, heirloom quality but still washable blanket you’ll use for years to come. (Of course you can use any sport weight yarn you like to make this blanket.)

Check out all the details and grab the free pattern from Purl Soho. 

[Photo: Purl Soho]