Upcycled Tee Shirt Yarn

I hoard things badly. Including tee shirts long after they should have been donated or thrown out. It's fabric! I may need it! In surfing the other day, I found a tutorial on how to make bulk "yarn" out of a tee shirt. 

I'd like to share my version with you!

This project could be used to make a rug, pot holders or even a crocheted basket.

Materials

Old tee shirt

Sharp pair of scissors (I used my sewing scissors)

1. Lay tee shirt flat on work surface.

2. Cut straight across under sleeves. Also, cut hem off and you won't be able to stretch the stitched part.

3. Fold in half, side to side, so that the sides of each are about one inch apart.

 4. Cut up to the first layer, but not all the way through the bottom layer's side. Do not cut strips less than 15mm.

(see how I just cut through the top layer)

5. Open up uncut part, cut diagonally from first to second row to create a sort of spiral.

6. Start rolling into a ball, stretching along the way to make the fabric pull into a tube (like celery stalks)

7. Grab your size Q hook and start crocheting!

Homemade Crayons

Having two very artistic toddlers results in a lot of broken crayons. I can remember doing this with my mom as a child and a girlfriend recently inspired me to do it with my children's broken crayons. An easy project for little ones, this only takes up to an hour.

Materials

Old cupcake tin

Broken crayons

1. Preheat oven to 350*

2. While the oven heats, have the children peel the paper off the crayons and sort them by color. (Excellent opportunity to teach small toddlers colors!)

3. Break the crayons into roughly one inch pieces (don't fuss too much about size, just small enough to fit in the bottom of the cupcake tin.)

4. Sort crayons into individual tins; we did ours by color.

5. Put the pan in the oven and shut off the heat once door is closed. Let stand until melted (about 15 minutes.) When ours were all melted, we took advantage of the cold Ohio weather and let them cool on the back porch.

6. Color! These are such a fun, inexpensive activity and the size and shape of the crayons is perfect for little hands! 

A Blog is Born

Well, I've done it. I've created a blog. I hadn't planned on giving in but several changes in the recent past have made it clear: I need something new to do with myself.

It occurs to me, most any textile or fiber art I am at least mildly familiar with & I always find awesome tutorials and pattern inspiration on blogs. 

It must be time. 

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also please note

Today is March, 4. March forth!

Very motivational! The only day of the year that is a command.

March forth out of the winter blues and into Spring and Summer!