Well, now you can treat yourself to that shirt and upcycle it by crocheting simple flowers to cover the unwanted logo.

photo & project by Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

The other day, I was looking at my summer clothes (finally – what a long winter!)

And, I realized that I needed a new black t-shirt.

My old ones  are beyond wearing, and are destined to become fabric strips for weaving.

They’ll also become rags and other ‘green’ options.

Later that day, we were at a garage sale, and Tah-dah!

There was the PERFECT shirt- black, short sleeves, cute button front…. perfect!

photo & project by Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

The only problem was that there was a very obvious company logo on the back of the shirt , just below the collar.

I had been working on the Simple Crocheted Flower Jewelry tutorial, so immediately, it struck me-  Whee!

I could use the crocheted flower motifs to cover the unwanted logo!   YES!!!

(click the link in bold letters to go to the tute and instructions)

So, I got out one of my most favorite ever threads: South Maid mercerized cotton in Mexicana, and a ball of Aunt Lydia’s Size 3 Fashion Crochet thread in Warm Blue, and a ball of Red Heart Hula in Orangina. I used a 1.75 mm hook for the rainbow thread and a 3.5 mm hook for the orange and blue. I crocheted up a medley of flowers and pinned them over the logo:

photo & project by Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

Then, I stitched the flowers to the shirt, and added a couple of vintage buttons, and a bead or two:

photo & project by Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

and the ‘new to me’ shirt is now gloriously and completely mine all mine!

photo & project by Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

I am really pleased with the way this shirt turned out. I have another one that has an unwanted logo on it, and guess what?

It’s going to get upcycled with crocheted flowers, too!

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photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The questioner had just gotten a fab deal on 24 gauge copper wire and snapped it up.

When she experimented with crocheting it, she found it to be not very pleasant to work with.  24 gauge is pretty energized, and fairly stiff.

Crocheting with it is mighty tough on the tendons.

She had seen that someone else had asked me to make them sturdy spool knitters for spool knitting wire and wondered if  the 24 gauge could be spool knitted.

Why would you spool knit wire?

Because you can make absolutely gorgeous jewelry with it!  Scrumptious!

I tend to use mostly 26 gauge wire for crochet and spool knitting, so I figured I had better give 24 gauge wire a try.

I tried it on the spool knitters that I had already made, and yes, it worked. BUT…. it seemed to me that it would work better with a different configuration on the spool knitter. One size doesn’t always fit all with spool knitters. In fact, it’s really helpful to have a selection of spool knitters in different sizes and shapes, with different numbers of pegs or nails.

By the way…. don’t try to spool knit wire on a plastic spool knitter, or on one with wooden pegs.

You’ll regret it…. plink, plink, plink…. the sound of breaking pegs…

I went out to the workshop and started working on a spool knitter that would work better for the 24 gauge wire.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I used  some wonderful old wood that we had inherited from my husband’s Dad (Earth friendly… it’s an upcycled very very old handle that had parted company from it’s original tool. I have no idea how old it is, but it’s O L D and incredibly hard wood!)

Anyhow, I made her a different configuration spool knitter, with a larger hole and the pegs spread further out, and it works a fair treat with the 24 gauge wire!

It’s slow going to work with such heavy wire, but worth it.

I decided that I had better make a video tutorial about spool knitting with wire, because it’s a whole other kettle of fish than spool knitting with yarn.

But, I had also been working on getting the soundtrack re-recorded and edited on a couple of other videos that I have just made, and ran into frustrating techno glitches (grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr).  So… it’s way late, now, and when I tried shooting the spool knitting wire video under artificial light, it looked baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.

I need to wait for daylight to shoot it.

Some things are worth waiting for…. and sunlight is one of them.

So is a tutorial sharing secrets of spool knitting with wire, so stay tuned!

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Cyndi always has great tutorials to inspire you. Check out this week’s: She shows how to make absolutely gorgeous monoprint papers.

I just loved Chloe’s tutorial on making woven heart bags, so I couldn’t resist including it in today’s roundup:

A New Creative Journal
Heather Goldsmith is starting a new blog about journal writing.

How to Make Window Envelope Cards
Which do you prefer – the stamped or digital version?

Recycling and upcycling for threadies
My  husband bought me a bag of mystery threads which I recycled and upcycled in a neat way.

Some spool knitters with special connections
A jewlery maker contacted me with a special request. This lead to a whole lot of fun….

Trails End Quilters’ Quilts
Mary Emma, at the Trails End Quilters, ponders over the origin of a wedding quilt and urges you to write down the history of your quilts.

Image by Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

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so I made a second one:

Because I had a plan…. bangle bracelets look better when there are more than one….

(BTW, the flash does nasty things to the bracelets…. in real life, they look smooth and kind of irridescent. The flash seems to expose their undies. How rude!)

AND, because I love Furoshiki.

What’s  Furoshiki?

It’s an ancient and elegant Japanese solution to carrying things in the greenest possible way.

Here’s a link: FUROSHIKI

I’ve impressed the heck out of all kinds of people by whipping a headscarf out of my purse and tying a couple of knots in it to make a market bag.

I have also been using bracelets  as handles for my version of furoshiki.

Here’s how:

Tie 2 adjacent corners to one bracelet, and the other 2 corners to the second bracelet….

and VOILA!

You have an instant, earth friendly, eco happy market bag, GREEN tote bag, carry sack, re-usable, upcycled, recycled tote!

HURRAH!

(image source: photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay. Copyright, not to be used without permission)

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Part 1- upcycling a bag of funky mystery thread

So, I got out some of the tatting shuttles that I love to carve and filled them up with multiple strands of the threads:

Part 2 – Choosing colors and loading tatting shuttles

Now, some folks might say that this is NOT really tatting… but it is!

Really!

Part 3- The Josephine Knot worked over the bracelet

Changing colors might seem tricky, but it’s not….

Part 4 – Color changes

And, one bracelet was good, so 2 were even better! Besides, now, I can multitask with them!

Wear them as bracelets, then whip them off and make a magic market bag- INSTANTLY!

Part 5- How to turn bangle bracelets into an oh so Green, eco friendly market bag

No animals were harmed in the making of these bracelets.

She did, however, supervise the whole process VERY closely.

(image source: photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay. Copyright, not to be used without permission)

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This is a rather unique approach to tatting…. there are no lacy bits, no loops, picots, chains, just plain Josephine Knots over a simple flat wooden bracelet with upcycled funky thread.

(Feel free to do this with gorgeous thread! It will be – well….. gorgeous!)

Now…..

What if you want to change colors?

Easy peasy….

1 choice is to cut the first color, leaving a few inches to spare.

Just pick up the next color, and hold the thread end from it together with the last  thread end, and carry on as if you were in your right mind.

When you make the first pass with the second color, make an ‘e’ with the thread to encourage the thread to tighten up.

Squish the threads really close together.

Sometimes, let the threads at the inside of the bracelet lay on top of the previous one to make them fan out a little and get maximum coverage.

Continue to add more colors, working with just one tatting shuttle at a time

OR

With all your shuttles all at once.  Don’t cut the threads, just carry them along the outside edge, and tat over the non – working threads.

As you decide that you’ve done with one color, snip it and work over the ends to hide them. When the bracelet is done,  snip the last colors, thread the ends into a sewing needle and take the ends inside all the wraps.

Voila! an upcycled thread tatted bracelet!

Ahem. I know I shouldn’t…. but I just couldn’t resist:

Always, Mum, you take the silly pictures of me…..

this will cost you in tuna.

(image source: photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay. Copyright, not to be used without permission)

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I didn’t tie the thread to the bracelet (by the way, this would work on any bangle bracelet).

I just took the thread through, and pinched it to the bracelet with my left thumb.

Then, I started making Josephine knots over the bracelet. What’s a Josephine knot?

Basically, it’s the blanket stitch.

∞The tatting shuttle goes through the bracelet, from the front to the back, and a loop of thread goes over your left index finger.

The shuttle comes up through the loop and then is pulled tight. ∞

The thread ends are carried along for awhile and eventually snipped off.

Repeat from ∞ to ∞

until you want to change colors……

(image source: photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay. Copyright, not to be used without permission)

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Not primo for sewing… so what to do, what to do….

Hmmmm…. good for spinning… yes! Will set some aside to use when spinning ‘designer yarn’.

Wait a minute…. this is T H R E A D, right?

T H R E A D !

Thread = tatting……yessssssssssssssssssssss………..

And, then I HAD it!

I decided I would  finally get around to finishing some wooden bracelets that I made last summer.

My plan was, cut out plain wooden circle bracelets and crochet yarn around them.

Good plan…. but – I have a BETTER one!

I will use the mystery thread and tat it around the bracelets! Yes!

I picked out a group of colors that I thought would work together….

Then,  I grabbed one of the bracelets, and a spool knitter,  and some bamboo skewers. (Every studio should have chopsticks and bamboo skewers!)

I slid a bamboo skewer through each of the spools of thread and put them on top of the spool knitter to separate them. You could stick the ends through a shoe box to achieve the same result, but this was easier for me.

And, then, I started winding thread onto tatting shuttles

To wind thread onto a shuttle that is closed at the top like these Great Mother ones, or a traditional netting style shuttle, you loop the thread over your index finger and slip it over the head. Flip the shuttle and repeat.

I had to put the shuttle down to take the picture, but you don’t do that when you are filling the shuttle.

I decided to leave the pink out, so just filled 4 tatting shuttles with thread: Royal blue, tan, silver/pale blue, and dark brown.

(image source: photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay. Copyright, not to be used without permission)

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(You weren’t supposed to WASH me, human! I no hold together when wet!)

Loved the colors, tho’, so had a little think about it……

(image source: photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay. Copyright, not to be used without permission)

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I made to celebrate my daughter, Chloë’s and my blogiversary of our blogging for 2 years for b5.

We drove to their house for dinner last night – through a storm of epic proportions. Whew!~ visibility at one point was zero. We had to pull off the road because we could not see through the rain! ugh…..

Anyhow… I was pleased that Chloë  likes the freeform Recycled Ruffle Cuff bracelets that I made for us from recycled wood:

LOL… I just noticed that the photo makes our fingers look verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry short. Ah well…  c’est la vie!

Image Source: Chloë  Findlay-Harder

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