Mother Earth doll designed and woven by Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

Green and eco projects are always a good idea.

I wanted to celebrate Earth day by coming up with some fun ‘eco-upcycling’ projects that would be quick, easy and oh so friendly to the Earth.

I’ve made a few notes about a couple of them, and will be sharing them this week.

Today, a very very easy one  popped into my mind.

I was rummaging through a drawer and

I found a bit of  inkle weaving that had been left over from another project.

I thought… hmmm…. this would make a great bookmark!

Bookmarks are great.

They are a fun way to experiment with needlework techniques and take ideas for trial runs.  You can make a small sample or a swatch and then modify it a little and use it to keep your place when you’re reading…. that’s great… multi-tasking!

Besides… I can never have enough bookmarks. I often mark several places in the same book, so a spare bookmark is always welcome.

And… another thing…. bookmarks make great little gifts. You can pop them in an envelope and mail them of to a friend to make them feel extra appreciated. Yup…. bookmarks are fine things!

Anyhow. Back to this particular bit of upcycling.

I liked the idea of using this scrap of inkle weaving as a bookmark -

But, it needed something….. hmmmm…

Then, I noticed the corner of an out of date business card.

Aha! I could use the pic off the business card to ‘top’ the bookmark!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I grabbed a pair of scissors and some extra thick glue.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I snipped the pic off the business card, then cut a back the same size, and glued them to the weaving.

Voila! an instant upcycled bookmark!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Hmmm… the cut out is kind of wonky…. so

I thought…. let’s try this again!

This time, I used a fragment of tatting that I had tossed in the drawer after ’sampling’ some crochet cotton to see if it would be okay for tatting.

And, I decided to use a punch to cut out the shapes from the business cards to make the cutout top more regular:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I added a small tassel to the end of the tatting and then glued it all together:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

There… I like that better… using a punch to cut out the pic for the top of the bookmark makes it cleaner. I’m happy with it….

Hurrah for upcycling!

What if you don’t have old business cards? Cut or punch out a front and matching back from a photograph or use a postage stamp or even a bit of a pic from junk mail!

What if you don’t have a scrap of weaving or lace? Use a bit of ribbon, or spool knitting, or part of a broken tape measure….

what  do you have ? Upcycle it!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

A couple of weeks ago, we were in one of our favorites, when Sis spotted this old old crocheted piece in the back of a drawer:

She held it up to me and we both fell in love with it.

She asked the lady how much it was, and the lady tossed her wrist and went,

‘Oh, phfft, it’s free…. it’s  worthless….. there’s a hole in the middle!’

Sis and I looked at each other in amazement and had to stiffle guffaws of delight and amazement.

Afterwards, I thought that this is another perfect example of how the way we interpret things colors the world!

The shop lady (bless her heart) saw it as a ruined old doily that some idiot had cut the center out of, rendering it worthless.

But Sis and I saw it as a gorgeous crocheted collar that was intriguing and deserving of  study and re-fashioning into some smashing wonderful-ness.

I hadn’t even seen the possibility of it being a table runner! So interesting!

I am looking forward to analysing the filet crochet pattern of this collar  and seeing how those perfect corners were worked.

Once again…. trash to treasure! yay!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

how to crochet a fake wasp nest, I was just asked, ‘what does hdc’ mean?
hdc is half double crochet in North American terminology.

I googled for sites that tell you how to do it…. and came up with this:
crochet stitch how to’s

) Hope this helps!

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright) 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn