BUT! There is one leetle bit of living green that I am going to ask people to re-consider.

www.blisstree.com/hankeringforyarn

Let me back up for a moment.

A few weeks ago,

when I was in the

local library,

I saw a table of

discontinued books

for sale.

There was also a

‘free’ box.

There was a bunch of stuff

that didn’t speak to me at all,

but, this magazine was in the box

and fairly flew into my arms!

It’s a British needlework magazine from April of 1963.  I love studying the history of needlework, and one way to do that is to go to everyday sources.

Whenever I find a vintage needlework magazine, I am fascinated, as much by the ads and editorials and captions as by the actual patterns and projects in the magazine.

Much is revealed about women’s lives by the way they are addressed by editors and by how and what the advertisers pitch to the readers. There is a wealth of information about the belief systems of a culture in these documents of everyday life.

Besides, sometimes it is just plain funny to see how terminology has changed:  Consider these instructions: In one of the patterns in the 1963 Stitchcraft magazine, the reader is told  to buy a steel crochet hook # 2 1/2, unless they are ‘ a slack worker’, then use a #3 hook and if they are a tight worker, they should use a #2 hook.  Any editor seeing those instructions nowadays would be firing off a short, sharp email to the designer!

Fast forward to the present: When I flipped open a new crochet magazine and saw a full page ad exhorting people to be heroic and recycle their magazines, I went- ‘WHOA!’

If the magazine doesn’t have projects that appeal to you, pass it on- to a friend, to a hospital, to a doctor’s waiting room, to the library, to the local school, to old folks homes, to the women’s shelter, to the church.    But, please… re-consider putting needlework magazines in the recycling.

I would like to see knitting, crochet, weaving, spinning, embroidery, doll making and other needlework magazines survive to inspire more generations.

There are many ways of living green, but shredding needlework and craft magazines may not be the greenest of ‘green’ choices. Let’s consider all kinds of heritage when we think about green options.

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I have fallen madly in love with netting style shuttles and am having a wonderful time upcycling old rulers into shuttles.

Today, I needed to take a little break.

So, I grabbed a couple of the

old wooden rulers that we have

found in our recent travels.

As I was working on carving

the old rulers into shuttles,

I noticed something…

The 2 lower shuttles in the

photo at the left

came from a ruler that

just has inches.

The 2 shuttles at the top of the pic came from a ruler that has centimeters as well as inches. Neato!

That means that the lower ruler has to be at least 30 or more years old, because it’s been yonks since Canada adopted the metric system.

So… when I am wrapping these shuttles up with yarn, I will be wrapping up a little bit of history.

I even varnished the pencil marks into the shuttles. I remember being bored out of my gourd when I was a kid and running my pencil up and down, up and down, up and down, in the channel of my ruler. Obviously, some other child felt the same way. I tipped the tin of varnish to them, and varnished in those pencil lines! Hopefully, that child has found creativity and inspiration – I have!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

This ruler cracked me up.

I love the ‘fortune cookie’

messages on it.

“Looking Ahead to A Bright Future?”

Oh, yes, please!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

“Working After School

Or on Your Holidays?”

(Why yes, I did!)

“Ask Our Manager About

A Career with the bank”

(Oh, I don’t think that would be a good idea!)

Aside from the  curious capitalizing on random letters, I found the cheerful and oh so optimistic little messages from the bank (also pre-metric vintage) to be rather endearing.  That was a much more innocent time.

Yes, I have totally destroyed the collectability of these vintage rulers by cutting them up and carving them, but I have also upcycled them into tools that I will enjoy working with enormously. So, it’s worth it to me.

It’s win-win.  I get the pleasure of the woodworking time (boy, the wood in these old rulers gets hard over time!) and then, I get the pleasure of the weaving time.

So, yes, let’s go back to looking ahead to a bright future, and in the meantime, we can upcycle all manner of fun for ourselves. yep.

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

They were quite extraordinarily ugly, because of their odd combination of elements. The centers are  wonderful embroidered flowers, and they are actually the reason why I rescued the pillow cases from the ‘free- please take away’ box.  I am thinking about how I will upcycle them, and have  blogged about using photoshop to sketch out possibilities.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Separating the neon orange polyester fabric

from the embroidery made them both look better.

I began to see the potential of

the orange fabric.

Sadly, so did Ms Kitty.

She was determined to

keep possession of the

pillow case.

I made her a nest on

her favorite bench

and then took my scissors to

the orange fabric.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

It didn’t take long

to turn the pillow case

into Fyarn (fabric strip yarn).

I was feeling inspired

to get out  a copy of

my book:

Our Lady of the Hours

and my crochet hook

and get to work,

crocheting

A Goddess of Upcycling Doll.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I started crocheting with just the Fyarn,

but it was flat and uninteresting, so I tore

it out and started over again.

I added several strands of silk, rayon and cotton, as

well as a strand of upholstery weight sewing thread.

Oh much better!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I used a slice of wood

that I had cut from a

pruned branch from our apple tree

for her face.

I drew and then  burned the image of

her face and added some shading.

I glued it to her head.

Then, I thought about her crown….

Perhaps, I could use the zippers from

the pillowcases for that?

yes……

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I twisted the stops off the ends

of the zippers with pliers,

and slipped the zipper pulls off.

I separated them,

then started rolling, and

gluing the zippers into coils.

I glued glass beads into the center of the coils.

Then, I glued the coils around her face.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

There was netting behind the embroidered

part of the pillows,

so I used it to create the ruffled corona

behind the coils.

I couldn’t resist gluing

the zipper pulls to her crown.

After all, she wouldn’t want me

to waste them, would she?

The earth bead was in a

bag of beads that I bought at

our fave thrift store.

Her breasts are acorn caps from

my sister-in-law’s Garry oak trees.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

And, here she is:

The Goddess of Upcycling.

She’s about 9 inches tall and

her ruffled corona/veil extends

another 3 inches beyond her head.

She took me completely by surprise.

She was utterly compelling to make-

I had all kinds of other plans for the day,

but forget about that!

This little Goddess wanted to be made,

and made she was!

Building this doll was one of those

lyrical, time out of time experiences.

Lovely!

What an adventure it has been to transform 2 unwanted pillow cases into all kinds of upcycled treasures.

And, I have only just begun…..

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Today, I’ll show how I upcycled a baker’s dozen (13) of the little fabric teabags into a tutu for my Fanciful Fiber Friend Flat Doll.

In the pic above, a slew of the fabric teabags are hanging in the studio window, drying. Alright, so it looks weird… but c’mon!

It’s a studio… you expect to see unusual things in the windows!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

After emptying the dryed

used up tea into the

compost,

the teabags are flattened.

For the waistband of

the tutu,

you need about

15 inches/ 38 cm of

1/2 inch/1 cm wide

ribbon, a needle and

thread, and scissors.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Wrap the ribbon

around her waist

and tie a bow.

Make a dot on either side of the bow,

then untie it.

The space between the

2 dots will become the waistband

of the tutu.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Leave a 6 inch/15 cm

tail, and then gather

the teabags onto a length of

thread.

Stitch in and out along the folded

edge of the teabag,

leaving the open edge

along the hem of the tutu.

Gather them up, squishing them

close together.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Stitch the upper edge

of the gathered teabags

along one edge of the ribbon

between the 2 dots .

You’ll have to stitch

through the gathers and make

tiny stitches on the ribbon.

Anchor both ends.

I left the long end at the start

so I could thread that end in and stitch with it to finish the end off.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Hide the thread ends inside the gathers.

Trim the ends, and the hem to even it up.

Tie the ribbon around her waist,

and

Voila!

you have an upcycled tutu

for your Fanciful Flat Fiber Friend Doll!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I am a total tea afficianado-

I drink it from morning to night.

White, black, red, green…

I love it.

My husband is a jazz musician,

and when his trio plays at

our favorite bistro,

they always immediately make me

a cup of green tea.

I was just dazzled by the gorgeousness of the flavor of  a new  tea, and was delighted when the server told me that it was because the tea was in a silk bag.   There was no way I was going to throw that bag away, so it came home with me, and inspired me to start experimenting with the fabric from cloth teabags.

I wondered if the shape of teabags and being made of cloth would make a difference to the flavor of the tea, and in lots of cases, I would think so…

Anyhow… I’ve been sampling several different teas that come in cloth bags – and have been playing with the sheer fabric that the teabags are made from.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I let the teabags dry out after I have

sipped up the tea.

Then, open the bag, empty it, and pull

the edges apart.

It ends up as a small rectangle.

Cut a narrow strip along the long edge of

the rectangle, almost to the short end.

Turn, and cut another strip parallel to the first,

again, almost to the edge. You’re cutting a

continuous strip, and will end up with

approximately one yard of narrow ribbon yarn.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Wrap the ribbon yarn

onto a bobbin

and then -

you can either

weave with it,

or crochet with it.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I crocheted flowers with

the upcycled teabag fabric

ribbon yarn:

With a 1.5 mm steel

crochet hook:

Ch 4, join to form ring.

(Ch 5, sc into ring) 5 times.

Sl st last st to 1st.

Pull yarn end through last loop on hook.

Stitch it to something,  (in this case a sampler that I am weaving with natural cotton yarn and silk thread and stitch a bead in the center of each flower.

Here the flowers are appliqued to the sampler:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

And here, you can see some of the yo yo circles,  a small diamond shape of inlay weaving with the ribbon yarn, and then at the lower edge of the photo, another crocheted applique that has beads stitched into open spaces in the crochet:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

And, I have been doing other interesting things with the sheer fabric teabags….

I’ll be posting more about this fun upcycling project, so stay tuned!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Recently, I found some delicious tea that comes in silk teabags.

Well… if that isn’t an invitation to upcycle, I don’t know what is!

After all, if I am going to pay for the silk

in those tea bags, I am certainly not

going to waste it!

It’s silk, for goodness sake!

and silk’s precious!

So, now, after I savour my cuppa tea,

I save the bag and turn it into all kinds of  upcycled embellishments.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I used to snip one edge of the teabag open,

but I realized that I can pull at the edges

and break the seal,

thereby saving some of the silk.

So, pull the teabag open,

and toss the used leaves in the compost.

Open all the seams, and you’ll have a small rectangle of silk.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I began my adventures

in upcycling silk teabags

by making one of my most favorite motifs:

The yo yo circle:

You can make a very small yo yo circle

by using just one bag,

or a larger yo yo by stitching 2

silk rectangles (2 flattened, opened silk teabags)

together and cutting a circle from them.

They are so sheer that you can barely

see them in the photo.

Challenging to photograph!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

After you have cut the circle,

fold a tiny hem over

and stitch

around it

then

pull up

on it,

and stitch in place to anchor.

Voila! silk yo yo circles!

You can use them to embellish all manner of things.  I have stitched them to a sampler that I am weaving with natural cotton:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I stitched a bead into the center of each yo yo circle.

Tomorrow…. other neat ways in which I have upcycled silk teabags.

Green living can be fun, even if it means having used silk teabags hanging up to dry in the studio….. 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

This is a great way of upcycling old clothing and turning it into something new.

I cut up a sweatshirt  for this project….. the outside was lovely and soft, but the inside was like steel wool.

It just wasn’t wearable, so it was time to upcycle it.

First, clamp the garment to a desk or table, and use a sharp knife to release the lower band from the sweatshirt.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Then cut it into a continuous strip by cutting a narrow section, around and around the band….

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

And, then, use it like yarn to weave  on the potholder loom:

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

This wooden potholder loom is from Natural Baby It’s a 14 peg loom, which means that it’s better for heavy weight yarns or -you guessed it… fabric strips!  You can weave all kinds of great stuff from worn out clothing….. how very green!

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright.

Upcycling and weaving are a very happy partnership!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

This has left me with a life long fondness for little suitcases.

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

So, when my husband popped into a garage sale last week,

and saw this tiny toolbox/suitcase,

he knew I’d love it.

As soon as I saw it,

I knew that it would

be perfect for

organizing patterns

and templates

and small bits of

this and that

for the Flat dolls.

But…

When I opened it up…. ugh…. the inside was really ugly….

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

So, with a lot of tugging, the suitcase was eviscerated.

I used the insert as a template and traced it onto a couple of file folders:

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I cut them out and covered them with decorative paper. Last winter, I bought a roll of brown paper butcher’s tape, so used that to stick the paper to the pieces of file folders:

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Then, used black duct tape to secure the panels into the suitcase:

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

And, now, it’s full of sketches, patterns and other goodies for the Fanciful Flat Fiber Friend Dolls…..

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Today, I thought… I should use that pattern to make a shuttle!

Then I remembered that I had a piece of an old ruler from my husband’s Dad in the studio.

I don’t know what he used the other half for, but I am pleased as can be to have this half!

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I traced the pattern onto the ruler.

Because I promised my friend, William, that I wouldn’t use power tools until my eye is completely healed, I used simple hand tools.

My eye is really not there yet, so power tools are definitely off limits for me still.

But, I can’t stay out of the workshop, because it is such a pleasure, even when I feel wonky/wobbly.

Luckily, we have hand tools.

I have a fret saw that I just love- it’s great for fine cuts like the ones needed for this shuttle.

• I bought mine at Lee Valley tools. Fret saws are surprisingly cheap, and do a fab job. Great value for money!

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I clamped the ruler to the bench to make sawing easier.  So, add a spring clamp or two to your ‘must have’ list of tools.

And, I drilled a couple of holes so I could put the blade into the area that I needed to cut out.  A small hand drill is also a ‘must have’.

AND…. A set of small files in a selection of shapes, are essential!  I use them all the time for shaping in my woodworking.

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

After the shaping is done with files, I need to polish with sandpaper. Sandpaper is good, but I like sanding sponges more.

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

As I was working on this weaving shuttle, I thought… Duh! Why didn’t I do this ages ago?

I was struck by how similar the netting style weaving shuttle is to the tatting shuttles that I make (even though the inspiration for the tatting shuttles came from a totally different direction- amazing how things converge, isn’t it?)

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I just love this shuttle!

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I load the shuttle so that there is thread on both sides of the shuttle.  (By the way, the rainbow band behind the shuttle is an inkle band that I wove years ago. )

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Mmmm… it weaves like a dream.

I asked my daughter-in-law and daughter if they would like me to make them one each (they are both weavers), and they both said, YES!

Luckily, I have exactly enough of Dad’s ruler left to make them each a shuttle…. how perfect is that?

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Jill Ammon Vanderwood has kindly donated a copy of her new book:

What's it like, living green? copyright Jill Ammon Vanderwood, used with permission

What’s It Like, Living Green?

to Hankering for Yarn,

because of my passion for green and eco friendly living.

Link: What’s It Like, Living Green? By Jill Ammon Vanderwood

How do you win a copy of the book?

Simple!

Leave a comment in the box below, with a ‘GREEN’ suggestion for yarn lovers of all ages, and if it is especially kid friendly, then you get a gold star!

The contest runs from June 18, 2009 to June 30, 2009.

Please make sure you leave an email address that isn’t going to send me into spam, as I need to be able to notify you if you are the winner.

If the winner doesn’t respond in 3 days, I’ll draw again…. so do check in!

Good luck!

AND…. I’ll also publish a posting with all your brilliant suggestions, and give you credit!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn