“Casting on” a New Hobby
You might remember that I was debating whether to get more looms for loom knitting, or get serious and learn traditional knitting. I decided to learn the old-fashioned method. I’m also learning crochet. I haven’t gotten very far with either (thanks to school starting). But I do find it enjoyable….at least, the knitting is. Crochet isn’t quite as relaxing. But I imagine as I get better at it that will change. I do have a little booklet of how-to instructions…but if it hadn’t been for KnittingHelp.com I would still be doing it wrong…not to mention feeling frustrated. The videos saved me from knitting doom. If I can find a similar sight for crochet…that’ll be wonderful.
Yarn is an issue. Wool is often farmed and “harvested” in incredibly cruel ways. Acrylic isn’t the most environmentally friendly material. And cotton, unless it’s organic, soaks the planet in pesticides. And organic yarn is so expensive that you’d generally be better off just buying what you want to make. I did get some cast-off yarn from a friend. And I already had a lot of yarn from when I first started loom knitting. So I should be set for quite a while. But in the future I’ll have to be careful about what yarn I use. I guess I can always recycle old sweaters.
If you’re looking for a good hobby then I recommend knitting. It’s relaxing, and useful. It’s definitely in tune with simple living, and there are lots of charities you can knit for (and check this list too). After all, what good is saving the planet if we ignore the people in need who live on it?
Oooohhhh! Neat!
We all know we should re-use/recycle the stuff we have…but sometimes it takes an awful lot of creative thinking to figure out what the heck to do with this or that. Well Recycle This has helped change that! It’s chock full of ideas on how to recycle everything from guitar strings to all sorts of packaging. You can check the archives for a specific item, or just browse (which I think is pretty fun/interesting).
Making My Outfit
Well…I’ve started my outfit. I tried to remake a stained shirt into a new, cuter one. It’s the first time I’ve tried to sew a shirt, and the first time sewing clothes without a pattern. That’s probably why I failed. I can hardly get my head through the opening because I sewed too high. No point finishing it for myself now. But I am going to hold onto it. I see a darling baby sun-dress for one of my future baby girls. I still have a bunch of the pretty blue fabric left too. So I can still make myself something with it (see below). I like the idea of remaking clothes. So I’ll be including a bunch of links to helpful sites at the end of this post (don’t miss them!).
I did manage to successfully make myself a hat. I use loom knitting because it’s super fast and easy. I do it while I watch TV. I’m going to make a matching scarf and mittens too. So I guess my outfit will be a Fall/Winter ensemble. The picture doesn’t do the hat justice. It’s super cute on me. And the yarns used are super soft (one is baby yarn). The green looks great with my red hair. I’m thinking of getting a special loom made just for knitting socks. If I use the looms I have now I can only make slipper socks. You have to have a smaller loom to keep the socks from being thick and chunky. And I’m also considering getting a long rectangle loom (for blankets and such). But I haven’t decided quite yet. I’m not sure if I should invest in more looms, or get serious and learn traditional knitting. What do you knitters out there think?
Learn how to remake T-shirts: Ohmystars Craft, What The Craft, gURL, and Kiwistar4444’s Live Journal.
Thrifty, Crafty Environmentalism
Kristin, of Craft Leftovers, posts projects made with the leftovers from other projects. That is cool in and of itself. But this reusable tea bag is even cooler. I don’t drink tea myself, but I bet the same idea works for herbal “tea,” which I do drink and thoroughly enjoy. Now I just need to look into finding a place where I can buy loose herbal tea.
Instructables Contest Winner
Instructables.com is a great site. Their recent Go Green contest has ended and a winner has been announced. Biotank’s hydroponic bog garden idea has won him/her a cool bike. The bog will clean water with bacteria. Pretty cool Biotank! via: TreeHugger
The 3 R’s (especially the first 2)
Jessie Jane writes Small Failures, a blog about “sustainability for the rest of us.” This post from December of last year caught my eye. She hits the nail on the head as far as “green products” are concerned. Buying items made from recycled whatever that are fair trade and donate a potion of profits to a green charity is great and all…but kicking the over-consumption habit is even better. Recycling is great…but reducing and reusing is greater. And Jane helps us out by providing links to some great pages focused on reuse, remaking, hacks, whatever you wanna call it, as wells as some tips of her own on the first 2 R’s. Check it out.
