Decreasing my waste

Day 23 of the Eco Craft Challenge

I've been following Julia from Easy Eco To Go on her zero waste journey. She has inspired me to really think about those disposable items that I've taken for granted just using and tossing. I have stopped using paper napkins and paper towels for 2 to 3 weeks now. I love knitting dishcloths, and I have a few dish towels. Those have taken the place of the paper towels. I only had a few cloth napkins, which have been used pretty quickly. I needed more cloth napkins, so I sewed 15 today.

I had some muslin in my fabric stash. Muslin can cost as little as $1 a yard. I cut it into 10" x 5" pieces. I don't see the point of having large cloth napkins other than for looks. Thats why they are only 5" wide. I placed two of the cut pieces together and stitched around 3 of the sides. I turned it right side out, then folded in the unsewn side. I then stitched around all 4 sides using a quarter of an inch seam. The thread matches the fabric, however it would look nice with a contrasting thread. These would also look nice embroidered or stamped using fabric ink / paint.

I then made 4 hankies that are 10" squared. I cut the muslin and did a decorative stitch around the 4 sides. The thread is left as is. The decorative stitch should hopefully keep the hankie from unraveling in the wash. I followed Easy Eco To Go's directions for making these. Someone posted on Julia's site about how muslin won't feel good on your nose, esp. during a cold. She suggested using flannel instead. I'll have to look in my stash to see if I have any flannel that I'd be willing to make hankies out of. I like to buy flannel for the back of my winter quilts. It makes them warm and cozy.

Last Christmas or for my mom's birthday, I don't really remember, I knitted her a hat using Lionbrand's Homespun. She asked me to make her a yellow one. I then started making her a scarf, but I couldn't finish it in time to give with the hat. I stopped knitting it in March. Today I began knitting it again while at my oldest son's soccer practice. I would like to have it finished for Christmas. It should be easy. It's knit in garter stitch on size US 9 needles.

Day 22 of the Eco Craft Challenge

A friend of mine came over on Friday and loaned me one of her spinning wheels. I've been spinning everyday since. My large ball of white plarn is now broken down into several smaller, but still large, spun balls. I have also plied some of them with VHS tape. I really love how it looks.

I also brought my 12 harness table loom into my craft studio today. I want to start weaving again. Simple weaving. I say simple, because I love ikat weaving. That is what my senior thesis was on. The picture above is at my senior gallery show. The 4 piece 1 foot x 7 foot weaving of water was sold that week to a surgeon in Little Rock, AR. That paid for my loom and warping board. Ikat weaving is when you dye the threads in a pattern before you put them on the loom. It took me 2 to 3 weeks of pure concentration and work to produce a single ikat weaving. Since having kids, I don't have time for that anymore. I hope to go back to it one day. However why not still use my loom for more basic weavings? It would make gifting scarfs so much easier and much more unique. I want to weave my new plied plarn and VHS tape. I'm nervous since its been a few years since I've used it.

I have 8 days left of the craft challenge. I am not going to go spending crazy. I'll hold off on buying the Navajo spindle since I am borrowing the spinning wheel. I might purchase a ball winder. I will definitely be purchasing size US11 double pointed needles to make some Mary Jane Slippers. However I have really been feeling the hurt of the economy this past week. I bought nothing for myself, but still struggled with money. Is it just me or are things more expensive?

Reusable bags

Day 19 of Eco Craft Challenge

Yesterday I made 4 reusable bags out of 2 yards of stash fabric. The fabric was woven using a twill weave, so it is not something that I plan on quilting with. I cut each bag slightly different. One bag has a shoulder strap. I've gotten some nice compliments on them. Now I am seriously thinking about making some for sale. Each time making a set of 4. I also want to make some for Christmas gifts.

Tomorrow, Saturday September 12th is the first International Plastic Free Day. Please use your reusable bags when shopping.

I am also thinking about making a blog carnival soon. There are so many great blogs that I follow, and I would like to share some of their great ideas with everyone. Unlike other blog carnivals, this will not be a weekly thing. It might be a bi-monthly or a monthly thing.

A friend of mine came over today and taught me how to use a spinning wheel. She is letting me borrow one of her spinning wheels. It looks so easy, but it does take practice. I am now spinning my very large ball of plarn on it. I need to spin as much as possible tonight and tomorrow. On Sunday I will be at the Billerica, MA recycling table for the Yankee Doodle Fair. I'll be demoing how to make plarn, tarn, plastic bag wreaths, juice pouch items, etc. The large ball of plarn is a crowd favorite.

I am also looking forward to the eco craft challenge being over, because I have a nice little wish list right now. I want to buy some double pointed needles (in a size I don't have) to make some Mary Jane Slippers. My studio is in the basement, and my feet have been getting cold down there. Also I want to purchase a Navajo spindle and maybe a ball winder. That will set me back a little (the combo of the 2). However I will feel good about these purchases, because they are tools and will not be adding to my stash. In fact these tools will be helping me dig into my stash. I am also thinking about a craft challenge part 2. This time for a shorter amount of time, but a more extreme budget.

I am also posting some pictures of my studio space through out this post. I cleaned it yesterday. I still need to work on it, but I made a big dent. My basement is not finished, so it does look kind of raw. I need to figure out a heating solution soon, because winter will make it to cold to work in.

VHS tape & podcast

Day 18 of the eco craft challenge.

Yesterday I spent a few hours cleaning my studio space (in my basement). Of course my toddler gets his own table in there. I really made a big dent in the clutter. Now I can think easier while in there.

While cleaning I listened to several podcasts. One of them was the newest Stash N Burn podcast with Nicole and Jenny. Around 10:40 and 13:50 on the counter (time in min:sec) they talked about me! Wow! I've been listening to their podcast ever since I got my 1st ipod. I am KristyRecycles on ravelry, and I follow their forum on there. I posted the eco craft challenge in their forum when I first started it. I thought that it would match up with what they talk about, using your yarn stash. I couldn't believe that they mentioned the challenge as well as some of the things that I make. It made my day.

I can't get over how much yardage is in one VHS cassette tape! Its crazy! It really seems like a waste to just throw this much in the trash. If you or someone you know are getting rid of VHS tape via the trash, please take out the tape (unscrew the case to do this). If you don't knit, crochet, or work with yarn in one form or another then maybe someone you know does. Here is Cindy's blog where there are some free VHS patterns. Cindy also has tested her VHS tape bags with credit cards. They do not demagnetize the cards. Thank you Cindy for doing that test! Also check out how to use cassette tape for gift wrapping in Jennifer Perkin's blog. Also one of Danny Seo's books shows how VHS tape makes nice ribbon when gift wrapping. I donated all of my VHS tapes to Goodwill 3 to 5 years ago. This supply came from someone who attends the recycling comity meetings in my town. Since my town does not recycle them, the person was more than happy to let me have them. I've been spinning them like crazy. One ball I plied with spun white plarn. I have a few ideas of what to make with this material. It's exciting.

I also dug into my fabric stash and found some fabric that I don't want to use in a quilt. I began making a reusable bag out of it. I have enough of the fabric that I can make a matching set.

Day 16 of Craft Challenge

Yesterday I broke open a VHS tape and took out the tape. I then spun it. I had some white plarn that I had already spun. I then plyed the 2 together. I think I want to crochet a granny square style purse out of it.

The VHS tape is not stretchy like the plarn, so I don't want to make a tote bag out of it.

I need to make some more plarn out of the newspaper bags. This is as far as I got with the spun plyed plarn crochet bag.

I finished 1 side of the purse that I am crocheting out of the pink and black plarn. Time to make and spin some black plarn. Then ply it with the ball of pink spun plarn that I have.

I have also been cleaning a juice pouch art project that I started earlier this year. Cleaning = sticky straw part. Yes I did say art project. I have always wanted to be a gallery artist. It's time to start trying for that.

I am thinking about making a video on how to crochet soda tab flowers. I think that it is to detailed to do on my tv show. It might be better to use my webcam to film it so that I get really close up, and I can take my time making it.

Organizing my juice pouch stash

Yesterday I went through my massive amount of juice pouches and organized them by type and "flavor."

I also cleaned a few (sticky straw part) for an ufo (unfinished object) art project.

All of these juice pouches have been cleaned, they just need the sticky straw part removed.

Plyed Plyarn Projects

I am on day 14 of the eco craft challenge. As of Friday, I spent all of my budget for the challenge ($20). The remaining $10 was spent on supplies that I needed to tape an episode of "Its Easy Being Green." It was for episode 6, back to school supplies made from juice pouches. I have decided to post the show on youtube after it airs on the local channel here. I am currently uploading episode 4 onto youtube as I type this. Each episode airs every 2 weeks here.

I had posted pictures of my spun & plyed blue newspaper bag plyarn before. Here are pictures of the bag that I am crocheting from it. The base of the bag is pretty large. I'm crocheting it in the round. I just ran out of the spun plyed plyarn today. I'll have to make some more.

Last night I started spinning a ball of pink plyarn and a ball of black plyarn. I then plyed the 2 balls together. I am crocheting a different kind of bag in the round. I think that I want to make 2 circles and join them to make a purse. I'll probably line it with black fabric. It reminds me of the movie Grease (the jackets that the girls wore).