Upcycled bed sheets to cotton rag rugs

I enjoyed making these, probably 'cause I do "tedious" really well nowadays. The tedious bit, depending on your point of view, is ripping the bed sheet into one long 1.5cm wide strip.

This means you rip (or cut) down to almost the end, control yourself so as to leave the last 1.0cm intact on the edge, turn the sheet around, and start a new rip 1.5cm next to it, stop 1.0cm before the end again.

It's like creating a zig-zag up and down the fabric and keeping the edges intact. Then you wind the ripped length into one big, big ball of yarn. I wish I'd taken photos as I made these.

Then you get down to the crochet part. I use a 10mm hook and do a tight, dense stitch. This makes a firm mat which keeps its shape pretty well. It also means that the mat will be more durable.

I've only just sent my first cotton rag rug to the compost (it's now a weed mat) after it gave me seven years of service at the kitchen sink.

The other good thing about these rag rugs is they're machine washable. And being cotton, they're absorbant.

The yellow one with the green edging has gone off to the Naragebup Environment Centre. The metal ruler is my big 60cm one, so that might help with the scale.

Recycled Ralph Lauren Knitwear

It was the pink mohair that drew my attention in the op shop the other day. It was the colour I was looking for, not the fact it was a Ralph Lauren polo neck. I can't bear clothing that touches my neck.

I had other intentions for this piece of designer wear. It was destined to be upcycled into fingerless gloves.

The piece was $6, and while that wouldn't normally sound expensive, I'm on an abnormally tight budget which means I'm mindful of every mouthful of food I get and every time I use electricity.

Nevertheless the jumper came home with me. I unpicked the seams that night - that's the first time I've unravelled something that someone else had knit - and I now have a small basket of 53% mohair/47% acrylic yarn. It's currently being converted into fingerless gloves, destined to be gifts for my nieces.

The FGs look sort of bumpy and un-neat, but that's mohair for you. I've washed them in hot water so they're not going to change their look or shrink, but it's the light fluffiness that makes them almost weightless and comfortably warm.

I'm happy with my op shop find!

Upcycled milk cartons

I love my milk.

Unfortunately nowadays it comes in plastic containers, not the reusable glass milk bottles that used to be home delivered by the milko.

I keep finding things to do with the bottom half of the container including storage, sorting, shed and garden use.

As an example, I've used the bottom of a 3ltr milk container to store my envelopes of home grown seeds. It just keeps things nice and tidy and it works.

The plant tags, by the way, are an ice cream container lid, cut roughly into elongated triangles. They're durable.

New apron - old sheet

When I saw the sheet in the op shop I liked the blue and white stripes could see an apron in it straight away.

The edging of the sheet had smaller sized stripes which would be perfect as edging.

The last time I made an apron I was about nine years old and it was in the school sewing class. I don't think I was very interested at the time.

It's funny, though, how lessons from childhood get baked into memory banks and it wasn't difficult to recall it all.