Late last autumn, I decided to cut up some fabric I had. It had been given to me by a friend and there is a lot of it. There are many different prints, one of which consisted of a white background covered with bright yellows daffodils and green leaves and stems. There was a lot of very bright yellow and I am not all that keen on yellow--I am definitely a cool colour kind of gal. For that reason, I was unsure what I would do with it. Since it folded up nice and flat, it was easy enough to store without taking up a lot of space, which I did for a few years. Finally, I decided to cut it into strips, which I could then use to weave or crochet with, so I got out my good shears and cut, making a continuous strand as much as possible, then rolling the long strips into balls. My original plan was to make some place mats after the holidays were over, but by that time, we knew we were moving here. Since we have no table here, we have no need for place mats, so I stored the fabric strips in a cupboard.
In the meantime, we got a couple of new plants. I stuck them inside the plastic buckets peanut butter sometimes comes in--these work great. Sometimes I poke holes in the bottom, fill with dirt, add a plant, and use the lid to catch drips. For this, I make a sort of sleeve like people use around their to-go coffee cups. This makes for an attractive plant pot and allows for drainage. In this case, however, I wasn't re-potting the plants, but so stuck them right inside the bucket. When I am watering, excess water can collect in the bottom of the bucket. But I wanted something nice to put everything in. I thought of my fabric strips and dug them out. Last night, I sat and listened to part of an audiobook, got out my biggest crochet hook (10mm--could have used a slightly larger one which Bill tells me is now on the way), and started crocheting. I made a circle, increasing for 5 rounds, then just crocheted evenly around until it was as tall as I needed. When I was near the end of a ball, I simply held that end and the beginning end of a new ball together and crocheted on, leaving any ends that stuck out on the inside. These will not be visible, but I think leaving them show would be cool, too, and I might try that in future to see how I like it, especially with the strips that are not as long. When I was done, I cut the fabric, threaded it through a large tapestry needle, and wove in the end to secure it.
(When I took this pic earlier, the sun was shining through the window. I am happy to report that this is now gone and it is raining--yay!)
I love these and plan to make more baskets for other uses. Once I was done cutting this fabric, I gathered the unwanted clothes I'd gotten at charity shops and started cutting them into fabric yarn, too, so I have some fun fabric yarn to work with. I will probably wait until I get my 15mm hook, though, as it will work better.
I hope you're having a good day! 😃
5 comments:
Love them, very pretty!
Thanks, Vicki!
I really need to do this. I have some cuttings I need to set-up in containers and get them going... Hmm I probably have some t-shirts I could use but not sure how to keep them from draining all over the place? Do you think they'd work as hanging plant pots?
I put the plants in those plastic buckets peanut butter or yogurt come in. I poke holes in the bottom of the bucket first, add the dirt and plant, then place the lid underneath to catch the water when it drains out. I put the lid and the buckets inside the fabric baskets, so any water will collect in the lids.
Oh right, somehow my brain saw the words previously but my bad vision thought that the dirt was in the crochet bit. If I can figure out a way to 'hook it' I might try to crochet for hanging. Great idea thank you! (The hanging ones I've found online lack visual interest and are lacking in visual or structural interest. They're also too expensive given that.)
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