Wisdom Wednesday! Tips to Save Plastic from the Landfill

I'm starting a new feature.....Wisdom Wednesdays! This will usually be wise tidbits shared by others which I've enJOYEd reading about and learning from.....

Until I started recycling/upcycling fiber arts, I didn't recycle as much at home. But, fiber arts re-use made me more aware! We live on an island so I feel an extra sense of responsibility to not contribute to the landfill or to junk which may end up in the ocean. Plus, it's nice to not have to pay real dollars to the county dump to leave all that extra trash. ;)

I came across this website and it has helpful and interesting tips on how to reduce your plastics use. Hmmm....I never knew that chewing gum was made out of plastic. What's with that?!

While I'm definitely not there yet (eliminating plastic purchases), I hope to incorporate some more of these wise suggestions into my daily life. Please share what you learned from this website and enJOY your Wednesday!

http://plasticfreeguide.com/

Make It Mondays! Scrappy Scarf Tutorial

From this......

...to this........

in a few simple hours!

Use your small (even teensy) recycled lambswool, angora, alpaca, mohair and cashmere soft scraps to make this yummi-liscious infinity scarf. Great for yourself or for a beautiful Valentine's Day gift. Outta the landfill and into someone's heart. :)

Materials Needed:

Recycled natural fiber scraps
Yarn
Large eyed needle

Steps:

1. Thread your large eye needle with a complimentary colored thin yarn (or embroidery floss.)

2. Overlap your scraps and start sewing them together with a running stitch on your threaded yarn. I also call this the "inchworm" stitch...just up and down.

3. As you sew, pull your yarn a bit tight so that the fiber scraps scrunch up. This will add a lot of texture to your scarf.

4. I encourage you to leave the pointy edges off to the side of the scarf as you sew. In other words, don't make a perfect line. This is also a way to use odd shaped scraps...scraps aren't too narrow to use unless you can't stitch through it!

5. Don't be afraid to use all different colors. One of the neat things about recycled wool/other natural fibers is that all colors seem to go together well! When you wear this scarf with different outfits, it will highlight the different colors in your scarf!

6. Continue sewing until your length is long enough to loop around your neck three to four times.

When you're happy with the length, stitch the beginning to the end, making an "infinity loop."

7. Out of a larger scrap or two, freehand cut a flower, sew a button through the middle of the flower, and secure it to one part of your scarf. This step is optional but adds a lot of pizzazz to your scarf. :)

Like this tutorial? Then please "like" our Facebook page Everything But The Oink and subscribe to this blog. Bloggers like to feel the love! ;)

EnJOY!

p.s. Thanks to Reyna for taking our class yesterday and agreeing to model her completed creation!

Make It Mondays! Upcyclers

In the place of a tutorial today, I wanted to share a source of blissful inspiration: The Upcyclers blog.

http://love2upcycle.blogspot.com/

This 1,000+ group of ecofriendly Etsy upcyclers are kindred spirits indeed. Whenever I hit a creative "funk", all I need to do is peruse this blog and Etsy listings by the members and inspiration returns. :)

EnJOY!

New Fiber Arts 4H Project: Scrappy Scarves (tm)

We had to reschedule our Fiber Arts 4H meeting for two consecutive weekends due to crazy weather (snow, tidal surge flooding.) But, it was worth the wait as we met today and all nine of the members made my version of the ever so popular "infinity" scarves. True to Everything But The Oink's name, we used all of those long, narrow scraps which most people would toss into the trash.

The 4Hers used thin yarns and a running stitch (working on those needlework skills!) to artfully sew together the scraps. The running stitch allowed the kids to "scrunch" up the scraps, thereby incorporating a lot of texture into their creations.

It is always challenging to find project which are simple enough for our 3rd grade 4Hers,
yet appealing enough to our high school members. All of the kids were excited about wearing their scarves tomorrow, so Scrappy Scarves were a success!

What's In My Sewing Basket Wednesday: Cashmere Baby Blanket

Our snow and sub-freezing temperatures continue here in the Pacific Northwest. I've been "cabin bound" since Saturday morning, so yesterday I decided to start on a larger scale project. I'm handstitching, with hand dyed thin silk yarn (almost like thread) recycled cashmere sweater pieces into a heirloom baby blanket. I decided to go with brighter, gender neutral colors, so this blankie can be used for many siblings in a family.

Here is a photo of the work "in progress"....

It's the perfect project for sitting by the fire with a cuppa tea and watching it snow, snow, snow.

EnJOY!

Cashmere Wrist Warmers GIVEAWAY!

I currently have 30 blog followers. When I reach 50 followers, I will do a random drawing from all loyal followers for a pair of cashmere!wrist warmers, as shown in the tutorial below. Your pair will be embellished. :)

Also, please take a look at my Etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shop/spinayarn.

EnJOY!

Make It Mondays! Tutorial: Five Minute Project--Wrist Warmers

We had snow this weekend. Lots of snow. Here at the beach, we had four inches and "in town" they had six inches. We're expecting up to ten additional inches early this week. For those of you in the Midwest and East Coast, that's not much. But for us wimpy Pacific Northwest islanders, it's a major event. :)

Our housing isn't built for severe winter weather either. So, I've been chilly in my rustic beach cabin and made these 5 minute project cashmere (okay, I'm spoiled) wrist warmers to help keep me warm. What I like about them is that when I HAVE to take a craft creation break and wash dishes, I can easily push them up my sleeves.

Because these are made with recycled fibers (wool, cashmere, angora.....), the ends will not unravel, so they are not sewn. However, they can be blanket stitched, embroidered, or further embellished at a later date.

SUPPLIES:
The upper sleeve pieces of any recycled/felted sweater
scissors
(Yep, that's it!)

Sleeves are one of my treasured parts of any recycled sweater. The lower sleeve section (with the cuff) works for fingerless gloves, coffee cup sleeves and many more projects. However, when I use this lower sleeve section, I always have the section from half way between the wrist up to the elbow. This piece works PERFECTLY for this project. It's already in a tube, so no sewing is required. It's loose enough to fit on your lower arm over any long sleeve clothing you are wearing, yet snug enough to keep your wrists warm.

Simply cut two arm "tube sections" 5" to 6" long (based on your preferences) straight across, and voila! You are now the proud owner of a pair of comfy wrist warmers. (They would also work as ankle warmers too. :)

EnJOY!