#craftblogclub held its 2016 upcycle challenge over the summer, which was a great prompt for me to dig out the "yarn" I'd made from a worn-out set of bedsheets a while ago. I already blogged about the large basket I'd made, but by the time I was done I still had most of one ball/sheet left.
Around the same time I finished the basket, I found this old Guardian article about how to crochet apple jackets. I know the common wisdom is to never read the comments, but the sheer vitriol of the comments on the apple jacket article was wonderful in an awful sort of way. Who says crafting is boring? Besides, a few commenters explained the article was wrong; these are not apple "cozies" but rather a reusable way to keep fruit from getting gouged or bruised as it travels in your purse or carryall. So as fey as they seem, they really are practical!
Be that as it may, it occurred to me that if the apple jacket idea was scaled up — by using upcycled bedsheet yarn instead of the called-for DK cotton, for example — the shape would be very close to the ceramic yarn bowl my friend Cathy gave me.
I have been using that yarn bowl nearly non-stop since it arrived. It is perfect for using with odd-balls, ensuring they don't migrate all over the floor in the course of their being worked. It seems to keep centre-pull skeins in better order as well.
The only drawback is that, being ceramic, the yarn bowl is not really meant for travel. The crocheted versions are more amenable to being tossed in a bag to be brought along for knit night.
The crocheted flower-buttons were added just because I've been meaning to try that out for ages, and for fun. Nothing wrong with using a plain button or a different type of closure, of course.
The smaller basket is smaller simply because I was running out of yarn. Its bottom is made from the very last few metres of bedsheet yarn left over from the doily rug I made a couple of years ago.
All three baskets were crocheted with a bamboo 10mm hook, held knife style instead of my usual pencil style. I read somewhere just before I started these that the knife style is much more comfortable for doing this sort of bulky, densely-gauged work, and although I am a dedicated penciller most of the time, I have to say it really did keep my hands and shoulders from getting too tired too quickly.
The fabric has to be worked rather tightly to make it self-supporting. The strips I used were about 2cm wide, but when worked they get folded up so they are more like 5mm wide.
Next challenge: making a new glove/hat/scarf set before the snow flies!