I recently inherited some yarn which included a few work in progress knitting
projects without the patterns or were not far enough along to know what the creator
intended them to become.
Which is fine because I don't know how to knit.
One of the projects was a panel with orange and green yarn stripes (maybe a sweater or some sort of tote bag?) that made me think of Fall and Halloween pumpkins. Why not try to reclaim the yarn and use it to crochet a simple beginner pumpkin decoration?
Since the project wasn't finished, it was easy to pull the stitches out and wind the yarn from each stripe into a ball as I worked. I joined the small yarn ball sections together with a magic knot until I had one ball of orange and ball of green reclaimed yarn.
Magic knot practice!
Most folks say you should wash the yarn after unwinding it from a sweater to
get the bumps out. Those folks tend to focus on reclaiming wool and natural fiber
yarns to re knit into new sweaters.
I'm harvesting acrylic yarn and
probably could have gotten away with crocheting a very forgiving project
with bumpy yarn but figured that there is a method to the madness of
removing kinks and bumps in the yarn first. I tossed the acrylic yarn in a
lingerie bag like this one before washing the yarn with a load of towels in the washer followed by a trip to the dryer. If I were working with wool yarn, I'd hand wash the reclaimed yarn otherwise it would felt into a dryer ball. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links for your convenience.)
Once the yarn was dry, I grabbed a G size crochet hook from my favorite Treat Yourself purchase of this Rosewood crochet hook set and made 5 Little Monsters Crochet Pumpkin pattern in both sizes using a the reclaimed yarn, little bit of brown from my yarn stash, and the last bit of fiber fill lurking in my craft room.
Pumpkins!
Being a crochet beginner again, I couldn't be more pleased to how my pumpkins came out! I learned a bunch of useful crochet tricks on this project:
- How to unravel and reuse yarn from a completed project
- How to join two pieces of yarn seamlessly with a magic knot
- I finally figured out how to crochet decrease! Most beginner project just say "crochet decrease/increase" without giving you the directions on what you exactly need to do to accomplish that
- How to change yarn colors on a project
- How to attach two separate crochet pieces together (the pattern has you make the stem separate from the pumpkin.)
Looking for more crochet tips, tools, and ideas or Fall and Halloween pumpkin decor? Check out the following options - and more!- below!
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3 comments :
Those are so cute!
These are adorable! My Granny taught me to crochet when I was 7 during a hurricane-induced power outage. I only learned how to make a blanket and how to turn granny squares into a blanket. I doubt I even remember how to connect the granny squares. I've been afraid to try to make anything with a shape (other than square), but if you're a beginner & made these cute pumpkins, I have hope! I just bought a sewing machine & am learning to sew, but crocheting is next! Thanks for sharing on Crafty Creators!
XOXO,
Niki | Life as a LEO Wife
Those are very cute! And, what a great idea to use recycled yarn. Thanks for sharing with us. I'll be featuring this today at the TFT blog hop. :)
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