a simple craft idea that saves money and the planet
Hold the phone I am only here showing up on my blog. The blog has been going through first child syndrome. You have a second child and you don’t stop loving the first child, in fact they have a special place in your heart but the new one needs sooooo much attention. What with the sleepiness nights and 24/7 boob access the first child is left to fend for itself a little. No I have not had another baby, in fact I am perimenopausal, fun (it is not fun). What has taken my attention? Well I have started a podcast, a little late to the party but it is fab and I love it and people are listening which is amazing and such a compliment. I will not abandon the blog, I love long form content and a visual platform but there is something deeply intimate about another person allowing my voice into their home, every download is a compliment. I am also working on an entirely new business that I hope to launch later this year, more on that in another post I think.
Enough about the second child when I am supposed to be nurturing the first born. So many of us have taken the call to action and returned to bars of soap. I am not going to tell you about the damage plastic pollution is doing to our planet because you are here and I have faith that my readers and I are on the same page when it comes to doing better than our best for the world around us.
A simple craft that will end up saving you money in the end
With the switch to bars of soap, some of us are even using shampoo bars or conditioning bars, we have remembered the really irritating thing about it. Bars of soap get to the mush stage pretty quick. This is messy and gross. It can also be quite wasteful because we end up scraping the mush soap out and chucking it out when there is still life in the old girl yet, just because it is messy and oozy and not as attractive as when it was new. Poor old girl, I may be channelling some of my menopause hang ups into a soap analogy but the fact remains that we are wasting soap.
Fear not you can make nifty little soap savers that all the ends can go into then you simply wet the bag and use it to wash. If you are not great at knitting that is fine beacuse this is easy and fast! I have used a recycled cotton yarn because it does not stretch out when wet and can take a lot of scrubbing abuse.
A great way to get back into knitting with a speedy sustainable craft.
All you need to do to make a bag is choose needles commensurate to your yarn. I used a dk (double knit) weight yarn and size 4 needles. You could use different yarn but my advice is don’t go too fine or too chunky. Did I mention that this is a great way to finish off all of those last bits of yarn you have left over from larger projects? Well it is. I cast on 17 stitches. You can adjust this but remember if you want to copy me and do the pretty moss stitch you will need to cast on an odd number. If you are completely new to this whole knitting malarky, or need a refresher I have made a couple of videos. The first shows you how to cast on, it also shows you knit stitch and purl stitch. KNITTING ONE The second video shows you moss stitch, rib stitch and how to cast off. KNITTING TWO
Once you have reached your desired length, I made my length of knitting around 12cm before I cast off. Next you need to take some of the yarn you used to knit with, fold your knitting in half and sew up the two sides so you have a small open top bag. I then took a little more yarn and made a chain to use as tie string but you can use plain yarn. Using the same yarn needle you sued to sew up the bag weave the tie “string” through the top. Now you can open and close the bag using this drawstring, remember to use a bow to tie it not a knot.
If you have the craft bug and want to make more sustainable craft then why not crochet some cleaning cloths.
