I spark joy with upcycling

Everyone is talking about Marie Kondo, and the mantra that items should spark joy in order to have a place in the home. If an item doesn't spark joy for owning it, then it should be moved on and the result is a lovely decluttered home that is easy to keep clean and has wonderful energy because everything in it brings joy. I think this is a wonderful idea, once it's been put into practice.

Of course, this has inevitably meant that there has been a rush of people decluttering their house and moving things on - op shops in my area are turning away donations and the buy/swap/sell sites I follow are overflowing with items. I love the idea of only owning things that bring happiness. This is something that I have practiced myself for a long time - considerate buying, and thinking about whether the item I'm purchasing is a need or a want. Often, if I walk away and think about it, I realise that I don't really need it after all, or I have something already that will fit the purpose.

The frugal Asian side of me also delights in a bargain, in fixing things that others might discard, and reusing or repurposing what I already own. I like to hoard things, just in case they might spark joy come in useful in the future. With that in mind, here are two of my most recent projects:

Dining room chairs
Our dining room set was a bargain. A friend was going to send it to the dump because she was redecorating and it didn't suit her new decor. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the set, so I claimed it and we suddenly had a new (to us) set for free. It's a wonderful solid wood table that expands from seating 6 to 10 comfortably. It also had 6 wooden chairs with plain upholstery. These chairs serve us well, but as the kids grow, so too did the wear on the chairs. There were stains I couldn't get out and holes in the fabric that my small man has been picking at so they were no longer discrete holes but great gaping tears.

Mr Fork wanted to get new ones. I convinced him that they had good bones so instead to come to choose new fabric so I could re-cover them. For $5/m (on sale!) and half a day of labour unpicking staples and re-stapling (we already had one, and staple guns are fun!) we have chairs that look just like new again (if perhaps a little crooked on the pattern).  $12.5 worth of fabric, a little bit of work and I saved 6 chairs being sent to waste, and having to buy new ones that would never match the table properly. Also, I love that no one else will have chairs like ours.

New fabric on the left, old stained fabric on the right

I even had some time to use the leftover fabric I'd bought to whip up a quick cover for the ottoman, and added some pockets for tv remote storage to help tidy things away. Win!

Reuseable makeup wipes
I just knew that my love of flannelette pyjamas and keeping my sewing scraps would pay off. As soon as I saw the tutorial on Fiona's blog for making reusable makeup wipes, I knew that was a project I could pull off. An hour later, and I had a tidy little pile of cute wipes. I won't go into the method as I pretty much just followed Fiona's guide. All my little offcuts and threads went into the compost heap so no waste here!

I've been using them for the past couple of days and they're just as good as the bought ones, and heaps better for the environment. I followed Fiona's tip to keep a delicates bag nearby and they go straight into that as I use them ready to be washed. During this process, I also remembered just how much I hate sewing curves though. If I make another batch, I'm doing square ones!

What's in my kitchen, February 2017

I'd originally intended to talk about what I've been cooking and eating lately, but I had some other photographs ready, so this is more of a hybrid between a proper in my kitchen crossed with what's growing in my garden. With the weather being as hot as it has been recently, I've been loathe to plant anything new in the garden. I grow most of my produce from seeds, and it's far too hot for brand new seedlings to be outdoors. That, and my brand of gardening means my plants need to be hardy enough to thrive on careful neglect means I don't have the time to baby along new plants.

I do however like to see things grow and I thought in the interests of being scientific and letting the smalls get involved, that we might put a few things in water and watch what happens from the relative cool of my kitchen window sill, where we can easily top up the water as it evaporates.

When avocado prices dropped a few months ago, I was on those little green/black morsels like a pig in mud. Eventually, I got tired of just throwing the seeds into the compost... they take so long to break down so I thought we'd grow one. I admit, I was spurred on by an ad that seems to be appearing regularly on my Facebook page, where someone has invented a sort of floating mini boat to put an avocado seed in and grow. I thought that it seemed a bit ridiculous to need a specific device so I determined to do it armed with nothing more than a tall glass and some toothpicks.

I peeled the avocado seed, then impaled it on a trio of toothpicks and submerged about half of it into a glass of water. A monokuro boo glass as a matter of fact; I love those little black and white pigs! I digress. It took some time, but eventually, we saw progress. This seed has probably been growing for at least 6 weeks, possibly a bit longer.

It has shoots and roots, and the interesting thing in my opinion is that as that shoot grew, it cleaved the seed entirely in half! The only thing holding it together now is the shoot/root structure. I don't know whether it's providing any fuel or its now purely decorative, but it's sure interesting. The kids are more interested in the fact that if they turn the glass around, the shoot will orient itself to point out the window toward the light. I'm debating where to plant it in the garden when it gets big enough. I'm not sure how long avocado trees take to produce fruit but I suspect a long time.

I saved the top of my tiny piney and let it dry out a little after scraping off the bulk of the flesh so that it didn't get smelly. When it was dry, we strategically placed some toothpicks (left over from a cheese tasting from the look of them) to stop it from falling into the jar, and left the bottom part submerged in water. A few weeks later we have tiny roots growing (you can see one at about 7 o'clock in the jar), and the top is getting a bit taller as well. When the root system is better established and the days are less hot, I'll relocate this little baby into the garden. While we likely won't get any fruit for at last two years, rough leaf pineapples are so delicious and the chickens decimated my last bed of pineapples so I'm starting over.

We've also been saving the roots of spring onions and planting those directly in the garden, and re-establishing a sweet potato patch from a sweet potato that was neglected and sprouted in storage. These have gone directly into the soil in the hope that I will again have thriving sweet potato vines to use for cooking (turns out the chickens were huge fans of them as well).

I guess this post demonstrates that I've been growing a lot of things on my kitchen windowsill lately, which is true. In the heat, I've tended toward not cooking as much as possible, so many of our meals have been simple, fast and not very photogenic. Hopefully as summer rolls to a close, I will start posting more food posts!

I'm sending this to Lizzy, of Bizzy Lizzy's Good Things for linking in to her monthly IMK roundup.

Creative play with Bunchems

Brought to you by Nuffnang and Funtastic

Some days, I just can't seem to do anything to amuse my children for any length of time. On days when I'm home with them, we usually bake something, we clean up, snack, play outdoors, read and do some drawing, but I guarantee you, despite providing plenty of entertainment, I will inevitably get asked if the TV can be turned on or if the iPad can be used.

I am always on the look out for fun things to do with the kids and keep them away from electronics (not that there isn't a time and place for those too!). My children love craft, but it often ends up with Jimmy trying to draw on Ellie's artwork, the pens get used to paint fingers, people or furniture, or playdoh ends up in places that playdoh should not be. Thanks to well-meaning friends (you know who you are), there are stickers on pretty much every surface in my house, including the floor and the dog. Never let it be said that I do not support artistic activities! To my chagrin, often as soon as it's set up and they get started on an activity, one or both of them will go running off and spread mess fun all over the house. I love to foster creativity and fun, but why is it so messy?!

Enter the postman (who did not knock at all!), fortuitously bearing a box of Bunchems. We got a Mega Box, which comes with 370 Bunchems, a heap of accessories to personalise the creations and a book with ideas to start you off (rrp $39.99). As soon as she saw what was in the box, Ellie asked could she play with them with me. Jimmy took the box they came in and sat in it humming Row, Row, Row your boat. I count that as a win; everyone wanted to play!

Bunchems are furry little plastic spheres that have "burrs" all over, meaning that can be squished and connected together to create whatever you can imagine. They're quite nifty and feel nice from a sensory perspective - I liked rolling them around. Best of all, there is no glue required, and in a tribute to my eco consciousness, Bunchems are reusable, so the possibilities are endless.

I wanted to make the octopus, but I was overruled by the kids who just wanted to squish things together and get creative. It was a fabulous mix of construction and craft, and there are so many possibilities. We made a monster:

Which Ellie then insisted we turn into a Mike Wazowski interpretation:

We also attempted a unicorn from the book:

Ellie made a tiger. I don't see it, but she does, and that's good enough for me:

Jimmy might be too young to really 'get' the concept yet, but we were also learning colours, counting and patterns while we played. I quite enjoyed playing myself, and I definitely enjoyed spending some quiet, screen-free time with the kids too. Although the product is marketed at ages 4+, with supervision, we didn't have any issues. I have heard reports that the burrs can stick to hair and clothing, but we didn't experience that at all.

I suspect these will be a favourite in our house, as a few hours after we'd packed everything away (the perfectionist in me insisted on separating the Bunchems back into colour groups, which irritated my children who wanted to be onto the next activity), they wanted to play again. How can I say no to such creative fun?

What would you create with Bunchems?

Santa sack

Nearly two years ago, I posted about how I'd made Ellie's Santa sack.

I know that it's Jimmy's second Christmas this year, but I was in newborn sleep deprivation hell last year and didn't even think about his. In fact to be honest, I'm not sure I got him a present anyway, although quite frankly, sustaining him with milk two hourly round the clock was a pretty great gift I think!!!

Anyway, I finally got inspired and finished of Jimmy's sack last week. I bought the fabric from Spotlight (a pre printed Santa sack and 75cm of some contrasting Christmas fabric) and followed the instructions from here. It's about the size of a pillowcase, plenty of room for whatever Santa might deliver (which in Jimmy's case this year, I strongly suspect will be daycare necessities and maybe a new toothbrush)...

I think it turned out pretty well. Sure, I got distracted talking to the kids and had to unpick a few seams, and while I was re-sewing I wondered (as I always do when my sewing projects go awry) why I didn't just buy the silly thing. In the end though, I'm glad I persevered. 

How's your Christmas preparations going?

Birthday spoiling

It was my birthday last week. I love birthdays, and I love them even more now that I have children. They are so excited and it's fun to share special days with them. I was woken early (4am!) by Jimmy demanding a feed, and since he refused to settle afterward I had an early start to the day. Even the fact that Ellie had brought home a cold from daycare and shared it with the entire household didn't dampen my enthusiasm. It was a great day. I am past the time when I thought birthdays were about big parties, late nights and huge celebrations, so I really enjoyed a quiet day spent with my family.

I got out of bed in the morning to be greeted with a  surprise bunch of flowers. Ellie croakily sang Happy Birthday in her creaky morning voice, and Jimmy yodelled alongside of her (nothing sounded sweeter to my ears though!).

Lovely words and chocolate treats, and a new coffee plunger to replace the one Mr Fork accidentally broke a few days earlier.

Plenty of snuggles, plenty of lovely greetings and acknowledgements from special people, as well as some cake! Mr Fork sourced some vegan cupcakes from a favourite baker for the day. This one is a coconut rough flavour and it was deeeeeelicious!

This is a gluten free chocolicious cupcake (I am not gluten free, but this cupcake happened to be). Choc-tastic!

And, well, I may have been gifted a book so I could officially join the adult colouring in craze. Which is probably a good thing because I was colouring some of Ellie's pages before this and getting possessive when she wanted to mess it up join in. So now I have my own book and my own colouring implements and everyone is happy!

Sewing a new wheat pack cover

My beloved wheat pack was getting rather threadbare, but when I finally found an actual hole in it, I knew something had to be done, because I really would rather not wake up in a sea of wheat.

Fortuitously, Mr Fork had alerted me that a pair of his flannel pyjamas had busted a seam recently, and close inspection really deemed them beyond all hope of repair (I had already fixed them a number of times but they were a favourite). So I took these two events as a sign that I should make a new cover out of his lovely soft monkey pyjamas!

It was a relatively simple project that really needs only very basic sewing skills.

The old wheat pack was cut open and the (well roasted but perfectly useable wheat) was decanted into a large bowl.

I took the pants legs, where the material was still nice and thick and cut four rectangles from the bottom, a little larger than the size I wanted the wheat pack to be. My old pack was lined, and I saw no reason to deviate from that, hence four rectangles.

I hemmed it all together around three edges, then turned it right way out. In this case, it didn't really matter so much because I did the lining the same as the outside so I didn't have to be overly concerned about how the material was facing.

The wheat was carefully poured back in via a stiff piece of card which acted as a funnel. I then just turned the ends in on themselves and sewed across the opening a few times.

And it was done! I now have a funky new flannel covered wheat pack with happy monkey faces. My achey pregnant self is grateful! I'm thinking of taking the tops of the pyjama pants and making mini pants versions for Ellie and Attila.

Have you saved anything from being thrown out lately and repurposed it?

Easter happenings

On the weekend, Ellie had an Easter egg hunt with some of her friends. It was going to be in a park, but miserable rainy weather caused a last minute change of plans and we de-camped to a house instead. The hunt didn't suffer at all due to some ingenuity and the general age of the huntees meant they didn't know any better. In fact, I think the parents enjoyed it just as much - there was plenty of lovely afternoon tea to consume, photo taking opportunities, conversation with other adults (bliss!), and helping our small people to find eggs and play nicely together.

Putting on her serious look

I don't think Ellie is at the age where she can appreciate chocolate yet, so yesterday, while she was napping, I helped myself to some of her loot. What is it about Easter chocolate that makes it taste so much better than regular chocolate? Those simple, solid little Cadbury eggs are pure evil wrapped in coloured foil. I took to Facebook to confess my guilt about raiding my child's egg stash, and I was assured by other parents that I should take full advantage while she couldn't count how many were missing. I suppose that is one way to look at it. After her nap, I was on the phone for no longer than 5 minutes, and when I'd hung up, Ellie had climbed onto a chair and was reaching for the bowl of her eggs on the dining table. She also figured out how to peel the foil off and discovered the chocolate deliciousness inside. I suppose that is pay back for eating her stash. We then had to deal with a child on what can only be described as a sugar high come bedtime. So not fun.

Instead of giving Ellie more chocolate at Easter (because I know that her grandparents will have her well covered in that regard!), I took advantage of one of her day time naps to whip up a pair of bunny flannelette pyjamas (using my lounge pant method) and a matching drawstring bag. This cute little set took me about half an hour to complete and I was able to raid my fabric stash so I didn't cost me anything except some time and effort. I think being able to sew some basic clothing items is marvellous, especially because as she grows, Ellie doesn't really fit standard sizing. Her legs are so long but her waist so small that it's near impossible to get pants that don't show her ankles yet stay up at the waist. I'm sure day care think she has no clothes as I'm constantly using nappy pins to hold her pants up! Hopefully these pyjama bottoms do the trick and keep her warm at nights!

Flannelette bunny cuteness

Have you started eating those chocolate eggs yet? Do you do egg alternatives?

Amigurumi stars

I recently came across this pattern online for amigurumi stars and I was immediately intrigued. They seemed simple enough and looked like a fun way to use up some of my yarn scraps.

 

Source

A few YouTube searches later to freshen up my admittedly very rusty crochet skills and I was off. My  first formless blob didn't leave me with much confidence.

First attempt

However, a fortuitous visit from my crochet guru friend had me back on the right path and enthused anew, and my second attempts were better. Improved enough that I deigned to put eyes on them anyway.

Getting better

I had initially thought I might make enough to create a garland or a mobile for Ellie, but I think when I finish my current one, I'm retiring from crochet again. I don't even want to think about the number of times I have had to rip out and redo stitches here! Each little star that I have is definitely made with love.

Have you ever seen something and then when you tried to make it, maybe didn't quite 'nail it'? Please share!

A reversible drawstring Santa sack

So the next time I say, "I can make that!" followed by "wouldn't it be neat to make that reversible!", somebody remind me of this Santa sack. Especially if I shun a pattern and say "how hard can it be?" thinking I'd just do it myself. Somebody remind me of this Santa sack!

I thought that I would be crafty, and make Ellie a Santa sack.

Aside: I was gleefully showing Mr Fork the end result feeling really proud of myself until he asked me what on earth it was. So for those who don't know, the Santa sack gets left at the foot of the bed on Christmas eve for Santa to put the loot in. Mr Fork said he didn't get Santa as a child... which makes me sad. However, he did perk up when I mentioned Santa gets some milk and cookies left out. He suggested "Santa" might prefer rum instead. Right. 

I also thought it would be really neat if I used opposing fabrics and switched the top panels. You know, for a bit of a challenge... WHY DID I THINK THAT?!?! Why did I shun the pre-printed Spotlight material that just had to be cut out, given a seam and a drawstring?

Anyway, it took me a long time (much longer than I think it should have) to figure out how to do it all. I was going to do a tutorial, but I didn't take pictures along the way and I don't have it left in me to make another. Maybe next year.

In the meantime, this is what I've been making! One gloriously festive, pillow case sized, multi panel, reversible, drawstring Santa sack. I'm pretty proud of it too, if I do say so myself!

Santa sack, in all its glory

What have you been making lately?

Fabric balloon balls

Ellie still loves to put things in her mouth. Seriously, it feels like every time I turn around I catch her eating something she shouldn't be. Most things are fairly harmless - various toys, books (this I'm trying to curb, telling her that we respect books in this house!). Some are gross - my slippers, the hound's pork skin chew toys. Some are just plain dangerous - the dishwasher tablet wrappers and small rocks and other things unidentified.

That being said, she also loves balloons. However as we all know, balloons can pop quite easily. Add an inquisitive toddler with sharp fingernails, an insatiable need to put things into her mouth and an inquiring mind into the mix, and I'm just not comfortable letting her play with these things unsupervised. Enter, the fabric balloon cover!

I'm a little chuffed with this sewing creation, as it lets me tick a few things off my 101 things list, it lets me be crafty and it lets Ellie have some sensory fun.  

What is a fabric balloon cover I hear you ask? Simply that, a cover that allows you to enclose a normal balloon inside. This results in several things:

• If the balloon pops, no problem! All the pieces are contained inside so exploratory small people can't eat them
• The cover gives the balloon really cool properties - one being, they now bounce!
• For extra sensory and educational fun, I like to add some dried beans to the balloon before I tie it off inside. This makes it roll in unexpected ways and makes the entire item into a giant maraca
• The covers are washable and easily portable for instant amusement  

It took me a long time to get the pattern right for these covers. I can't even tell you how many attempts I made! Some shapes were too big for the balloons, some too small. Some were the wrong shape entirely and some didn't fully enclose the balloon when tied up, negating the purpose. I even tried different materials until I found ones with the right properties.  But! Trial and error paid off and now I have a pattern I'm happy with (and Ellie has lots of draft covers to enjoy too!).

The covers here are off to a new home soon... I hope their new owner loves them.

What about you? Made anything crafty lately?

Tutu crafty

Let's talk craft. As soon as I saw them online, I wanted to make Ellie a no-sew tutu. I had in mind that she could wear it for her birthday, and then we also got an invite to a fairy party as well. Sweet, I thought! I went and had a look at the local fabric places, but at $5/m for tulle, I wimped out when I figured out how much I'd need for a decent tutu. Then I checked out good old eBay, and found I could buy tulle by the roll. $5.96 and 25m of tulle purchased later, I was back in business! Of course, I did have to pay for my cheapness by needing to wait 20 days for delivery but I wasn't in a hurry.

Almost 20 days later exactly, my tulle arrived and I set up shop. I sewed a loop of elastic. I had a book of appropriate size ready so I could wrap the tulle around it and cut it nicely without measuring properly. I had scissors and everything at the ready.

And it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.

Except Ellie hated it. She screamed as soon as I put it on her, and the screaming continued until I took it off again. She kept pulling at the tulle strands so I will need to sew them on anyway. Stupid no-sew tutu my butt.

Who can resist a little tu-tued behind?

Wouldn't even look at the camera

I suppose it's a good thing she is asserting her independence and choices. So, without the tutu, we went to the fairy party in a plain gingham dress. Although I was allowed to put a flower clip in her hair for the occasion.

Have you made anything crafty lately?

Salt dough keepsakes, attempt #1

When it comes to presents, I like the home made kind. Well, I also like the shiny kind if you happen to be reading this Mr Fork! But... home made are great too. There is something about a home made gift that says, I took the time to think of you and make this specially. With that in mind, Ellie and I have started thinking about Father's day. Yes, I know it's early, but I like to be prepared in case things don't work out. Lucky, as this idea didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped.

I already used my matching daddy/daughter pyjama pants idea. I then thought that making imprints of Ellie's hands and feet might be fun.  I looked around the Internet for some home made mixtures, and what kept coming up was salt dough. 3 ingredients, what could be easier?

This is how my first attempt turned out

Pink salt dough hand and foot

It's not bad, but I definitely thought it would be easier. The mix above was made with equal parts flour and salt and half the amount of water. I used 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt and 1/4 cup water, plus a few drops of pink food colouring. Kneaded together, then rolled smooth, I pressed Ellie's hand and foot in then used a small plate to cut the edges for a clean border, before baking at 100C for 3 hours.

I found the mixture dry and crumbly, as evidenced by the rough edges. It never got to the smooth consistency called for when kneading. After baking it the salt crystals are really obvious and make the finished product look grainy on close inspection. That's what happens when you blindly follow a random recipe without further research!

Puppy paw tester

Verdict

• Further searching has shown me that my dough measurements were a bit off. Apparently the best results come from equal parts salt and water, double the flour. So I think my second attempt will be 1/4 cup salt, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup flour. That makes sense and it should provide a smoother textured end result
• The next time I do this, I'll be sure to wear gloves. I had some small cuts on my hands from gardening earlier, and kneading the salt dough was NOT kind to them. Also, it was very drying, so if you try it at home, be sure to moisturise after.
• I guess it should be obvious, but this mixture is decorative only - the high salt content makes it not for consumption
• Apparently you can air dry these babies over a few days instead of using a slow oven. I might try that technique too and see how it works out
• I'm not sure about the longevity of the dough, so when I'm happy with the final baked product, I'm going to spray with a clear sealant. In the meantime, I think some grandparents might be getting these first attempts for their own Ellie keepsake

Watch this space for the next attempt!  Have you done anything crafty lately? 

Make your own lounge pants

I was feeling crafty on the weekend so I decided to put these feelings to good use and do some sewing. Mr Fork had been complaining that his pyjama pants were "old" so being the thrifty sort I decided to make him a new pair. For fun, I figured that I'd also make Ellie a pair with the leftover material too.

Big and small pants

I'm not much of a seamstress but I can do the basics so I wanted a fairly simple pattern. Google came up with the goods and I based my pants off this very simple tutorial. Here's what I did.

• Make your pattern. I used wrapping paper as the base because it was what I had that was long enough for the length of Mr Fork's pants. Grab the pants you want to make the pattern out of, and fold them in half lengthwise. Make sure that you pull the crotch straight. Draw an outline around the pants. If they have an elasticised waist, be sure to stretch this out for the purpose of the pattern. When you have an outline, draw around this again to make the seam allowances – I allowed 2 inches at the waist and ankles and half an inch on the leg seams.
• Fold your material along the leg seam and pin the pattern. Cut it out. Do it twice. I'll be honest, I didn't use the 1/2 inch seam allowance on the fold of the material because I thought it was overly generous and the pants I used for the pattern were a loose fit anyway. It depends on how you want the pants to fit. I also am not fussy with how my material matches up. On Mr Fork's pants one leg has the monkeys going vertical the other has the monkeys going horizontal. It depends how much material you have and how fussy you are with these things.

Cute monkey material!

• Pin the material cut outs with the right side together from ankle to crotch. Sew your seam. Mr Fork is rough on his pants and Ellie's fluffy cloth bum means her pants take a beating too, so I did a double line of stitches to reinforce everything. I suppose if you have an overlocker you don't need to worry about doing that.
• Turn one of the legs right side out and tuck it into the other leg. Line up the inner seams and then pin the crotch from there. I did a double line of stitches along this seam too.
• Turn the pants completely inside out. You should have what looks like a pair of pants with raw edges on the waist and ankles.
• Fold a small seam, and then a larger fold to tuck all the raw edges in and create a nice 'tunnel' for the elastic of the waist to go into. It's not necessary, but it makes it easier if you iron those folds before sewing (I'm lazy and I didn't). Be sure to leave an opening (about 2 inches) so you can insert the elastic!
• Measure your elastic, making sure to stretch it appropriately and leave a small amount for an overlap. Attach a safety pin to one end and feed it through the opening you left in the last step. Make sure not to twist it! Continue to feed until it comes out the other end. Use a wide zigzag stitch to join the overlap of the elastic ends, and then close the gap in the waist seam.
• Fold a small fold and then a slightly larger one to finish off the ankle seams neatly and sew those up. Again, an iron will make things easier but isn't essential.
• And, you are done! Loll around in your lounge pants!

Mr Fork is like an Oral B dentist. I'm not allowed to show his face!

What about you - have you done anything crafty lately?

DIY: Recycled t-shirt dog toy

After having a baby, much of my wardrobe wasn't right anymore. Some of my clothes weren't suitable to be worn now that I am a mother. Some weren't suitable for feeding in or wearing to work. And some were just plain stretched out and not even fit for donation to charity.

I've already talked about how frugal I like to be here and here, so it definitely wouldn't have been 'me' to just throw these clothes out, and there are far too many to make rags. I hemmed and hawed, and in fact, I still have a huge box of clothes I'm not sure what to do with in the corner of my room, but google was my friend and provided an idea for recycling t-shirts into a dog toy. Perfect!

I picked out three shirts with stretchy material whose colours went reasonably well together.

To make it easier for myself to cut the shirts into strips, I folded them in half length ways and just cut them into approximately 2.5cm strips from the bottom. I kept cutting until there wasn't any more shirt left to cut.

Next I unfolded all the strips and cut them at one hem, so that they became long lengths (or, as long as the shirt was round anyway).

I divided them into two piles, where each pile had a fairly even distribution of the colours. Then, I twisted each pile together individually (say, clockwise). Tie the two piles together with a knot, then twist them (anticlockwise if you went clockwise for the individual piles) before knotting off the whole thing again.

Neaten up the ends a little and there you have it. About 10 minutes of effort gives, one recycled t-shirt dog toy!

How do you recycle clothes which are too horrible to sell or donate?