I’m a HUGE fan of eco crochet and especially recycled yarns (and products), and have been for many years. This presents many challenges as a crochet designer, the main one, unsurprisingly, is finding the right kind of yarn! But over the last year especially this has improved immensely with the addition of several new recycled yarns to the market.
We crocheters all have our favourite yarns and we tend to stick with them. But I think there are a growing number of crocheters who want to be more ‘green’ and learn about more eco-friendly yarns so I hope what I design and write about will be helpful.
As an eco-conscious person I’m always keen to do something for Earth Day and spread some eco awareness. I also strive to do a little better with my ‘green’ efforts each year.
This year’s Earth Day Theme is Restore Our Earth and I asked my crochet designer friends to share their patterns using recycled yarns. So I’ve put them all together in a handy pattern round up post for you.
You may be wondering why recycled yarns are better to use. Well they are mainly made from waste materials left over from the fashion industry. So while they are brand new fibres, these off-cut scraps would be destined for landfill, if it weren’t for pioneering yarn companies. They purchase them and spin them into yarn for the eco-conscious crafter. This uses significantly less resources than growing, manufacturing, dying and processing brand new fibres.
It makes environmental sense to re-use what already exists rather than creating more. ‘Re-use’ is becoming a much more mainstream concept and clothing lines using recycled materials can now be found in normal High Street stores. As a long-term user of recycled yarns and products, watching this happen has been truly wonderful.
I hope this post will give you some eco crochet inspiration to give some of these patterns a try. Some of the patterns are mine and the others are all by independent designers like myself. Please Pin and Share to spread some love.
By Stitch and Hound. This gorgeous tote bag is made from grocery bags! What a fantastic way to reuse these flimsy bags that fill our cupboards! FREE pattern on the post with PDF option to purchase.
By The Crafty Therapist. An easy, quick fun star coaster pattern, made in pretty chunky recycled ribbon (metallic for sparkly version). FREE pattern on the post with PDF option to purchase.
By Raffamusa Designs. How stunning are these baskets? They’re made in t-shirt yarn, which comes in every colour you can think of and there are loads of manufacturers now, so you are spoilt for choice. FREE pattern on the post with PDF option to purchase.
By The Crafty Therapist. A beautiful and practical handbag size, that’s loaded with eye-catching texture. Made in chunky recycled ribbon yarn for a super quick make. Paid pattern, PDF includes photo tutorial for the fun texture stitches used.
By Thoresby Cottage. A super simple crochet basket that’s perfect for every room of the house. Made in t-shirt yarn it works up quickly, is robust enough, yet soft so is ideal to have around for little people and it’s fully washable too. The ideal toy basket! It’s a FREE pattern on the post .
By Loopingly Made (Craft-Her.com). If you have a stash of old t-shirts you’d love to reuse then this is the perfect crochet project. It works so well with a mix of different colours don’t you think? Also included in this FREE pattern is a link on how to make your own t-shirt yarn.
~ 7 ~ Sleepy Mandala Dreamcatcher
By The Crafty Therapist. Made in 100% recycled cotton this is a dreamcatcher with an eco difference. Add crystal beads for a sleepy powerhouse harnessing the well known calming benefits of crystals. The pattern includes suggested crystals along with the specific benefits they may have. Paid PDF Pattern.
By Knitting with Chopsticks. This is a fabulously thick potholder pattern, made in t-shirt yarn, you’ll be able to match or contrast your kitchen colours beautifully. This is a great introductory pattern for working with t-shirt yarn, as it’s quick and not a big project. Plus it’s FREE on the post with PDF option to purchase if you prefer.
By The Loopy Lamb. A big shopper/beach style bag made from recycled sari chiffon! The bright colours are so beautiful. You could easily use up t-shirt yarn left-overs or even plarn with this easy and FREE pattern. A PDF option is available to purchase if preferred.
By The Crafty Therapist. This easy Rainbow pattern has been made using recycled cotton in gorgeous bright colours. It’s lovely on it’s own or can be added to a mobile, wallhanging or stuffed to make a pretty 3D rainbow. FREE pattern on website.
I hope you’ll enjoy checking out the links and why not have a look at my other crochet patterns while your are here, they are all found on my Crochet Patterns page.
If you are interested in learning more about eco crochet and yarns, I think you’ll love my group – The Crafty Therapist Crochet Community on Facebook. Hope to see you there.
Love that I found your site! Love your “eco-ness!”
Got any good comfy snuggly cocoon patterns for “sari” yarns??????
Hi Mary, lovely to connect with another eco kindred. I haven’t published any sari yarn patterns yet, I have worked with them though and love experimenting. Do you mean a cocoon-style cardigan? I wonder if Darn Good Yarn have any? Try Ravelry too?