In the spirit of the reusable Montavilla Market tote, we asked knitters to share their wackiest and most creative re-uses that can be helpful around the house. We had a lot of responses in this thread, but we managed to select our top six finalists.
You have until Tuesday July 30th to vote, and the winner will receive an organic gift baskets including chocolate, a candle, and of course Knit Picks yarn and needles.
1. Wendy Tolley uses orphaned socks to absorb moisture when she freezes bread. For the full story, click here.
2. AJ crochets plastic grocery bags into sturdy and reusable grocery bags. For the full story, click here.
3. judezy uses a shop towel to make a hammock for wildlife that she is rehabilitating. For the full story, click here.
4. clockworktomato uses soda to clear her drains. For the full story, click here.
5. SarahD turned a light fixture into a planter. For the full story, click here.
6. AmongtheRoses makes paper from dryer lint. For the full story, click here.
Full Story Text
Wendy Tolley’s Story
1. Whenever I have socks without mates I have found a useful purpose for them. I keep them in a storage container hoping that I will find their mate sometime soon.When I have a need to freeze hot dog or hamburger buns (or loaves of bread), I put a clean sock in with the buns and seal up the bag and put into the freezer. When you take the buns out to thaw the sock will absorb the moisture build up of ice crystals and your buns will never be soggy. I have done this for years and it always works.
AJ’s Story
2. I cut up plastic grocery bags and crochet them into reuseable tote bags. It takes 100+ grocery bags to make one, but it’s AMAZING (re: sad) how fast they accumulate. I’ve started taking bags from friends and family, too, for the effort. The dream was to have enough so that we would never have to take bags at the store anymore, but I’ve given them all away! =)
judezy’s Story
3. I thought of another one, when I was an active wildlife rehabber, I would take a shop towel and four shower curtain hooks (not the fancy ones, just the plain, cheap ones) and make a hammock for my furry babies. They loved it. This works well for ferrets, and other small pets. And a whole lot cheaper than the manufactured ones at the pet store for $20+. I could make two dozen of these for about $10.
clockworktomato’s Story
4. If someone doesn’t finish all of a cola-like soft drink, I’ll pour the rest in my kitchen or bathroom sink, or use it in the toilet to clean away hard water stains. There’s not as much carbonation as a fresh one, but the citric acid and remaining bubbles still help scrub away lime deposits. It’s going to be wasted anyway, so no reason not to let it clean a bit!
SarahD’s Story
5. Wow, I used to think I was a reasonably green person, but reading this thread I see I have a lot to learn. For instance, I have been tossing the little snips of yarn into the trash can. It never occurred to me that there were so many other possible uses for them. I am inspired. Funny that I’m reading this today after just yesterday glancing at the old light fixture from my hallway, that has been sitting in my garage for a year (I replaced the light fixture with one that was large enough to take a compact florescent bulb), and thinking it would make a great planter. It’s pressed glass “crystal” with a hole in the bottom where the stem of the light fixture came through and you screwed on a nut to hold the glass up to the ceiling (bad description, I know). Maybe I’ll plant something in it today and take a picture
OK, here are before and after pictures. I was going to plant one of my nice deep red petunias in it, but apparently word went out in the neighborhood that my petunias were doing really well this year, and the deer came by for a midnight snack a few nights ago. The petunias aren’t quite as pretty as they were…. So, I picked up this weird looking plant at the nursery today. The nursery folks say deer aren’t fond of fuzzy plants, so maybe they’ll keep their teeth off this flower.
Among the Roses’ Story
6. We have been saving our dryer lint to make paper. We found a project where you can use the lint from your dryer to make handcrafted paper. <
