While the hobby or profession of crochet could be considered sustainable living in and of itself, we can certainly employ creativity in extra uses for completed items just lying around the home. Come on, admit it, you may have a completed afghan, blanket, place mats, or something lying around or sitting in a closet collecting dust after the initial excitement of creating it wore off.

Well, never fear, there is a use for just about anything. In this first installment in my 3-part Sustainable Living Series, I will share a variety of uses I’ve found in my own personal life to be quite fun and surprisingly, helpful.

Idea #1: Holiday decorations! As I write this piece, November is approaching fast, so Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and many other holidays are on their way down the pike towards New Year’s Day. Every year, more and more people are taking the time to decorate their homes to celebrate the holidays. I have found using an afghan or a blanket (if the color matches your specific holiday theme) can be used as a Christmas tree skirt. If you are on a tight budget and color themes don’t matter to you, you could use any color afghan or blanket to cover the bottom of your holiday tree.

Idea #2: Take a deep breath and say OM! For all of you crochet hook-wielding warriors, who just happen to be a yoga practitioner, this idea is for YOU. If you are in between yoga mats or just hasn’t had the money to buy one yet, fold an afghan or a blanket you’ve crocheted in half, place it on the floor, and get your OM on. I mean, sure, you could always crochet your own yoga mat (I actually have a pattern I created for this item), but sometimes, it’s a good idea to work with what you have until you have the time, resources, and definitely, the energy.

Idea #3: A long drive should be comfortable! If you know, you’re going to be taking a long drive, whether it’s going on vacation or just riding with friends or relatives to talk and catch up, you can use an extra afghan or a blanket you’ve crocheted for extra cushion on your car seat. Just fold it to fit your car seat and get comfortable. Those long drives can wreak havoc on your body. Quite often, it is due to the long period of sitting. This idea works for your work space as well. You can definitely use this idea for your desk chair at your job or at-home office.

So, there’s a few of my own ideas that I have actually applied to my everyday life. How about you? Do you have any ideas for extra uses for an afghan or a blanket? What are your thoughts of crochet as a part of our sustainable living efforts? We look forward to hearing from you.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 8th, 2014 at 12:00 AM by Tameko Barnette and is filed under Tutorials and Help. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.