Sustainable Living: 3 Winter Creations
By Tameko Barnette – 4 CommentsSustainable living is all about what will sustain you; however, it is also about how you sustain yourself. With crochet, we are connecting with a hobby or a profession that is built on sustainable living. The key to sustainable living is recycling; what can be used over and over again or reworked to be used in another way.
In this article, I decided to share three Winter creations with you that can be used many times throughout the Autumn, Winter, and perhaps, even the Spring months as well. They’re just ideas, oldies, but goodies, if you will. During the Autumn and especially during those Winter months, we have to do our best to stay warm and cozy. Below, you’ll find three ideas (plus a quick and easy pattern) that I hope sparks your creativivity for the Winter season.
Winter Creation #1 – Hats, hats, and more hats. This is an oldie, but goodie during the colder months of the year. There are so many good hat patterns to choose from, including some on this site, such as the Striped Hat with 6 sizes available in the pattern. Check it out! Don’t forget with the numerous holidays during the Autumn and Winter months, crocheted hats are a perfect gift to give to family, friends, and co-workers. Who doesn’t love a good hat during the Winter to keep their heads warm?!
Winter Creation #2 – Shawls of many shades. Try making a shawl or two for the Winter months to come. Prayer and Meditation shawls are very popular year-round, as they make great, thoughtful gifts and many people are starting Prayer Shawl ministries. Shawls can be draped over your shoulders or draped over your lap while you read a good book or watch your favorite holiday program or movie.
Winter Creation #3 – Speaking of a good book. Make some bookmarks to help you keep your place in your favorite books this Autumn and Winter. During those cold months, we tend not to do as much traveling as we would during the Spring and Summer months, so we have to do something to keep our brains stimulated and keep our bodies warm. Making sure we have some good books to read for those cold months are perfect! Below is a quick and easy Flower Bookmark pattern you can try! Hey….don’t forget to make some of these as holidays gifts for your book-loving family and friends!
Quick & Easy Flower Bookmark
You need a medium worsted yarn and a size H or I crochet hook for this one. To begin, you chain 40, make a ring by slip stitching into the fifth chain from your hook. Then, you make 9 single crochets into the ring. Next, chain 6, then, single crochet in next single crochet. repeat the “chain 6, single crochet in next single crochet” all the way around, then finish off. Lastly, you can fasten off at the bottom of the stem to make sure it is secure.
And there you have it! Check out the picture below!
Do you have creative ideas for Winter Creations as gifts or as sustainable items for yourself? What are some other sustainable crocheted items you can share? We’d love to hear from you.
That bookmark is cute!!!
Along with teaching me how to crochet my Mom also, taught me to keep crocheted items about that would do for nice gifts. I usually keep some purses of all kinds about for just that reason . I knit small mandalas, long rectangles etc these forms are easy and require minimal stitching for construction. Sometimes I trim them with small crocheted appliques, flowers or finished the edges with different color for added definition. After finishing everything I insert a penny for good luck and a tube of lip gloss. For the guys I stay with a square or rectangle that can be folded and stitched to make a case suitable for stashing a cell phone or a pair of glasses. For babies,,, a simple afghan is great. For toddlers a toy,, small or medium.. The expense of these items is usually very reasonable as yarn is the basic ingredient in the recipe. Finally, I keep everything simple and have come to regard making any of these a great form of therapy for the body-mind as well as a labor of love. I also, like so many others, enjoy The Crochet Spot,,,, great ideas,,, great advise ,,, great people SMILE
I liked everything about this e mail. I usually make all my gifts and I have 4 children, 7 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren and numerous friends. Everyone gets something homemade. So satisfying.
Loved making the bookmark. I’m a new crocheter (sp?) and was able to make this in about 15 minutes while watching the Texans manhandle the Ravens. My niece is getting a couple of these for Christmas, perhaps tucked in a little crochet pouch? Thanks so much for posting this along with the easy to understand directions.