Good bye January!

Wow, here we are 1/12 of the way into 2012. My year has already been overly busy, leaving little time for my blog and crafts although I was introduced to the world of Pinterest over the holidays so the ideas and inspiration are definitely not lacking!

Our Utah winter has just not been typical this year with barely any snow. The blessing is—no shoveling! The ski resorts are having to make their own snow. Since we don’t have any snow on the ground to make a snowman, here is my January snowman.

I used a snowman pattern written for yarn, and adjusted my hook size to my plarn. Frosty’s buttons are from my Mom’s button box that I recently acquired. His hat is made from a deconstructed VHS tape! Makes the perfect shiny top hat. He is stuffed with the remains of plastic bags, like bag handles, that are cut up for plarn and a few small rocks to stabilize him. Such a great snowman and he won’t melt away, but may melt your heart!

Frosty’s Top Hat

I crocheted a shiny black top hat for Frosty. Well, for more than one Frosty the mini snowman.

Last fall my son gave me some old VHS tapes to use for my crocheted plastic purses. Since I was working on some small snowmen I thought I would experiment with making a black top hat instead.

The best part? No cutting necessary! Such a time saver. And the video tape plastic is really shiny

The worst part? The plastic used in VHS tapes is different. Each crocheted stitch involves a lot of squeaking! My family endured the squeakiness…until a movie was on and then they got really annoyed with the squeaky crocheting. They made me stop crocheting with the video tape plastic during the show!

 

The top hats turned out really cute—shiny and squeaky.

Look at Frosty Go!

The Making of a Snowman

We all know that snowmen come from snow and melt away when the weather warms up. This winter we have had lots of snowstorms in Utah. Plenty of snow for everyone to have a family of snowmen hanging out in their yards!!

I chose to pass on making the cold and wet kind of snowmen, and have been working again on recycled plastic snowmen. You can read more about my crocheted snowmen here and here. Crocheting themini snowmen is my favorite because the start-to-finish time is pretty short.

My 5″ mini snowmen take 6 shopping bags to complete the body. I use a g or h hook, and cut my bags about an inch in width and then roll them up into balls of plarn for easier handling while crocheting. You can cut the plastic wider and use a larger hook to get a bit bigger snowman. These little ones are fun to set around the house, put in a Christmas stocking, or let the kids have for a toy.

After cutting the 6 bags I crochet the body based on a modified (free) pattern I found at Michael’s last winter—it is for tree ornament snowman made from regular yarn.  When the body is finished I have fun finding colorful bags to make a hat and scarf set for each little man.  The scarfs are simple to make since they’re just a long single crochet chain.  Heavier plastic bags work well for scarves, giving them some rigidness.  Because heavier plastic works wonderfully for hats and scarfs for snowmen I am able to use those bags which I pass on for crocheted purses. The hats are my own creation and they vary with each little snowman—some have traditional top hats while some have wintery pointed “stocking” caps.

Frosty the recycled snowman

I collect many crochet and knit patterns that I seldom use. While looking through this stash of patterns about a year ago, I came across one for a snowman which was supposed to be made from torn strips of white fabric. I love snowmen, and had always envisioned making this cute fellow. Now my idea changed to making him from plastic bags!!

I crocheted one of these large snowmen using wal-mart bags—the current white with blue print on them. He turned out amazingly cute! And he is 100% repurposed materials. His buttons are from the collection I’ve gathered over the years. And his stuffing is the discarded handles and bottoms from bags I cut up to make him. So…he is able to be out in the snow!

The first large snowman I made went to my daughter. She likes snowmen, too, and absolutely loves this guy.

The second snowman I made was intended for my nephew’s family for Christmas. Well, my father-in-law saw him before we made it to my nephews and really liked him. He said “I could put him by my door.” No decision there—Mr. Snowman had a new home with my father-in-law (he is 90 now, so who knows how many more years he will be with us).

So this summer, I made another for my nephew’s family, and was able to complete a 4th one that went to my son and his wife.

I use recycled buttons for the eyes and buttons on the body, and have used buttons or crocheted orange plastic to make a carrot nose.

You can also check out the small snowmen I crochet from plastic bags. Please contact me if you’re interested in purchasing a snowman for a Christmas gift. I may have some already made and ready to ship, but can also make a custom snowman just for you.  | bags2bags.repurse(at)gmail(dot)com  |  Diane

Snowmen in August

During our travels to Minnesota in August, I crocheted a few snowmen from plastic bags during the really long drive. They don’t take very long to make and are an easy project to work on during the drive across the plains.

I have been having lots of fun making these mini snowmen. The most fun is picking out the colored bags to make into the hat and scarf. This part is what gives each little snowman its personality.

Several friends and relatives we spent time with this August were gifted with a snowman. I left one sitting by the TV at my father-in-law’s apartment and he thought it was pretty great when he found it.

My daughter’s neighbor, Sandy (who always has a stash of bags to give me when I’m at Lisa’s), chose her favorite.

Janelle’s mother-in-law, a missionary teacher from Ecuador, went home with a snowman when she stopped in at Lisa’s garage sale. A garage sale customer even purchased one when she saw what I was working on. Cousin Eileen chose one when we were hosted in her wonderful log home near to my dad’s nursing home.

Niece Kari received one when we were at her home in Northern Minnesota for a couple days. And one snowman stayed at Rita’s house when we stopped for brunch with our Utah friends who now live in Wisconsin.