Tag Archives: #upcycling

March 5, 2026 · 6:24 pm

Day 12 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms- How do we mend what’s broken?

On Day 11, I showed how I upcycled a plastic bottle into my ‘Storyteller’ spool knitter. But, I didn’t talk much about needing to cut away part of the bottle that was cumbersome & clumsy. I had to lop off part of the top to get the spool knitter to work. Sometimes, we just have to cut away the unworkable part.

But sometimes the best way to fix something that’s broken is to find a way to stitch the edges together again… a radical mend may be needed.

I am enjoying upcycling ‘boink/busted’ bowls from my brother Jonathan (@distinctivewoodworking)

One of them had a crack up one side. He suggested a way to fix it. I tried it & it looked good, so I spent hours drawing & burning a bumble bee & a hexagon on it.

Alright- I drilled the center hole. Fine. Now- 5 holes for pegs. Fine. The 6^th & final one- the bowl opened like the gates of dawn! My knees went blorp. I gazed at the Bee & held the bowl in my hands. No way was I going to toss it away. So.

Time for something different! Let’s sew this bowl together! I drilled holes on both sides of the crack & was sure it was going to fly apart-eek- the lines of little holes wobbled up the bowl!

I used waxed linen to sew the edges of the bowl together. Then glued the pegs in.

Yes! It’ worked! The stitching is Wabi Sabi, BUT my precious Bumble Bee spool knitter is a joy to work with.

The disruption of her rupture and the ‘freeform’ mending has completely endeared her to me.

Metaphors! I hope that we can find lots & lots of quirky & unique ways to mend our precious, wobbly & hurting planet (whether it’s snipping the things that don’t work or sewing the broken edges freely & trustingly together again) so we can all get back to work, creating beauty.

Hugs all round. With Love. And Hope. And Courage.

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Filed under Simple Little Things That Make Me Happy, spool knitter & spoolknitter & spool knitting & spool knitting, the 100 day project

Tagged as #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms, #crafts, #fixingbrokenthings, #howtomend, #littlelooms, #mending, #spoolknitter #spoolknitters #littlelooms #spoollknitting #woodworking #the100dayproject2026 #the100dayproject #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms @noreen.cronefindlay @distinctivewoodworking, #spoolknitters, #spoollknitting, #the100dayproject, #the100dayproject2026, #upcycling, @noreen.cronefindlay, crafts, life, Noreen Crone-Findlay, sewing, yarn, Yarn Crafts

March 4, 2026 · 6:10 pm

Day 11 of #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms-Upcycling plastic bottles into spool knitters-The Storyteller Spool knitter

In my Day 9 post, I showed how I upcycled a sturdy cardboard tube into a spool knitter that I love as it’s an Homage to Jane Austen.
At the same time that I was making the Jane Austen spool knitter, I was experimenting with upcyling a plastic bottle to see if I could make a reasonable spool knitter with it for my #100daysofspoolknittersandlittlelooms.

The bottle has to be fairly sturdy, so I chose an empty vitamin bottle.

I wanted to see if the sharpened end of 7 lolly pop sticks would work as the pegs.

They are okay, but I prefer the blunt ends, so I won’t use the sharp ends as pegs again.

I marked off 1 1/2 inches(4 cm) at the end of each.

Next- I put 3 rubber bands onto the bottle and one at a time, I slipped a lollypop stick into them

and hot glued them to the bottle.

Then, layers of papier mache,

and decorative paper – I love that I found a delightful image of a storyteller with some bouncy kids and also a few goddess images, a few hippos and some almost invisible elephants.

Now mod podge to seal.

I had cut a too small hole in the end of the bottle, so I carefully cut the excess plastic away

and the Storyteller spool knitter works just fine!

Happy upcycling! and happy spool knitting 🙂 ❤

How to Spin and Weave Brown Paper Yarn

One of my favorite eco friendly crafts is spinning yarn from brown paper….

This video shows how:

And, then, I love to weave the brown paper yarn into all kinds of fun things like this bunny and teddy bear.

I carved their heads from wood, and made their little shoes from scraps of garment leather that I glued to wooden soles that I carved. The navy shoes were made from a thrift shop coat that I cut and sewed into a ton of different things- bags and doll shoes and doll clothes.

I made their hands from scraps of heavy weight leather that I was given years ago.

Bunny’s face is lopsided because the scrap of firewood that I carved her from was wonky, but she forgives me for that!

I adapted this pattern from my etsy shop to weave their bodies on weaving sticks, using the brown paper yarn that I had spun: Here’s the link:

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/92453904/pdf-pattern-for-delightful-dolls-woven?ref=shop_home_feat_1

The brown paper yarn also works BEAUTIFULLY for weaving baskets. Here’s a link to my pattern for weaving baskets on weaving sticks:

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/111292892/pdf-pattern-for-all-kinds-of-baskets?ref=shop_home_feat_3

And, here’s the link for jewelry to weave with weaving sticks. Brown paper is wonderful for making jewelry!

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/124255671/ebook-jewelry-woven-on-the-stick-weaving?ref=shop_home_feat_4

I love all the neat things that can be made with brown paper yarn. In our house, brown paper is NEVER thrown away!

It always gets upcycled into nifty new things 😀

This is my contribution to the monthly ‘Scrap Happy’ Blogging group- people who delight in making things from scraps and upcycled bits of this and that post on the 15th of each month.

Here’s the links to the rest of the group. I always enjoy seeing what each of them has done each month:

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon , Hayley, Dawn,
Gwen, Bekki, Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Noreen (this is me, but you know that) ,
Bear, Carol, Preeti and Edith