Indoor roofing or it's all in the genes

Last night Mum was telling me about how her mother used to make cord working trousers for the men in the family. She had the first pair made by a tailor and then copied the pattern to make the rest. When the trousers began to wear out after all the work in the fields she'd cut them up into tile-shaped pieces and sew them together. Mum's brother used to say she was making the indoor roofing again as the pattern looked like the tiles on the roof of the house. She used her "indoor roofing" as a protection for the top and the back of the couch and sofa. Just another "waste not, want not" story, Mum calls it.

Spinning again!

Mum's spinning again and it's going fine. She's using the handmade Swiss spinning wheel that she's had for ages. The jacket she's wearing is made from her own hand-spun wool which she hand-dyed using local plants.

She's also been asked to share some pix of her work using recycled plastic bags in the Trashion Nation group at Flickr. She's on a roll.

Onwards!

After practising a bit crocheting blind, Mum has started a new item. It's based on the bottle bag but is intended as an artist's bag for my friend Sharon in Vienna to hang by her easel and stash her paintbrushes. Here's a pic of those golden fingers at work using strips of plastic bags and yarn.

Why plastic bags, Mum?

"My pet hate is seeing all those plastic bags flying around the countryside. The government and the public are always saying they want to do something about it, but I think plastic bags are here to stay because it's easy to take one and we're always being asked if we want a bag and we don't always have another bag with us when we go shopping. People forget, you know. Even if you just go to the baker for some sour dough rye you end up with a plastic bag.

"So I ask all my friends to give me their plastic bags and I get them in all colours and sizes. I cut them into 2cm strips and crochet colourful baskets. I also sorted some of the plastic bags by colour and cut them into 1cm strips and crocheted them together with colour coordinated yarn and wool for a more noble effect when I make handbags. Then I put in a lining that fits and the effect is quite remarkable."

I've put some of Mum's work up on Flickr and she's had some good feedback on her work. Here is a lovely handbag.

Going by feel

Here are two works in progress that Mum is continuing. One is a crocheted rug that will then have wool woven through the grid and the other is a hold all for her knitting materials that she made out of plastic bags. The only wool is in the last rows round the top which she finished last week. From here on in her work is going by feel which she is learning to trust more and more.

Recycling plastic bags - the tissue box cover

Here's another one of Mum's creations. This time it's a cover for those cardboard boxes of tissues. It's made of plastic bags cut into strips and then crotched with wool strands.

Recycling plastic bags - the bottle bag

Mum's asked me to take over the blog as she wants to concentrate on her crocheting. I talked it over with her, but she said she needs to feel her way with her craft. But all the entries are approved by her, so it's still her blog. She also wanted to change the title - so that will be new, too. So we're starting with what the craft book started out with - recycling plastic bags. Here are some pix of a bottle bag she made out of plastic bags and wool thread.