Recycled Crochet Basket

Every crafty person runs out of room to put their hoard of materials.  And every crafty person will automatically think 'What can I make to hold all of my making things?' and my answer to this was to crochet a basket for my wool.
I already had a case full of wool but obviously that got full up pretty quickly.  I was scrolling through Pinterest when I saw the idea of using plastic bags to crochet a mat.  I love the recycling idea and my boyfriend and I are self confessed plastic bag hoarders (they're 5p, I'm not dumping a bag that I payed for) so I thought this is brill, cut down the amount of plastic bags under our kitchen sink AND solve my no room for wool crisis.  I decided to create a plastic basket and this is the end result! I could have made it bigger but this took long enough and if it was any bigger I have a feeling the basket would lose it's shape.
In super simple, straight to the point terms: here is how I made my crocheted plastic basket.

 Firstly, I needed quite a few plastic bags.  I used ones that were all of the same colour (there are other supermarkets out there, just saying) but I suppose you could use a range of colours and create a stripey one.  Whatever you want to do.

 I flattened out one plastic bag at a time and cut off the handles and the bottom join with a straight line.  With the 'tube' of plastic left from the centre I then cut that into strips.  Only cut up to about an inch from the top where one fold is and make each strip just under an inch each.  Each strip should be two layers and these layers should still be joined at the top and bottom where the folds are.
So you now have strips of plastic that look like it's been fringed basically.

 Open up the plastic at the fold that joins all the strips.  It should be symmetrical along the fold.

 This bit can be tricky as it's easy to cut something you're not supposed to.  To make the continuous strip of plastic in order for you to crochet with, a cut needs to be made diagonally from the edge of one strip to another.  Don't cut straight across or you will be left with lots of short strips of plastic.  Cut diagonally to ensure it all continues onto one another.  Do this all the way down the area where the fold is and you should be left with a long enough strip to wrap into a ball.  I needed roughly 10 of these.

To start crocheting the actual basket you'll need to know how to start either a magic ring or just create a circle with chains, it's up to you.  Start to single crochet around, adding extra single crochets where you feel it getting tight and whenever it starts to curl up.  You want to make this circle completely flat.  You should be adding less and less extra crochets as you go along.  I used a 10mm hook so yes you need a really fat hook.

This circle is the bottom of the basket so keep going, joining the next ball of plastic whenever needed, until you get the width of the basket you want.  Mine is just over a foot wide.
You'll then need to start just doing single crochets without the extra ones.  This will start to create the sides of the basket.  It may take a few rounds to start to see it curve up.  Keep going around until you get the desired height of your basket.

Handles are optional but they're cute.  I created about 10 chains where I wanted my handle to be, joined it after about 8 stitches to create the loop of the handle and then single crocheted back over the chains to make the handle stronger.  Do this on both sides, equal distances from each other.


And that's all! Easy peasy! Just takes a while and the plastic can be tough to crochet with.  Just keep it nice and loose and you should have no problems.  Hope this has inspired you to make room for more wool cause you can never have too much ;)

30 Day Blogging Challenge - Day 30

My Goals for the Next 30 Days

I have a very busy month ahead of me.

Two main things.

Making money:  I'll basically be working full time until the end of August which is when my university course starts.  I'm starting to run out of money and it's scary.
Moving:  On the 18th of July I'm moving!  I'm so excited but this is what this money will be for.  Paying for the deposit and rent but also all the furniture.  But we've definitely got this flat and it's so lovely.  It's just getting done up and it's so clean and modern looking.  It's also so much bigger than our current flat.
I'm also planning to meet up with people I haven't seen in a while.  Today I met up with one of my best friends who has just had a baby.  Brilliant catch up.  Also want to meet up with my best friend from school, go out for a meal with all the ones from work and have a reunion with my old college friends which is a long time coming.
Other goals are the likes of keeping this blog going and also my other one that's dedicated to my Shetland ponies.  Need to stock up on photos for that as both my sister and I are moving away for uni and obviously can't take more photos of the ponies while we're there.
I'll also be crocheting and making things for people.  I love my crochet and I can see this blog becoming mainly about that and other creative things I'm getting up to.
Just basically staying creative over the summer break.


Song of the day: My favourite song this time last year

Miles Away by The Maine

30 Day Blogging Challenge - Day 29

List 10 People, Dead or Alive, That I Would Invite to Dinner

Including the Dinner Menu

1. Gordon Ramsay - Cause he's brill and he can cook the dinner, plus he's Scottish.
2. Jennifer Lawrence - Because she's one of my favourite actresses and she seems like such a laugh
3. Ed Sheeran - Because he's just perfect and awkward.  Plus he'd be worse dressed than me so all's good
4. Tom Fletcher - He's the lead singer of McFly, I love his vlogs and just seems like a decent, fun guy
5. Stephen Mulhern - As he is the funniest guy on TV ever, I just love him
6. Ant & Dec - They're basically one person and they are hilarious with Stephen Mulhern on Britian's Got More Talent.  It's better than the actual show
7. Sam Claflin - Because he is just beautiful.
8. My Grandad - Because I miss him and I want to have one last conversation with him now that I haven't seen him in 10 years.
9. Sara Bareilles - My favourite female singer and she sounds bubbly and a good laugh
10. Johnny Depp - Because it's Johnny Depp

Menu

Starters - A selection of chinese starters, such as wontons, prawn toasts, ribs, peking duck wraps, etc etc

Main Course - Either spaghetti carbonara or the meatiest pizza ever

Pudding - Maybe a chocolate cheescake type thing or hot chocolate pudding with ice cream mmm

And cocktails throughout because I loooove them

Song of the day: A song from my childhood

Year 3000 by Busted

30 Day Blogging Challenge - Day 28

Something That I Miss

Home.

I haven't been home, where my family lives, in months now.  While I'm there it doesn't take me long to get fed up with the place.  But being away from there for a while, I do get homesick.  Today I'm travelling back home to stay with my family for 2 weeks and I'm so excited.  It means a 12 hour boat journey but the sea sickness will be worth it in the end.
I also miss my Shetland ponies.  Again, I've not seen them in months and they change so quickly and grow up so fast.  I need to spend the reasonably nice summer days with them.  Where they live is also beautiful.  I don't really like living in a city and going back home will remind me of the open landscapes and fresh air.  I love the views.
BUT, I won't move back there.  It's a wonderful place to visit but living on a tiny island is so claustrophobic and I know too many people there.  I like being unknown.  Where people don't know my past and can't judge me on it.


Song of the day: A song that makes me feel guilty

7 Things by Miley Cyrus because I really shouldn't like Miley Cyrus at all.

30 Day Blogging Challenge - Day 27

A Problem I Have or Had in the Past

What kind of problem is this implying?  A physical problem?  A mental one?  A problem with something else?
I've never had any physical problems.  No broken bones, no disabilities, the worst I've had is uncontrollable hair for my whole life.  That's a huge problem.
For mental ones, I've suffered from anxiety, a bit of depression and self hate but nothing that serious.  Nothing that everyone else doesn't go through too.  And I've already mentioned in a previous post of my problem with getting bullied etc.
But I don't know what this means by problems apart from that.  I've had difficult maths problems.  I've had problems like running out of toilet roll.  What does this mean by problems?
I'm giving up on this topic of the day for today because I honestly don't get it.


But here's the song of the day: A song that I wish I could play

My sister can play this song on the piano and I'm always jealous when she does
Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy

On the Hunt

These past few days I've spent in this small town near the borders of Scotland.  My boyfriend and I travelled down on Monday as this is where we are going to be living.  I got into university and the campus is there.
I had been there once before for my uni interview but my boyfriend had never seen the town before.  He absolutely fell in love with the place (thank God as I didn't want to be dragging him to this new awful town).  We currently live in a city that's, in our opinion, filled with junkies and oil workers and the housing is a ridiculous price.  This new town will be nearly half the price for housing and is filled with students and old people.  It's perfect.
While we were there we did some flat hunting.  We had 7 viewings of properties.  A few of them, lets say they're the houses the old people lived in (and perhaps died in considering the smell).  We found three flats that we would love to stay in and have already applied to one with the other two being back ups.  We love this flat.  It has it's own private entrance, two big bedrooms and is getting completely redone for us moving in.  New carpets, new wallpaper, new doors, new appliances, everything.  We are praying that the landlady accepts our application.  It's just a couple weeks until we move and we are so utterly excited!  And having this extra bedroom means I have more room for a proper creative station.

30 Day Blogging Challenge - Day 26

If I Had £1,000,000...

I would be the biggest cliche when it comes to spending that much money.

I would save about half of it.  Stick it into the bank and leave it.  I couldn't spend the whole lot of it at once and I wouldn't want to go too crazy.  I'd want it in case of emergencies or if a family member had an emergency.
I would give a good bit to charity, or a lot of small charities.  The thing with bigger charities is that a lot of the money goes straight into the founder's pocket.  I discovered this about the RSPCA first.  But I would give £10,000 to 10 different charities.  Probably animal charities cause I don't like people as much.
I wouldn't work part time while I'm at university.  I'd focus completely on my studies and then once they're done I would buy a house when I know where a job will be for me.  Not a massive one with too many bedrooms to count.  Small enough to still feel like a home but big enough to have everything I would want in it.
A shopping spree would be needed too.  Just a small one but I wouldn't feel guilty while doing it which would be amazing.
I would help my sisters pay for university living costs.  I don't think my parents struggle with money too much but if they needed anything I would help.  And I would take them all on a holiday.  Maybe even travel the world.


Song of the day: A song that I can play on an instrument

I used to be able to play this song

Popcorn by whoever it's by