4 Ways to Discard Handmade Items

I used to be one of the people that frown at the words reuse and recycle but with the state of our earth and environment, it is imperative to be conscious of our everyday use of items.  As you know, I am a yarn lover and love to crochet. Now there are items that I have made for myself or others that never get used.  And some items get used so so often that it is now time to give them  up.
I have this sweater I made when I was learning to crochet, two sizes larger and in a color that does not even match my personality and I still wear every winter. I can't bring myself to give it up and I think this happens to a lot of people who love handmade items. What do you do with Unwanted Handmade items made with Yarn?

1. Donate Items: If your handmade item is not worn out and can be donated, please donate it. There are so many people who will appreciate your donated handmade item.  I never realized until the World Soccer in South Africa to realize that South Africa has a winter season and I am Nigerian!  So  realize that a large part of the world will cherish your stuff. If you are looking to donate and not quite sure on how to start, please contact me.

2. Unravel Yarn - I know some folks are screaming at me at this moment. You can unravel yarn from knitted or crochet stuff and either reuse it  to make items to donate or use it at your home. You can even create an art project of dying the unravelled yarn into another color and voila! you have new yarn.
 I will post on how to unravel yarn one of these weeks. Stay tuned for that post.

3.  Find Another Use - If you do not want to unravel or donate, you can find other purposes for your worn handmade items. You can use it as rags, polishers, mats, etc. Just cut it into what you want to use it for and sew the ends.

4. Cherish Forever - For me, I have an attachment to my first sweater I made.  You can save it if there are sentimental values for it and create art from it.

I am sure that there are other ideas on what to do with used handmade items. Share them here with everyone. Now, what do I do with my sweater? Will let you know!


Enjoy!