Ah, t-shirt yarn... It used to be just made of old shirts, but things have changed, albeit dramatically.
The old school notion about t-shirt yarn was that you could create your own by recycling old shirts, cutting them up from the torso part down to the shirt's lower edge. This proved to be too tedious a task as I tried it myself, and I later had to stop because I just found it too burdensome and boring for comfort. Besides, the upper part of the shirt and the seams also had to be discarded, so there it was, another "waste" problem created.
It was only last April that I first encountered t-shirt yarns being sold online. These strips of yarn looked like rolls of long fabrics that have been cut across their width to make several long 1 inch to 2 inches strips. It's a good thing to have these fabrics ready, and you just had to "condition" the strips by stretching them out until they curl before you crochet or knit them. No more cutting of old shirts and repurposing them. You just had to buy the ready made strips, stretch them a wee bit, then you can start creating your own stuff.
Popular yarn sellers are even marketing them now via their trade name "zpaghetti" or "fettucine". They also come in a variety of fabric types and yummy colors. The image above shows several strips of fabric and some in ball form. Those in balls are the same or similar strips but which have already been conditioned and balled, ready to use.
Here's a project I was able to create using fleece type t-shirt yarn. It's a hot pad or a pot holder which measures roughly about 8 inches. I used pink spandex t-shirt yarn on the edges of this creation.
I'm really happy with it because even if the edges are a bit wonky, I was able to make use of my fave fleece yarn. This was because I thought I wouldn't be able to get any more stocks of these. Now that I got a batch of new fleece yarn, I'll be making more projects and will be posting them again soon.
Here's a project I was able to create using fleece type t-shirt yarn. It's a hot pad or a pot holder which measures roughly about 8 inches. I used pink spandex t-shirt yarn on the edges of this creation.
I'm really happy with it because even if the edges are a bit wonky, I was able to make use of my fave fleece yarn. This was because I thought I wouldn't be able to get any more stocks of these. Now that I got a batch of new fleece yarn, I'll be making more projects and will be posting them again soon.
And here's a project I was also able to create using the first batch I got. This is a wine carrier in pink and lavender spandex material.
The pink fabric I used in this pic is the same as the one I used for the hot pad above. By the way, I got this pattern from mooglyblog:
Now it can really be tempting to just leave your old shirts and instead buy the pre-cut fabric strips so you can have your own t-shirt yarn. However, it should be noted that it is the greener option or the one that's more environment-friendly. This is because you get to reuse stuff that would otherwise just be considered as garbage or clutter around the house. When you repurpose, you eliminate or at least reduce the clutter, and your old stuff gets to earn a second life.
The stuff I started on is just here and labelled WIP (work-in-progress). Someday, our paths will cross again... :)
