Drinking and Knitting

November 10, 2007 at 12:30 pm | Posted in All My Sketches, Craft - How-to's, Craft - Inspirations, Craft - Websites | 4 Comments
Tags: benetton, bottle, clover, knitting, recycled, yarn

I had several deadlines, several new tasks and several meetings in two cities this week. It’s great this busy week is going to the “end”. And, it’s great I can finally talk about my crafts.

Some were wondering how I can put my yarns into a bottle, while some even thought I bought such a bottle of yarn as a whole. Well, I wish there would be such things available here, but the truth is it’s something everyone can make.

It must be much clearer for you if you see this picture. The bottle is actually cut and reassembled. This project is somehow less practical in Germany as there is usually a 25c deposit for such a plastic bottle. The key is the concaves over the bottle, which allows the separate parts to fit together again. Also, a round bottle gives a better look than a cuboid one. I used a 1.5L water bottle, which can just hold a 100g skein. It should certainly work for 50g skeins. A 2L bottle may work better. As for a bigger skein, say 300g, it might be much simpler to use a bag for it.

I didn’t take any pictures before I started as I’ve used a few types of bottles. I hope this picture can give an idea. The bottle has two sections. The part marked with black lines are removed. The upper part is typically slightly smaller than the lower part so that the upper part can be inserted INSIDE the lower part. The two concaves connected with blue lines can hold two parts together.

After cutting the bottle, pull the yarn end out from the center of the skein and then through the bottle neck. Then, push the two parts together. It’s possible to put the bottle cap back with only a small part of yarn left outside.

The project is inspired by a similar yarn holder in a blog from Taiwan I read a while ago. I bought this bulky yarn last week and wanted to have a better protection for it so I can knit when I am on train. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the blog again. It takes me a few experiments (and a few bottles, of course) to reach my expectation.

An much easier alternative for those who don’t like cutting is to use a milkshake cup. The cup of Iced Cappuccino from Tim Hortons would be perfect for this. Benetton’s new released knitting kit is including a yarn holder in such a cup shape, but I really think they are copying the Craft Therapy kits from Clover Japan. The Craft Therapy kits are even better as they include sewing and crocheting. It’s a great idea for craft lovers, especially beginners of one skill. I think it should not be difficult to make our own craft kits with water bottles or large-size soft drink cups from fast food chains. 🙂