Trying out the T-shirt yarn

There are several balls of homemade T-shirt yarn in the wicker picnic basket that most of my stash is stored in. I made some a couple of months ago, cutting up an old T-shirt of my partner's and one of mine. One is heavier weight, the other silkier, both are black.

I have knitted with the T-shirt yarn I made with the intention of turning it into a bag, but pulled it all out because there wasn't quite enough of it.

I wrote about how to make T-shirt yarn in my '5 ways to knit without wool' for Prima, which also included carrier-bag yarn, or 'plarn', and string.

You can follow the slightly complex cutting pattern explained in that feature, or you can simply cut your way up the body of a T-shirt in a spiral.

Once you've cut your T-shirt into a thin strip, pull and stretch it in lengths, to encourage the sides of the strip to curl inwards. Wind into a ball.

We're having some building work done on the house soon (yes, more room, more room for crafting) so I've been having a bit of a clear-out. Two pairs of jersey pyjama trousers were destined to be dumped. One pair I turned into T-shirt yarn, by cutting in a spiral up one leg and down the other.

For the other pair I was inspired by a necklace by Etté Studios, so I cut the leg into loops. I stretched and pulled these, then bundled 10 or so together, and bound them round and round at the back with another length of T-shirt yarn.

While fiddling with the loops I realised they have uses in their own right: doubled up, a sports headband to keep hair in place and stop it from flopping into your face when you're running or moving around. Worth doing for this alone! Doubled up, wear a couple as a choker. Use one doubled, trebled or even quadrupled up on itself as a lovely soft hairband for a ponytail or bun. Or double or treble up for a bracelet/sweatband. They do lose elasticity, but you'll have plenty more.

If you can't be bothered to make your own T-shirt yarn (or you don't have any T-shirts you're prepared to cut up), there's lots available to buy, including Jersey be Good, from Wool and the Gang, Zpagetti, from Hoooked or lots of options from the T-shirt Yarn Shop.

One thing I didn't include in my alternative yarns feature was knitting with strawberry lace sweets, not something I've tried personally, but lots of others have. The earliest mention I could find is on the Craftster forums in 2008 by Bexsus of Lewes, and this is her pic of the result!