How to Knit a Recycled Cotton T-Shirt
Transform your worn out and dull T-shirt into yarn that you can use to knit. Make bags, wash cloths and mats out your old T-shirts. Not only will you avoid throwing unwanted T-shirts into the trash, but you'll turn something old into something new and useful.
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Instructions
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Choose a clean T-shirt free of silk screen designs or embroidery. The shirt must not have any side seams.
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Lay the T-shirt on a flat surface.
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Cut the shirt's bottom hem completely off with scissors. Make a straight cut across the chest of the shirt, below the underarms. You be left with a rectangular tube of fabric without any hems or seams. Discard the sleeves and collar.
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Fold the T-shirt in half, leaving at least 1 inch of one side of the shirt exposed to create a border. Smooth out any wrinkles or creases with your hands.
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Starting at the folded edge, cut up to the 1 inch border. Make sure you've left at least 1/2 inch, if not more, between the strips you cut. Strips narrower than 1/2 inch may result in the yarn breaking. Use a measuring tape to double check your measurements.
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Unfold the T-shirt and carefully expose the uncut fabric border.
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Placing the fabric border in front of you, make diagonal cuts between the first strip to the second strip before continuing to the third. Cutting it in this way will result in a continuous length of fabric yarn. Unravel the strips as you continue to cut.
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After you have finished cutting, pull the strip of fabric to stretch so it will form into a narrow tube of yarn. Stretching will also increase yarn yardage.
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Wind the yarn into a ball.
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Pick a knitting pattern or formulate your own. This yarn lends itself well into making household items such as mats.
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Using at least U.S. size 10 needles, cast on the specified number of stitches dictated by the pattern you have selected or designed.
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Follow the pattern and bind off stitches.
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References
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