Upcycling Sweaters
A few weeks ago, I was in Pasadena, CA for some meetings and had a bit of time to kill (I totally over-estimated the time to drive from Beverly Hills to Pasadena by, well, a lot). So, I parked my hybrid and decided to do a little research and investigating in some stores to see what’s new, interesting, different and hot.
In the Anthropologie store, there were these ceramic candles for sale in containers designed to look like the sleeve of a sweater. If you take a look at the picture, it looks like a white, cotton sweater…so detailed and so exact, isn’t it? But I promise you: it’s ceramic.
And it totally reminded me of a Country Home magazine project idea I had in my column “Fresh Thinking” from a few years ago: cut off the sleeve from an old sweater and wrap it around a candle. First: don’t we miss Country Home? I sure do and nothing has really come along to replace it in my mind. But I digress…
The project couldn’t be simpler: take an old sweater, cut off the cuff and wrap it around a glass (preferably soy) candle. Don’t run the sleeve to the tippy top of the candle (hello, fire hazard), but near the bottle for extra decorative effect.
Another thing you can do is use a sweater sleeve (from a small sweater) as a reusable coffee sleeve at the coffee counter. Did you know 1.1 billion paper coffee sleeves are used in coffeehouses and quick service restaurants each year in the US? More on that tomorrow… but why not save some paper and use one to keep your hands protected the next time you get yourself a double-shot soy cap with extra foam?
Or just use it wrap your coffee cup at home. Cozy, caffeinated… cute?
Love the idea to use it as a coffee cup cozy!
Not sure how it will work, but I’m going to try to make a cozy out of an argyle sweater vest that is outdated but so pretty I’ve not been able to part with it. I too LOVE Country Home and was so disappointed when they folded last year. I’ve been clipping recipes and favorite articles out of my magazines so I can recycle them, but I refuse to “dismember” my Country Home magazines. I’ve got about six years’ worth sitting on my shelves, and I pull some out every now and then to reread. Do magazines ever come back? Oh, how I wish they would!
What great ideas!!!! Now, where are my scissors??
I second Anita’s thoughts!
Danny, I remember that story from Country Home magazine! (And yes, I miss it,too)
After reading it, I followed your lead and used some old chartreuse green cashmere sweater sleeves to cover up tall glass cylinder vases – filled with blooming miniature daffodils, they were a perfect spring accessory for my tabletops.
I thought of those the other day when I saw that in the January 2010 issue of Country Living magazine, they have a few pages featuring new ways to use old sweaters – on lampshades, covering vases, pillows, etc. You started a trend!!! ;0)
Deb