5 nifty ways to upcycle with crochet

You've probably got some CDs hanging around, and you may even have video tapes gathering dust somewhere... if you're thinking of throwing them out, hang on a minute.
These are just some of the items that you can incorporate in your crochet, creating new items out of obsolete materials lying around at home. These ideas will cost you nothing, save waste and make the world a more beautiful place.
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1 Pull tab napkin rings
Who would ever have thought that a pull tab from a catfood can could grace your dining table? But using just wire and a crochet hook, you can incorporate the pull tabs and make a beautiful and useful item. See if your guests can guess what they're made from!
2. Snowflake bottle cap trivet
This clever project incorporates metal bottle tops into a trivet to make a heat-resistant item that won't break the bank and will also look great on your dining table.
3. VCR tape
Remember all those videos you put in your garage a few years ago? Well, they could come in handy after all. VCR tape has a pleasant and rather glitzy sheen when made up into crochet items and best of all, it's a free material. See this tutorial on how to make a swish VCR tape evening bag:
4. CDs
If you've got stacks of CDs gathering dust, then a brilliant way to reuse them is to make them into the center of colorful mandala decorations. These mandalas look really effective as a mobile above a baby's crib, or you could hang them in the garden to catch the breeze – even use them to scare the birds off your newly planted seeds. In festive colors of red, green and white they'd look perfect on your Christmas tree.
5. Clothes
Don't forget you can always jazz up a dowdy old T-shirt with a quick crochet border or add a bit of length to a little girl's favorite skirt if she grows out of it with a couple of rows of pretty scallops. Or why not try some more complicated clothing upcycles, like this transformation of a blouse into a girl's dress:
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