Teabag string Scarf

Finished at last Teabag String Scarf, took about 2 years with over 8000 teabag strings. If you drank 2 cups of tea a day it would take you over 10 years to collect the strings to make it. Now for my next project. Will need to drink a few more cups of tea to finish it.

Sorting Teabag Strings

My teabag strings seem to be hatching all over the place, every time I turn around, I find another bag or container of them. Trying to sort them out for a few projects I want to do this year. The biggest one is out of all the Dilmah ones I have and will have to collect through the year as it will take between 8 to 10,000 of them. I am going to latchwork a bag frame I brought from Spotlight.
Have started to tie the bag together with the strings, once I have done the 2 base rows I should be able to latchwork them.

I have been sorting out the very thin ones as well, as these dont go very well in the dish cloths I knit. After a few washes with them they tend to break into holes in the dish cloths, so with the thin ones I am joining some of them all together and chaining them into thicker yarn and with the rest I am dying them to do a Crochet project, which I have not decided on yet. With the medium to thick strings I need to make 9 dishcloths, 8 for a quiz night and 1 for a raffle on ravelry. I still have a knitted scarf to make as well.

Dish Cloths for free

We all use dish cloths of one form or another, well now you can make your own out of something that gets thrown in the bin in many households.

I have both crochet and knitted these, the crochet ones are more thicker and sturdy, where as the knitted ones are softer. I also use the knitted ones as a wash cloth in the bath and shower.

CROCHET DISH CLOTH

You can use a hook from 1.75 to 2.50

1.75 will be more thicker and sturdy where the 2.50 will be softer.

I prefer to do Granny Squares making sure I put all my ends on one side so I have a raggy side and a smooth side. This is a photo of a cloth that has been used and washed many times. Because it is cotton it can be boiled, bleached and washed in hot water.

I have not tried doing a cloth in rows of treble or double crochet, but should work just as well.

KNITTED DISH CLOTH
I use 2 or 2.25mm needles, using smaller needles than these will give you a tighter knit.
Cast on 60 stitches
Knit every row until square then cast off.
Because I like to crochet more than knitting I have not tried any fancy stitches with this and have not tried to get all my ends to one side like I do with crocheted ones. The knitted ones are more likely to get holes in them and dont last as long as the crochet ones.

Tea Bag Sting Crochet scarf

With a 1.75 hook chain 61

Miss 2 chain 1 treble in each chain to end [us double crochet]

Treble each row till it is long enough for you.

Mine is 1.70m long.

I worked my stitches so the knots all are on the same side, so one side you can see the different colours of the yarn, while the other side is more raggy with all the ends.

Next time I crachet one I will do it with a bigger hook, because as this one is soft would like it even softer.

How to make Tea Bag string yarn

All tea bag strings are different from brand to brand, thick or thin, long or short, if you always use the same brand and dont think you would get any from other people [although once people know you are collecting them they will collect them for you as well] it does not matter how you tie them, but for others it is important that you mix your tea bag strings so you dont get rows of very thin followed by rows of thick.

I use the knot where you put 2 ends level together wrap it around your finger and pull the ends through the circle you made, the knot ends up being about 1/2 inch from the end, it takes a lot of tea bag strings to make one project so make sure you have a couple of hundred before you start so you can get a variety, also make sure you and people saving them for you, still dip them as this makes the colours, some people take them off before they dip so they will have no brown on them at all.

My mum has more time to craft and does a variety of things, so she ties her strings while she has her morning cup of tea, she takes her tags of as she goes, then in the evening when she sits to watch TV she will knit her string. I on the other hand I dont get much time to craft so snatch bits and pieces though the week, so in one sitting I would take all the tags off, putting them in a container with 3 compartments, 1 thick, 1 thin and one for tea bag strings people have given me with no tags, then in another sitting I would tie them using one from each compartment.

Crafting with Tea Bag strings

At the beginning of 2009 a lady from one of my online quilting groups asked for tea bag strings so she could send to another lady who was going to make something out of them, I thought it a wonderful idea so gave my mum a challenge to do some thing also. She started to knit squares out of them to make a table cloth. When I saw how soft and lovely they where I started a project as well.

A crochet scarf was my first project, I then dyed a few and crochet some squares with flowers in them and made one into a pin cushion. Lately I have been fiddling with dish/wash cloths in both knitted and crochet form.

Teabag String Angel

I have been fiddling with Teabag Strings for awhile now here is one of my creations.

Requirements

40 plus teabag strings

1 large holed bead [can be any colour]

1 bone colour bead for head

1 sequin

1 star

2 beads

wings [I use a gold plastic flower that I can cut 2 petals off]

Teabag strings are all different sizes and thicknesses. The ones I use for the body are about 20cm [8in] long and quite thick so I use about 25. If yours are thinner you will need more.