The Cloth Revolution!

I've just read an inspirational post over at Frugal + Urban on one mother's journey in the Cloth Revolution. It feels good writing that in capitals! It's a real movement out there, it's partly a return to old values, and partly a quest to save and improve our future.

Like that mother from Ottowa, I've also been on the journey to replace disposable items with reusable items over the past year. As I commented on the Cloth Revolution post at Frugal and Urban, most everything in our home is cloth rather than disposable except…. toilet paper. I am inspired by the description of using the cloth for no. 1’s however, that does seem do-able.

Something I've been doing lately, taking inspiration from several great repurposing blogs/sites, has been rag knitting. Must post some photos of this because words aren't enough to get across the delight that it is to take something that is no longer serviceable in its current form, and transform it into something enirely new that has a useful purpose.

The cotton knit jumper I wore last Friday is now a dishcloth! Looking in the mirror Friday evening I saw that the fabric was starting to deteriorate around the neck line, and that there were stains that wouldn't come out...so it was time to repurpose. First of all I carefully cut it into pieces: front, back, collar and sleeves, and traced each so I can make this comfy top again from other fabric. Then I started cutting a 1.5cm strip up the side of the back, and continued cutting in a spiral so that once finished, I had a long long strip of knit fabric (thin knit, by the way) and the original jumper back was completely gone. Yes I know, this would be much much easier to visualize if I had photographed the process.

I then simply knitted this 'yarn' into a simple dishcloth using size 9 needles, and voilà! A new and useful item is born. I love the luxury of being able to use a new dishcloth every time I wash up. Not that I do use a new one every time mind you, I just love it that I can if I want to.

All these fabrics with their variety of designs and purposes, create such a wonderful atmosphere of steady, simple living – I really really love it.