Making old leggings into yarn and dog toys

Remember the old leggings I used to make a pattern for new leggings?  I kept them and turned the leggings into yarn and dog toys!  Here’s how I did it…

Making Old Leggings into Yarn and Dog Toys

The first thing I did was cut off any remaining hems and seams.

Then I cut the leggings into about 1″ strips, in the longest direction.  I used my rotary cutter, ruler, and cutting matt to make this quick and easy!

Now you need to stretch all the strips to get them more rounded like yarn.  Just grab an end in each hand and pull in opposite directions.

Once I had all my strips cut and stretched, I  snipped a small hole in the end of each one.

Now this part is going to sound a little tricky, but hopefully the pictures help clear things up!  Insert one strip (#2) into another strip (#1).

Now take the other end of strip #2 and pull it through the end that’s in strip #1.

Pull it until it’s snug and flip the flap of the #2 strip towards the #1 strip.

This will help smooth the “connection”.  It took me less than 30 minutes to connect all the pieces and now I have a ball of yarn! I haven’t decided what to do with it yet, but it will be on a crochet hook soon!

Dog Toys

I still had leftover hems, seams, and small strips, so I decided to make dog toys!  The small pile is for the little dog and the big pile is for the larger dog.

I just took the big pile and tied a big knot in the middle.  Then I knotted and braided the ends.  Perfect for tug o’wars!

The smaller one was too small to knot everything in the center.  I wrapped the wider, triangle-shaped pieces around the center and knotted that.

I knotted and/or braided all the loose ends to keep them from coming out the center.

This is all I had left of the leggings to throw away!

And this what my dog, Hefy-Lou thinks of her new toy!

Can’t you just feel her enthusiasm? She’s all smushed up in my thinking chair taking her day-long nap!

That’s all for today.  Hope to see y’all back Wednesday for some pet friendly sewing!