new life for plastic caps

Please, let me know if you make one of those! If you send me pictures, I'll post them here for sure :)

Since I've been crazy about recycling lately, I've come up with another idea for recycling. Plastic caps this time. I have lots of those as I follow the rule of taking them off before getting rid of bottles, as in this way they take up much less space in the dumpster. Of course you can throw the caps away as well, but I had a feeling that they'll become useful one day. And yesterday was the day! They became fridge magnets!

For this project you need:
- plastic caps
- magnets (mine come from the old cabinets)
- cross stitch thread
- plastic canvas (or just canvas or any type of material you can sticth on)
- scissors
- marker
- tiny crochet hook (really, the smallest size you have)
- rather thin crochet thread (mine has 282 m in 50 grams)


You start with choosing a nice cap, it's good to have those flat ones (mine were from the milk cartons) as then the magnet won't be very thick. You may want to place it on the plasctic canvas and mark the shape, so that it's easier to cut the right shape.
Then, you have to cut the sides to get an octagon (don't worry it will become round again ;))
Next step is to crochet over the edges. Using a crochet hook you just pull (carefully, not to tear the plasctic canvas) a loop like that:
...and you start to crochet with single crochet (put the hook into the loop, then put it in the next little hole, draw a loop, yarn over and draw thread through both loops on the hook).


When you're done it should look like that (I have 34 sc around):

Secure the theard and now you can stitch something inside. You can cut off the crochet thread if it'll make it difficult for you to sticth, but I left mine, so that it'll be easier to continue.

And it's time for the second row of single crochets (1 sc in every sc from the previous row-still 34 sc).
The next step is to make a row of double crochets, but this time we decrease every fifth double crochet (4dc, dec, 4dc, dec, around - in the end I got 29 dc), so that it becomes tighter and will keep the cap in place.
You don't have to put the cap inside yet. This is just to show you how far we got :)

In the next row we put one double crochet over every double crochet of the previous round (29 dc). You follow with a round of single crochet if needed (29 sc).
In the last row of double crochets, you skip every second double crochet from the previous round (I got 14 dc in the end). Remember to put the magnet inside in the meantime.
Mine was quite big and when I pushed it in, it didn't come out, so I didn't need to have another row. You may of course glue it to the cap, to make sure that it stays in place.
And you're done!


Of course you can do it another way round. First sticth and then crochet, but i liked the first option better as then i saw exactly how much space is left and got the nice round magnet.
With a bit more irregular shape (like this ladybug) I had to decrease crochets when I felt there's a need, so I have no pattern. Generally, if you place the cap inside you'll know when to make it tighter.
So, just a quick tour showing you the second way of making those:
Here, I decided to add another row of crochets.
Now you can place your magnets wherever you want :)

Be creative and find lots of other ways of decorating the caps! You can make a crochet on, too (see the teddy below). They'll make a great base for any kind of cover.
You can expect more soon, as I got really hooked on those ;)
Have fun!

And remember to take the cap off before you throw the bottle or a carton :)

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