Eldest son needed a water bottle for school and i wanted something that stood out so it was easy to identify from the other childrens, there was also a challenge on trash to treasures on raverly so heres my entry!
Take one large or medium size bottle i used a smaller one as its a perfect size for little people.
4mm hook..and approx 6-10 carriers i perfer the thicker ones but i used both thicker ones and supermarket ones..beware though supermarket ones are usually biodegradable so they wont last much longer than 3 years.
if you have never made plarn from plastic bags i used the continual spiral method of cutting there are many others but this is my personal favourite. Heres a quick show of how to do it..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ58E2o83Cw
When worked up plarn has a great texture just like raffia. It can be a little harsh on you hands but take it slowly and you will get there. This bottle holder will work up quickly and i made it in about 3 hours. Enjoy
4mm hook..i perfer steel as i found i was worried about wood breaking and plastic stuck to the carriers..you can sprinkle talc on the hook to help it glide but after a while if you use plarn a lot, keep using the same hook and you'll find it gets used to working with it.
First we create a granny square base
1.chain 4, s.s to first chain close ring
2.chain 2, 11 htr into ring, ss to top of starting chain 2 to close ring
3.chain 2 (into space between htr), work 2 htr into same space , chain 2 and work 3 htr ..all into same space, *skip 3htr, 3 htr into space between htr chain 2, 3htr all into same space*..continue around and slip stip to top of starting chain 2
4.chain 2 (into space between htr), work 2 htr into same space , chain 2 and work 3 htr ..all into same space, *3 htr into space between the corners, 3 htr, 2 chain 3htr all into each corner space *..continue around ending on 3htr between corners and slip stip to top of starting chain 2
i stopped here as my base was wide enough (it needs to be a tiny bit bigger than the bottle base..but you may need to do extra rounds of row 4)
now we work the sides of the bottle
1.chain 2, htr around the post of each stitch.and a htr into each corner and ss to close to top of starting chain 2.this creates a 3d edge this video shows you how to achieve it the video says double crochet this is the same stitch but americans call it double corchet and british call it a half treble so don't be confused! you need to watch at about 2.52m on the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56eTH2LxBWw
2.Chain 2, htr into each space around and ss to starting chain 2 to close
3. Chain 2, htr into each space around and miss one space at each corner to tighten the square back upss to starting chain 2 to close
4.Continue working rows of row 2 until you reach the part when the bottle starts to taper towards the top
5. repeat row 3, 2-4 times depending on size of bottle making sure you can still fit bottle in. (i did 2 rows) fasten off .
Now to make handle.
Chain as many as you like for the size of handle you wish, my son wanted one that went across his shoulder, then htr into 2nd chain from hook and each chain along , you may wish to do another row here , i only did one. fasten off and attach to main body..voila all done!
