Reduce, reuse, repurpose

One of my favourite things about crafty types is… well, it’s hard to define. It’s a DIY attitude. It’s a slightly skewed way of looking at the world; as well as thinking “hey, I could make that”, we think “hey, that [random piece of household junk] would work really well as [super expensive fancy piece of crafting equipment]”.

Sure, there’s a world of temptation out there if you want to spend all your money on deluxe hand-carved bobbin holders made entirely from virgin unicorn horn, but you could also use toe separators.

I’ve seen lathe-turned centre-pull-ball-creating gadgets, made of beautiful, glossy, reclaimed tropical hardwood, and I will confess, I have lusted after them. But for now, I find an old loo roll does the job pretty well.

In fact, I haven’t thrown a loo roll tube away in two years, because they are enormously useful for all three of my primary obsessions.

Knitting: the magical creation of centre-pull balls, essential when knitting anywhere near a cat.

Sewing: roll up pattern pieces, pop them inside the tube, write the name of the pattern on the tube.

Gardening: cut the tube in half, then cut short snips all the way around one end. Squash the flaps towards the middle and you have a biodegradable pot, perfect for germinating your future dinner. Once the seedling starts outgrowing these modest confines, plop the whole thing in a bigger pot or into the ground – the cardboard will gently decompose, leaving you with a marvellously warm sense of eco-smugness.

Fun fact: Sainsbury’s has reduced the size of their own brand loo roll tubes. The difference of a few milimetres’ diameter has (they claim) a huge knock-on effect as it means that they can transport lots more loo roll in the same amount of space, thus reducing CO2 emissions. Which is pretty genius. The happy side effect of this, for me, is that the tubes they use are much stronger than average, meaning that you can use the same tube to make many, many centre pull balls before retiring it to become a biodegradable propogating pot.

Recycling begins at home.