Fancy a quick and fun upcycling project? Got a dog? Then this is one for you! A while back I bought a couple of balls of recycled t-shirt yarn in a market. I finally found a fun project to do – a tug toy for our cocker spaniel, Peanut. This is easy and great to do with the kids.

What Is Recycled T-Shirt Yarn?

T-shirt yarn is usually made from fabric remnants – the stuff left over in the process of making jersey garments. The production surplus is re-purposed and turned into a thick yarn great for craft projects, especially crochet.

How Do You Make A Dog Tug Toy?

A quick look on the internet and I found several videos showing how to make a tug toy, most using a few simple macrame techniques. I chose this one:

Great instructions and easy to follow. I chose to do mine longer than recommended here so it would be extra long and snake-like for my pup. It turned out really well! I could have tightened the knots a bit more than I did, but actually the resulting toy was great for her – the stretch that slightly looser knots created made for a more fun tug toy. Here’s how it turned out. As you can see, our dog loves it!

Where Can I Get T-Shirt Yarn?

There are lots of companies that sell T-shirt yarn, but it’s not always recycled, so you will need to read carefully to check the source. If you are in the UK, you could try one of these online retailers and brands:

Retwisst – This UK company sells a range of recycled T-Shirt and other recycled craft and project yarns. They don’t chemically-dye any yarn or use water during production so stock can vary in colour and their range constantly changes.

Lovecrafts – Lovecrafts is a huge online retailer for crochet, knitting and other crafts. They sell a huge range of yarns, including recycled T-shirt yarn.

Jolly Good Yarn – A Devon based retailer of eco-friendly and recycled T-shirt yarn and craft yarns.

Why Not Make Your Own T-Shirt Yarn?

You can make your own T-shirt yarn, which is a fantastic way to make use of old T-shirts or other jersey clothing items that are too worn out to pass on or sell. There are lots of videos on Youtube showing how to make your own. Perhaps try one of these:

What Else Can I Do With T-Shirt Yarn?

The internet is full of suggestions on this, but personally I reckon a lot of them are ghastly. But there are a few things that are just fabulous with T-Shirt yarn. Here are my top suggestions: