(From Right to Left)
Mistake Rib
This pattern makes a tightly knit, substantial scarf.
Skill Level: Easy
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton
Directions: Work in multiples of four plus three.
Knit 2, purl two across ending with knit 2, purl 1.
Repeat this row until scarf measures desired length and bind off.
Lace Reflections Moebius Scarf
This is an elegant lace wrap knitted in a moebius shape.
Skill Level: Medium (once you get the cast on, it’s smooth sailing)
Yarn: South West Trading Company’s A-MAIZing corn yarn
Directions: From A Treasury of Magical Knitting by Cat Bordhi.
Clapotis
This pattern gives you a scarf that has a beautiful pattern and an interesting drape.
Skill Level: Medium
Yarn: South West Trading Company’s Soy Silk
Directions: Free pattern from knitty.com
Knit Two Together Yarn Over
This pattern creates a very open scarf that you can wear doubled up.
Skill Level: Easy
Yarn: Hemp for Knitting, All Hemp 6
Directions: Cast on an odd number of stitches.
Knit 1, *yarn over, knit 2 together, repeat from * every row to desired length and bind off.
Take Off Your Shoes
Many outdoor germs and contaminants enter your home on the bottom of your shoes. Stop germs in their tracks by removing your shoes once you’re inside. In addition to improving your indoor air quality and reducing the number of times you need to sweep and vacuum, removing your shoes will also help your floors last longer by eliminating the grit that stains and scratches floors.
The best way to make this tip a habit is to create a convenient place for outdoor and indoor shoes at the door you use most. If you have enough room, a shoe rack keeps the area tidy, but if you’re tight on space, a wicker basket serves the purpose, too.
Seal Your Windows
During a cold winter, most of the heat that your home loses is lost through your windows. The easiest, least expensive way to keep your home snug and your energy bills low this winter is to seal your windows.
This is so much easier than you think it will be. Each window will take you a maximum of ten minutes to seal.
Double paned windows with a half inch space between panes are twice as insulating as a single paned window so sealing your windows like we’re going to show you is like adding another window pane and doubling the insulation value of your windows.
Step 1: Clean your windows.
Step 2: Apply double sided tape to sides and bottom of window on trim.
Step 3: Attach plastic window covering by the adhesive to the top of the window.
Step 4: Cut the plastic to size.
Step 5: Take the covering off of the double sided tape.
Step 6: Pull plastic and apply it to double sided tape around window.
Step 7: Carefully use hairdryer to shrink plastic and create an airtight seal.
Use Bullion Cubes
Winter months mean home cooking, and the best recipes start with great stock; beef, chicken and vegetable. If you make your own, bravo! But if you use a store-bought stock, keep in mind that a cube is significantly smaller, weighs much less than liquid stock and requires less packaging. This simple choice can decrease transportation pollutants created in shipping and takes up less space in your pantry.
Buy used books
What’s an environmentalist bookworm to do? You love to snuggle up with a good book and leaf through page after page, but you don’t want to contribute to deforestation.
Buy used books.
More than most objects, books are successfully sold and resold and some become more valuable with age. The only drawback is that authors don’t receive funds when you purchase used books. If supporting living authors is important to you, you can always choose to purchase new copies of their books.
Make a gift of one of your belongings
Sometimes, the most precious gift for someone important to you, is one that you already cherish. If you have a close friend who has always loved your glass bulb vase, by making a gift of it, you give more than an object, you give something of yourself. And every day she looks at her lovely vase, she won’t just see a beautiful flower, she’ll see a beautiful friend.
HOW TO INSTALL A PROGRAMABLE THERMOSTAT
The only reason you heat and cool your home is for your own comfort. So when you’re not there, why are you still heating and cooling your home as if you were there? Give your system a break when you’re out by either raising or lowering the thermostat to save energy. Can’t remember to change the thermostat every day? You aren’t the only one. That’s why programmable thermostats are so popular. Program your schedule just once and your new thermostat will start saving you money and conserving energy immediately. Worried that you’re going to have to hire an electrician to get the job done? Not so.
Remember your reusable bags
Leslie Garrett
I have enough reusable bags to outfit a small village so I keep them everywhere. Some in the backpack that I use when I'm biking. Some in my car. Some in my five-year-old's wagon for walks to the store. Some in the front hall coat "tree" so I can grab them on my way out the door. And the minute I unpack groceries or purchases from my bags, I immediately return the bags to their rightful spots so I won't be caught without them. I've even stashed some in my husband's car because if he doesn't stop bringing home plastic bags from the grocery store, I'll be forced to file for divorce...
(As an aside, I give gifts in particularly nice reusable bags rather than standard "gift" bags...)
HOW TO DISPOSE OF INCANDESCENT BULBS
Switching to compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) is one quick and easy way to decrease the amount of energy you need to light your home as well as decreasing your utility bill! But you have heard correctly. In order to make CFLs an eco-friendly choice from start to finish, you do need to dispose of them differently than you would a traditional incandescent bulb. This is due to the small amount of mercury that is sealed in the glass tubing of the bulb. On average, a CFL will contain around 5 mg of mercury; not a lot when you consider that old thermometers contained around 500 mg of mercury. Mercury is the biggest environmental drawback to CFLs, and knowing this, manufacturers are working to reduce even further the amount of mercury in their bulbs. So when your CFL’s finally do burn out, you need to take them to a proper recycling station. The easiest way to find one near you is to go to www.earth911.org and type in CFL and your zip code. If the drop-off is out of the way, you may want to consider storing your old CFLs in a secure container until you’ll either be in the area, or you have enough old bulbs to warrant a trip.
WATER PLANTS WITH COOKING WATER
The next time you steam veggies or boil eggs, don’t just pour that leftover water down the drain. Let it cool and use it to water your plants. Not only are you conserving water, you’re also giving your plants a boost from the calcium and other vitamins that remain in the water after cooking.
INSULATE YOUR WATER HEATER
If your hot water heater has an insulation rating of 24 or less, you can improve the efficiency of your unit and decrease your energy bills by installing an insulation blanket before the cold weather sets in. This added padding can reduce standby losses by 25-45% saving you between 4-9% in water heating costs. Choose a pre-cut jacket with an R value of at least R-8.
USE A PRESSURE COOKER
If you aren’t too keen on the idea of a solar cooker, but you want to green your cooking, a pressure cooker may be the solution. Cooking accounts for about 10% of your monthly energy bill. You can trim this cost by using a pressure cooker; compared to conventional cooking, using a pressure cooker can save between 60-70% in energy costs. Not to mention the shorter cooking time gives you a chance to get out of the kitchen and into something more fun.
CLEAN UP SMART
Some messes do demand paper towels, but all too often reaching for the roll is just an ingrained habit. Give yourself a reason to kick the paper-towel habit by creating a bright cloth towel depot. A small basket and a selection of rolled towels help you make the cleaner choice while giving your kitchen a lift, too.
TAKE BACK YOUR POWER
Gone are the days when the television set was the main piece of electrical equipment in your home. Today’s family usually has the equivalent of a home office complete with printer, scanner, fax machine and cell phone chargers. We also have entertainment systems that would have made a Hollywood producer envious 20 years ago. Unfortunately for your electricity bill, all of this equipment draws energy even when its off or in standby mode. While some equipment may need to remain on, most power consumed by these devices is simply wasted. Some studies have even suggested that the energy wasted by phantom loads in the US is large enough to power the electric needs for Peru, Vietnam and Greece combined.
Is flying or driving more environmentally friendly?
Like a lot of environmental questions, the answer is, “That all depends”. You may think that by sharing a flight with a few hundred other people your individual pollution contribution is less when you fly than if you’re driving alone, and this may be so depending on a number of factors. But regardless of the details, what we do know for sure is that pollutants released thousands of feet in the atmosphere are more damaging than those released on the ground. Greenhouse gasses in the stratosphere trap significantly more heat than greenhouse gasses emmited at lower altitude. Planes typically fly in the bottom part of the stratosphere above the altitude where water condenses and then precipitates to the ground. Because of this, airplane exhaust remains at this altitude by dispersing into the atmosphere instead of condensing and falling as rain. So, when it comes to a choice between flying and driving, a hybrid and a book on tape is always the greener bet.
SIGN UP TO BLOCK JUNK MAIL
According to nativeforest.org, each person receives almost 560 pieces of junk mail each year resulting in the cutting of 100 million trees. Since 44% of all junk mail is thrown in the trash without being opened, this is a real environmental tragedy. There are some simple steps you can take to reduce the amount of junk mail you receive. You can either follow the step-by-step directions at nativeforest.org to have your name removed from many lists, or hire a company like greendimes.com or 41pounds.org to do this work on your behalf.
