Handles for Cheap

I was in a local yarn shop looking at handles to buy for my first big felted tote bag.

The shop had large (not huge) bamboo handles for $8 for each handle. So if I wanted two handles on the bag it would cost me $16.

I would have purchased them if they matched. Oddly they had one that was kind of longer and flatter and the other was taller and more of a steep upside down U shape so they could not be used as a set on one project. Perhaps some people make a bag with one handle and then that would be fine.

The next day I went to Goodwill to make a donation and popped inside to see if they had any knitting needles, yarn or anything else of use.

I was surprised to find two handbags with bamboo handles.

The large bag cost $4 and the bag was in like-new condition. I cut the handles off the bag and will re-use them in a future knitting-felted bag project. Net, two medium sized handles for $2 each.



The small bag was brand new with the original labels still on the bag. I paid $2 for that bag. Net, two small sized handles for $1 each.



These handles will be easy to attach due to the metal clasps they have on them. I plan to use yarn and go around and around to make a thick attachment.

Some in the green living movement call this "upcycling". By purchasing things at a thift shop, things that otherwise would have been thrown away, we are putting money to a charity and re-using existing stuff for a new purpose rather than buying the item newly factory made and sold for profit by a commercial vendor for its first time use.

I did feel guilty throwing away the rest of the bag but I got over my pack rat tendencies and did throw the bags in the garbage.