The next natural choice, of course, is plastic. I've been using plastic hangers for as long as I can remember and have never had any problems. Now either they just don't make them like they used to, or the plastic hangers available here in Australia are just bad quality. But between my husband and I, we seem to break an average of 2 or 3 plastic hangers a week. It's expensive, it's wasteful, and it's frustrating.
I NEVER thought I'd be the kind of person who would want, or use, a crocheted hanger. I've always thought they were a bit daggy. Not to mention op shops / thrift stores seem to be choking with old unwanted ones. I suppose part of me never wanted to make one because it made me sad to think it would end up some day as an unwanted item in an op shop. But as they say, never say never.
Due to my frustration of the broken plastic hangers, I used some of my leftover Sugar & Cream and Peaches & Cream cotton to cover two hangers. Hhhhmmm, not too bad. They aren't too ugly. And they help cushion the clothes a bit versus just plain wood (and don't seem to leave those little pointed shoulder marks).
Recently the Crochet Lover's Victoria group on Ravelry had a trio of hangers swap. After looking up some of my partner's likes & dislikes in regard to colour, I got to work. First out of the gate was a plain SC hanger cover made from Moda Vera Isabella. It's acrylic but very soft and squishy. It's a fun bright blue with little flecks in it as well. I was worried my partner would think the hanger was a bit plain as is, so I picked up the yellow and orange of some of the flecks, and added a crocheted flower to it.
One down. Two to go. Second on the list was a lovely Tiffany-esque blue in Kate Espiga cotton. It's super soft and really shows off stitches well. I winged my own pattern of bobble stitches for the second hanger. I'm super happy with the results. I had a little bit of trouble sending this one off, I have to say!
Two down. One to go! For the third and final hanger, I decided to make a striped hanger. My partner's birthday is the 5th of December so I alternated the stripes based on those numbers... 5, 1, 2, repeat. This idea is good in theory, and I think it came out well, but the ends.... oh the ends!!!!! I didn't realise until I was about halfway done how many ends I would have to weave in! Trust me when I say I won't be doing this again. It took me about two hours to weave all those ends in. Way too much work for a hanger! Live and learn. For the finishing touch, I used the two colours together to add a little curlique.
I also received three lovely hangers in return from the person who had me for the swap.
While I was feeling the hanger vibe, I decided to make a couple more for myself. I'd eventually like to get rid of all those plastic hangers. I'm sure it won't take long. I'm not buying any more, and with how many break each week...
These may well end up unwanted in an op shop someday, but I'm okay with that now. In the mean time they will be used and appreciated. And they will save me from all the frustration of nearly daily snapped plastic hangers. I think Mommie Dearest would be proud, too.
