Making a Floor Lamp out of a Table Lamp

Before...

After

This was a crazy idea!  Hobby Lobby had lamps on clearance -- such a great deal that I decided it was time to update my lamps in my front room.  But the configuration in that room required a floor lamp.  I tried to put a small table there, but it just didn't do it!  So I turned to the internet to see if there were instructions on how to modify a lamp this way.

I found a nice little explanation in a blog photo post by Laure Joliet.  It looks like she got it elsewhere, so I'm not sure I'm giving the original source the proper credit here.  Find it here:  How to Rewire a Thrift Store Lamp

I printed the color photo instructions out, bought a lamp extension kit at my hardware store, and got out my electrical wiring tools.

Being the crazy fearless nut that I am, I got busy and took the lamp apart.  I removed the small pipe that rested on the top of the lamp and bought the same size pipe in the length that I wanted.  I sprayed a pipe the same color as the lamp base.  Note that it took two different colors to get the same look as the original lamp.  I then pulled the wire up from the base to the proper length, put the lamp extension kit pieces together over the wire.  I then put the newly painted pipe in place, and wired it to the new length.  The results are just what I wanted.  Only problem, the lamp base is not as heavy as a manufactured floor lamp, so it falls over sometimes.  Looking for a solution to that problem next...  Stay tuned.

Sweater Hangers -- Solution to Sagging Sweaters Losing their Shape

I haven't posted in a long time, just busy with my other blogs.  But yesterday I decided to act on an impulse to finally figure out how to modify hangers so they could hold sweaters without the sweaters sagging.  Sweaters lose their shape if they are hung on smooth hangers.  They sag and stretch out.  I remember seeing yarn covered hangers in my grandma's house.  It looked like some sort of macrame knotting on the metal hangers.  So I turned to YouTube.

I found a few tutorials on it, but none of them satisfied me.  I tried the one that looked like a macrame knot but it was tedious and took forever to make a few inches of progress.  I looked at another tutorial and liked what I saw, but I still adapted it to simplify and speed up the process.

Yolanda gives a great tutorial here: Vintage style- crochet hanger cover with attached clothespins

In it, Yolanda crochets a cover for a hanger right onto the hanger.  It's a beautiful solution and I'm grateful for her good explanation of the stitch and her process.  I changed it slightly to speed it up and make it more durable.  And you'll notice I didn't add the clothespins or flower.

First-- I used 3 identical metal hangers taped together.  That way it would be nice and strong and hold it's shape really well.  Don't use plastic!  If you go to all this work to make a covering, you want it to last a long time.  Plastic hangers break.

Second-- I used 2 yarns together to make it go faster.  It added bulk which I wanted.  The rounder the hanger, the less impact it would have on the sweater.

Third-- I modified her stitch slightly.  I pulled one loop from inside the hanger, then a loop from outside the hanger through the first loop and the loop from the last stitch.  Yolanda has an added loop before going into the hanger.  I found that loop unnecessary.  When you watch her tutorial, you may decide to leave that loop in. 

As I crocheted around the hanger, I ended at the end of the hook and hot glued the end to the very tip, so it would not slide off.

I picked up the stitch quickly and was able to make 9 hangers in about 2 hours as I enjoyed sitting by the fire with my family.  I'm very happy with the results of this and hope to make many more. Thanks to Yolanda for her great tutorial that got me started!