Do you keep things because it’s difficult to recycle them? We do… especially things that we look at and think they have potential. Which is why, high up on a shelf in our little utility room, is a box of old CDs. Most of these came free with magazines or were the source of long-obsolete software. For a while we used them as slug barriers in the garden, but the advent of the chickens (which clear the garden of slugs and their eggs over the winter, but are kept away from the veg beds in the summer) made this function superfluous. And so, the box sat atop a shelf until a couple of months ago when the subject of crochet CD mandalas cropped up during a chat with a friend.
I resisted the urge to look for ideas on the internet and just picked up my hook. My first try was rather tatty and my next attempts looked good, but were a little looser than was ideal, but finally I managed a design that I liked. By making two circles and crocheting them together around a pair of CDs (printed sides together, so you just get shininess showing through), I made something that, with an added loop, can be hung up where it can spin around and catch the light (turn the sound off if you don’t want to hear Sam and Daisy in the background):
Alternatively, they can be used as coasters. In fact, the set of eight that are pictured below (both sides) have gone off to two local holiday cottages owned by a friend for just that purpose.
A little bit of further experimentation with the aim of producing a snowflake seems to have turned into a spider’s web. Oh well, I rather like it anyway:
I might make a spider to go in the middle
I have a pattern drafted, so I may actually get it published eventually.
It’s turned out to be a rather nice way to use up wool scraps and I have about 200 more CDs, so I’ve got plenty of raw materials.
The Snail of Happiness 
Wild Daffodil
/ February 4, 2019They would make fab Christmas Decorations. I have made one with a snowflake design, but found it difficult to get it to stay central, and gave up. I’m looking forward to seeing your version.
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Patricia Collins
/ February 4, 2019Great use of materials. Especially like the coaster sets.
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Laurie Graves
/ February 4, 2019As we would say in Maine, wowsah, you are some clever! Love it.
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Going Batty in Wales
/ February 4, 2019I nearly threw away some old dvds but thought better of it. Now I know what to do with the. Thank you.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ February 4, 2019I look forward to seeing your results.
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Moke
/ February 4, 2019Love the blog and love the mandalas. You can also join up crocheted CDs/DVDs to make ‘baskets’. I made one but gifted it so can’t show you a photo…darn it. Moke x PS you opened my eyes to glitter. Thanks M.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ February 4, 2019I will have to have a play around and see what I can come up with. I’m wondering about stringing a few together to make a wall hanging.
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Moke
/ February 5, 2019A wall hanging sounds good. I may have to copy that idea. Have fun. Mx
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thecontentedcrafter
/ February 4, 2019Ah ha!! You are clever! And I must have been eavesdropping on you yesterday when I had a discussion about all our old and unused CDs and what to do with them – there was an idea of stringing them up higgledy-piggledy to make a shiny window ‘curtain’ but I like the idea of crocheting over them even more…….. that takes care of all the yarn scraps from blanket making 🙂 Your designs are great and the coasters would make a lovely gift – put some in your shop m’dear and see what happens.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ February 4, 2019I have made a couple more with the idea of selling them, but I think I’m going to play around with them first… possibly adding some beads, as I think that would look nice and make them hang better with a little more weight..
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thecontentedcrafter
/ February 5, 2019Good idea – you are on a roll!
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anne54
/ February 4, 2019I have been pondering CD recycling too.I don’t believe the op shop would be interested in the music I am wanting to move on. Your crocheting idea is wonderful, but not for me at the moment. However, I did find that my library, on behalf of the Council, collects CDs, batteries, old phones etc to be mined for their useful components. So that’s where they are off too.
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insearchofitall
/ February 4, 2019I even went on Pinterest looking for ideas on how to use them so they wouldn’t go to the dump. Took them to a thrift store that takes everything. Figured someone would find a use for them. I don’t crochet anymore but those are wonderful I do keep things because I don’t want to throw them away.
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katechiconi
/ February 4, 2019I like the idea of joining the crocheted mandalas edge to edge to form a sort of half geodesic dome ‘bowl’… it’d be worth investigating how it looks using safety pins, that way you could take it apart again if you didn’t like it without mucking up your pretty coasters. Do make some more in the darker colours, they contrast so well with the shiny side.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ February 4, 2019Oh yes… experiments with safety pins… what a good idea. Just need to make a few more since the eight have already gone off to their new home.
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Jennifer
/ February 5, 2019I’d like to hear more about the CD slug deterrent. They didn’t just hide underneath? Or did they form a wall?
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The Snail of Happiness
/ February 5, 2019We shoved them in the soil vertically to form a barrier and the slugs seemed to avoid climbing over them. It only seemed to work as long as the shiny surface remained intact.
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wybrow1966
/ February 5, 2019They look great – and just love the sound of your dog in the background!
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crawcraftsbeasties
/ February 10, 2019Very nifty! I’m not surprised your coasters were snapped up, they look great… And that’s a great tip about using CDs as slug repellents too! The army that inhabit my balcony will have a big surprise coming to them this spring! 😂
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