Knitionary: May 2022

match marvelous scraps to fabulous projects (and donate the rest)

Hello knitting friends! Today I have some solutions on how you can turn your scraps into something you'll truly love--something you'll love knitting and also love having. This post is important because I'm sure that you, like me, have drawers and bins of leftover yarn. Sure you do! And no matter how well you try to maintain the oddball situation in your yarn storage, it ends up a mess. Yes? Well, I'm tired of it. I'm tired of the jumble and tired of storing and sorting and then rarely using those precious scraps. I had to fix this.

Problem: Five drawers of tangled oddballs, loosely organized into weights.

Goal: Find projects for the best scraps and donate the rest.

First things first: I dumped the drawers, all five of them, onto the floor. I thought if I saw it all in one place I'd have a better chance with being honest about what I would use and what would never get used. I wish I had taken a picture of that holy mess; it covered the entire floor of my knitting room. One by one I picked up each ball, gave it a good hard look and decided, worthy or unworthy? This is where I had to be honest with myself, but I kept in mind my last years of decluttering and how great it felt going through my house and removing the excess of the first world problem of having too much. I dropped the unloved balls into a large bag for donation, then organized the rest into projects. I promised myself I would start on the projects right away and honestly, I'm loving knitting through memory lane.

Projects Number One and Two: I picked out the primo pieces and squirreled away two bags for future stripy sweaters for my grandson. One bag is wool and one is cotton. He adores his yearly striped sweaters from Grammy and this brings me much joy! Status: not started.

Project Number Three: The Hudson & West Weld, Rosie Green Wool Manx Merino Fine, Brooklyn Tweed Peerie, Quince and Co Chickadee and a few other of the loveliest fingering and sport weights in my collection are in a basket with the fun and free Mini Christmas Stocking Ornaments pattern from Little Cotton Rabbits. In my queue forever, my goal is to make one a week to have it finished by December 1. No problem, I love making them so much, I'll be finished long before then. The wood advent buttons are from Katrinkles and finish the project beautifully. Status: 25% finished. Click here for my project page.

Click here for Katrinkles Advent Buttons.

Project Number Four: Bunting! I used a free pattern, Trellis Bunting, using dk and worsted weights as is, plus fingering weights doubled. The pattern is easily memorized and a great travel or car knit. This is a project for my patio and I think I need about 100! Gulp. But the thing is, I don't even know if I will like the look of bunting on my patio, so I'll stop soon and hang a few strands up and decide. I hope I love the look because these are super fun to knit and they're gobbling up yarn. Each one takes approximately 23 yards dk or worsted weight, double that amount if using fingering doubled, and 30 minutes to complete. Status: 30 finished. My project page is here.

Block as you go, and commit to using up even your tiniest bits.

Below is my basket of oddballs that I'm using for the bunting, but I confess I had to purchase a yellow and a purple to round out my colors.

Project Number Five: I'm picking yarn from the same basket above to make the new Painting Bricks afghan from Stephen West. Love making this one too, totally addictive, as in, just one more color then I'll stop! You'll have the pattern memorized after a few rows. The pattern comes in two sizes but you can easily customize your size and my project page tells all. Status: half finished.

In the end I have moved from five drawers of oddballs to two and I have a growing bag of donation yarn. Plus I'm making some projects that I love. Win win! Here's the big thing to take away, don't let any yarn you don't absolutely love stay with you. You know in your heart that you don't need it and it's doing no one any good sitting in that bin. Give it away, now. FYI, I have turned into my grandson's preschool principal's favorite grandma, just by donating unused yarn and craft supplies. The school goes up to 8th grade and she says the teachers have numerous yarn projects for all ages. She'll take anything I give her. Yay!

I took this picture just before dusk. My feet were up and I was knitting a tiny stocking and thinking how much I love to combine knitting and gardening. You can often find me in this spot all spring and summer. Sometimes I'll listen to an audio book but often I just listen to the quiet--the birds, the rustle of the leaves, and the click of my needles. My husband often joins me and it's a pleasant way to end the day and a good place to sit and admire our hard work, which reminds me, garden post soon!

www.kristenrettig.com

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