This project is good in so many ways. You can brighten your winter with warm colorful accessories and address your yarn stash at the same time. I’ve heard most crocheters and knitters have a common problem in small balls of leftover yarn from various projects. It’s certainly true for me, mine tend to unroll and get tangled horribly in the rest of the yarn. This is a great way to use up the little bits you have and make space for more incredible yarn. That’s what all good stash-buster projects do right? So, start with a pile (or bag to make it a portable project) of a variety of your leftover yarns. Pick one of your favorite patterns that doesn’t take too much yarn, skinny scarves, mittens, and hats are great examples. Crochet (or knit) away switching colors whenever you feel like it.
This is probably a good time to hook you up with an incredible pattern site. www.ravelry.com is by far my favorite. Don’t be turned away by the fact that you have to sign up on it. I’ve never seen spam from them and they have some pretty awesome stuff! They have a plethora of patterns (with thumbnails!), an incredible search feature, and a favorites folder so you can keep track of patterns you find that you like. That’s just a couple of their great features. But I’ll stop the commercial now. They don’t pay me, after all!
For each of these projects I used the all the colors of homespun yarn I had leftover and a big crochet hook, J or K. Whenever you do such a colorful project, just remember you’ll have LOTS of little ends to work in! But I’ve got ideas for that too, read on… past the next paragraph too…
Um, just in case it doesn’t turn out quite as cute as you though I suggest trying it on a child. My creative hat didn’t look so great on me but Drew loved it. Kids seem to pull off unique really well. 🙂
Another idea for what to do with your extra yarns, or with all the ends from your very colorful projects, is to use the it for stuffing. I keep the little ends I cut off to use for stuffing amigurumi animals I make for my kids but you can use it in place of stuffing for any other project too.
You can also use extra yarn and ends for yarn art. Give the kids glue and paper or cardboard and lots of yarn and scissors. If you’re really brave, break out the glitter. They may want to outline their shapes first or color them first then decorate with yarn. Or they may go abstract with it. Either way it’s fun! Here’s some of the 6 year olds latest yarn art. Christmas tree, cat, and tiger if you couldn’t tell.
You can always use up your little balls of yarn to edge other projects.
These little gloves are for sale in my store here.
So that’s it for now. Many more ideas, so little time. But hopefully I’ll be blogging again soon!