What to do with scrap yarn

[Judi Gums]

Hi,
I have found some of the nicest items I have made have come about from" just winging it" I love to take a pattern and make changes, or put two patterns together to make something completely different. And I love the idea of mixing up left over yarns and seeing how they turn out.

I belong to a local crochet group who makes granny lapghans to give to our local nursing homes. So I now have a good outlet for my leftovers. But I have 4 of them made at this time. I give one per month.

Happy stitching,
Judi G

Speaking of the ugly afghan I have made one. One day I looked at the box of yarn that I had been carrying around for 20 years and thought it had to go. I took all those partial skeins, rolled them into a ball and put them in a really large project bag. I then got out my knitting needles (I know this is a crochet page) and starting knitting stripeson the diagonal (you could crochet this way as well by just adding and additional stitch at the beginning of each row). Once you have reache the desired width (measure from the corner to the tip of your work) start decreasing one stitch each row. The first one I made like this I closed my eyes and pulled a ball of yarn from the bag, knitted till I reached the end of the ball and pulled another. The second one I laid out the balls in some semblence of color sequence. Yes, I had enough yarn to knit two scrappy afghans measuring 7' x 7' each without repeating a color in either afghan. And yet none of these balls of yarn was a whole skein. One I kept for me to wrap up in while I do more needle work. The other became a christmas present for my son in law to be.

[BamaBelleMari]

Hi Arlette,

Sounds like you really made good use of your scraps. Scraps remind me of people--put together we are God's beautiful creation. Separately maybe not so much.

I remember that my Grandmother used to used clothing and cut it up for quits and they were beautiful. I cannot throw away any of my scrap material or yarn because I know it can be turned into something pretty and usable. I guess I was "green" before "going green" was popular. I make doll hats and doll clothes from the little sraps Barbie clothes only take so very little supplies and make great gifts.

[BamaBelleMari]

Judy,

I am crocheting hats for a church mission trip to Brazil in June. The people they give these hats to really don't have any or little heat in the winter. I didn't realize Brazil get this kind of weather. I think we may get over 100 really surprised by the number of women at the Church who "used to" crochet but haven't crocheted in years. There is so much excitement in showing our new hats that it is inspiring others to make some.

Volunteering is so very rewarding have been doing this for years. Volunteers make the best kind of friends as they have such big hearts and think of others.

Thanks for giving these gifts to the nursing home.

Last month my Mother In Law (90) had to go into a Home because she was just unable to take care of herself and needed extra care even the family couldn't give. Many people in the Home never have visitors and your gift would make them feel special.

[ckhdge]

Bless you for your charity work! I'm not able to do lengthy time crocheting because of arthritis in my hands so I stay with smaller projects. I have so many grandchildren and now a growing number of great grandchildren that the animals and baby blankets work well for me. I made several scarves for xmas that the older girls loved. Throw in multiple sewing projects and that combined keeps my hands and mind quite busy!

[arlette1013]

Hey there! I am also a quilter and I just cannot throw away a piece of fabric that is too small for use in a quilt but too big to get rid of. So what I do is whenever I am cutting fabric I take the left overs. First I see if I can get a fat quarter out of it. Then I go to 6" squares. Then 2 1/2" squares. These are all neatly stacked on a shelf in my supply room. Whenever I need a quick quilt for a friend or I just want something mindless I take a solid (or tone on tone fabric) cut 2 1/2" strips then I sew on the 6"squares to the strips. This makes a lovely lattice quilt and I don't need to go shopping for fabric. The 2 1/2" squares become either yo yo's or hexagons for grandmother's flower garden. I also make a habit of when I cut fabric after I square off the edge I cut a 2 1/2 strip that I stash for making strip quilts and a 1" strip that goes in a bag. I am crocheting a rug and when I have enough 1" strips I sew them together and crochet another section onto my rug. Eventually I hope to have a 24" x 36" scrappy rag rug. As you can tell from my posts I rarely throw anything away even little bits of crochet cotton thread. These work up into beautiful flowers that can adorn barrettes or toasting glasses for brides. have a great day.

[Judi Gums]

Hang in there ckhdge

I too have arthritis in my hands. About 3 years ago I noticed the tendons in my right hand felt like they were tightening up bad. Finally I decided to get back into crocheting, I just took my Ibuprofen and kept on going working through the pain, my goal was to make an afghan for each of my kids, grand kids, husband and myself and a friend if I could.....13 in all. All of a sudden I noticed the flexibility came back into my hand. I still have the arthritis but it isn't near as bad as it once was. So hang in there girl, try just one larger project, once you finish that, try something else. I feel the key is to just keep moving, use it or loose it, and know you aren't alone going through it.

Judi G

Bless you for your charity work! I'm not able to do lengthy time crocheting because of arthritis in my hands so I stay with smaller projects. I have so many grandchildren and now a growing number of great grandchildren that the animals and baby blankets work well for me. I made several scarves for xmas that the older girls loved. Throw in multiple sewing projects and that combined keeps my hands and mind quite busy!

[Judi Gums]

What a great idea arlette.
Judi G

[arlette1013]

I also have a bit of arthritis in my hands which when I was working was keep flexible by typing several hours a day. Now I keep my hands flexible with needlework. The real problem I am having is the growth of nodules in the middle joints of my fingers. Not too bad in the heat of the summer but the cool dampness of the winter makes it difficult to bend my fingers. But 45 years of needlework is not going to end because of bumpy fingers. Sometimes when I am working on a project and my hands begin to hurt I will stop and massage them this seems to help then back to my project.

[danielle1962]

I found a great video on youtube for crochet gloves. The videos are a great way to learn projects, too, because you can see the person actually doing all the steps and stitches. You may find something else there, too, like decorative flowers, toys, etc.

[Judi Gums]

Hi danielle1962,
I love Youtube tutorials. It lets you learn at such a faster pace watching someone else working on a project. I can't even tell you how many things I have learned off there. It has been many hats and stitches that I have made several afghans and scarfs out of. I don't do clothing, I just get frustrated with having to fit things, so I don't bother doing them, but I love what other people make.

I am working on afghans now in a stitch that I came up with. I haven't seen it any where, but I am sure someone else has thought of it before me. It has a nice texture to the stitch. Maybe one day I'll get a good camera so I can post some pics.

Happy stitching,
Judi G

I found a great video on youtube for crochet gloves. The videos are a great way to learn projects, too, because you can see the person actually doing all the steps and stitches. You may find something else there, too, like decorative flowers, toys, etc.