What to do with Scrap Yarn - Thread Two

[pgirsh]

I have been making baby blocks with my scraps with a matching box.

[kcbcmom]

The scarf of many colors is almost done, when it is I will put up a picture of it. I will be making hats for my daughters hubby and 2 boys after the scarf is done. Then its on to the next project. Crocheting goes much slower than it used to, but I'll not complain I couldn't crochet at all for over 2 years, because of a Carpel Tunnel thing, so I am blessed to be able crochet at all. Crochet comfort cushions for my hooks make all the difference in the world.

[KathyL.]

I use my scraps for making baby hats for a group I belong to on-line. Also baby booties, scrappy flowers for trims. Local animal shelters can use scrappy blankets for the animals so they don't have to lay on cold hard floors. The animals don't care if they aren't perfect.

[Theresa L]

I wish there was an easier way to go back through this thread and the first one collect all the wonderful ideas shared here. I know there were some projects mentioned I wanted to try for Christmas projects.

[Susan2014]

Mamarose22 your afghan is absolutely beautiful. How long did it take?? Keep your needle & yarn moven. S M j

[Susan2014]

Mamarose22 ; sounds just like I use to do. Im a low self image senior, slowed way down on crocheting till march. no one but I & hubby so no feed back. I donate all but 2 out of 5 afghans . Thank you your talented as many I've read about. Since march this is 1 st time I joined in. See you later.

[mamarose22]

Mamarose22 your afghan is absolutely beautiful. How long did it take?? Keep your needle & yarn moven. S M j

Actually, I made that one over a long period of time. I picked it up every now and then between other projects. I am currently about 3/4 done with another one which I started just about a month ago. I have so many small balls of yarn that I would like to use up. The balls are from 1" to 2" in diameter. Also I use a lot of small pieces starting at about 24 inches that would normally have been thrown away.

[Ulrika]

I saved scraps of yarn at least 18"-20" long and longer. These scraps would usually be thrown away. However I just kept saving them and also some larger scraps and just knotted them together into a "magic ball" and made a rectangular afghan. When I thought it was large enough I found a started hank of soft white and crocheted a scalloped edge all around. It really came out nice and I had donated it.

How did you join all the scraps? Did you use the magic knot method, so there wouldn't be lots of ends to weave in? Or did you use the brainded or russian join method?

[crochetbug]

Here is a recent scrap project paired with an-as-yet-unfinished scrap project. The first makes use of small lengths of yarn (usually less than 8" and more than 4") while the other uses longer scraps:

[mamarose22]

Crochetbug, that "scrapghan" is just like what I make. However I make it rectangular instead of square. The method I use is to crochet a chain then I start making the clusters along one edge, then when I get to the end of the chain, I make a cluster, ch2, cluster, ch 2, cluster to make the 2 corners, then go along the other edge (,I usually have about 3 clusters along the long edges) then make the corner the same as the other end. There is another way to make a rectangular granny and you can find a tutorial by googling "how to crochet a rectangular granny".

As far as the ends go, I don't have to weave them. i work over them by twisting them back and forth around the stitches. I figured out how to do this when I got disgusted with all the ends I had to weave on other projects. It certainly comes in handy on something like this when you have a knot to contend with sometimes after 4 or 5 DC's. I use the standard square knot. I once saw a video tutorial that showed how to work over the ends in a similar way. I know some crocheters that use a twisted knot and can't understand that. The twisted knot is so bulky. If you do knot, the square knot is the only way to go. When my sister was a teenager, she worked after school in a knitting store and they used to wind the yarn into skeins for sale. When the yarn would break they had to use a square knot to continue. These yarns were sold all over under their label.