Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Knit All the Yarn

There's nothing like moving across the country to bring your giant yarn addiction to your attention. It's not even that I have that much (I'd guess most knitters have more), it's that I live in a tiny apartment and don't have room for it all!

Therefore, I'm embarking on a new project I'm calling Knit All the Yarn (In my head. No one here cares about the yarn but me). I'm trying to knit through all the single-skeins, half balls, and leftovers, and wanted to share some of the best (free!) patterns.

tiny ball of yarn that will become a tiny mitten!

Since most of my balls of yarn are the size of this tiny pink ball, I looked for a lot of patterns that use half a ball or less. The big winner was Smitten (A Holiday Garland) by Emily Ivey, available at Knit Picks. I was hoping to start this before Christmas, but you know how that goes. 


mitten garland

I'm gonna keep knitting tiny mittens until I have Knit All the (worsted) Yarn, and then assemble them into pleasing garlands. After knitting the 12 above, I've pretty much memorized the pattern. 



pretties

These Daisy Stitch Handwarmers from the Purl Bee were also a great way to use up leftovers. I knit these back in September. I would guess I used less than 50 yards of each color, and they're adorable.

Cutie Patootie's Booties

If you've got babies to knit for, little accessories are perfect for using up extras. I've knit Saartje's Booties three times, most recently for my niece, Emlyn. 


Another thrice-knit, Allyson Dykhuizen's WORK + SHELTER Cabled Headband is a great last-minute gift. I knit it so last minute (three times), that I don't have any pictures of my finished headbands (that's Allyson up there). This is the only pattern that is not free, but it's only $2, and the money goes toward an awesome cause

Anyone want to Knit All the Yarn with me!? We can call it a KAY KAL, eh? Catchy, right?

4 comments :

  1. MY FACE! haha

    Yeah I NEED that mitten garland! So freaking cute!

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  2. I don't have a huge stash, either (well, again, compared with most knitters) - but definitely could use to scale it down a bit. The mitten garland is such an awesome idea for all the small worsted scraps I've got lying around.

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  3. This is perfect! I recently moved between countries and sorting through my beloved stash of odds-and-ends that I knew I would have to dump was heart-breaking. I tried to knit up as much as possible, but eventually a lot of it got thrown out. Anyway, I thusly decided to (a) knit up the stash I *did* keep to make my next move easier and (b) start a self-database of patterns that would be ideal for finishing up yarn leftovers, especially those that could become quick gifts. I really like the handwarmers - they're getting added!

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  4. How many more nieces or nephews would I need to give you to get the mitten garland? Just saying...

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