you know those little bits that you get at the end of the project? any ideas would be super fantastic.... I'm up to my elbows in a knotted wad of pretty bits of wool, alpaca , linen, silk..etc......
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Re: what to with the scraps....
Sun, January 27, 2008 - 10:19 PMI have the same deal. I was thinking I'd knit up a patchwork scarf or something using the longer pieces, then add the shorter one's as fringe. -
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Re: what to with the scraps....
Sun, January 27, 2008 - 10:27 PMI'm taking my odds & ends and knitting up flowers
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Re: what to with the scraps....
Mon, January 28, 2008 - 12:18 AMA friend of mine does a scarf where you knit lengthwise instead of widthwise. You need long needles for it, of course, but it makes a lovely scarf. Something like this:
www.straw.com/cpy/pattern...-picnic.html
Only you don't have to be so regular. You can mix and match several different yarns--textures, weights, and colors--that coordinate well. For instance, the one she made me had black eyelash yarn, black medium weight wool yarn, a multicolored sparkle yarn, a fuscia worsted weight, etc that all blended together beautifully. Or you can make it more contrast-y, and really highlight the stripes. As long as you have enough to do at least one row (in this pattern, it's 110 stiches), you have enough to put it in the scarf! Great way to use up scraps! Voila!
Other people knit squares or crochet rounds to make crazy quilts. I just got into making flowers, which you can use as-is or felt up to adorn hats, pillows, etc.
tinyurl.com/269q53 <---this one is the one that got me started
flowerstoknit.blogspot.com/
www.knitty.com/issuesprin...petals.html
www.headhuggers.org/patterns...er02k.htm
Knit collars:
www.etsy.com/view_listing.php
Little animals and made-up creatures--experiment!
www.etsy.com/view_listing.php
www.etsy.com/view_listing.php
Finger puppets!
www.knitty.com/ISSUEsumme...uppers.html
www.fjsmjs.com/Mary/fingerpuppets.htm
Have fun! -
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Re: what to with the scraps....
Tue, January 29, 2008 - 8:08 AMI once paid a lot of money for a skein of "odds and ends" artfully tied together for the purpose of making a lengthwise scarf, and it turned out really great. The choice and range of yarns reminded me of a Colinette project. People have literally tried to buy it off my neck when I wear it. The yarn in this case was sort of color coordinated (it was a rainbow, so began with red bits and ended with purple bits...and every so often a glitzy bit was thrown in). Each length of yarn was just overhand-knotted to the next piece with a 1-3" tail of each left to hang free in the knitting. Instructions just said to cast on as many stitches as I wanted length to the scarf (there was a table and I think I cast on 100 with a size 10 needle) and then to do garter stitch until it was time to bind off. No fringe, it didn't need it. -
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Re: what to with the scraps....
Tue, January 29, 2008 - 10:42 AMDanese, did the ends just hang loose in the middle of the piece or did you weave them in?
I ask because Mojo wants me to make him a big scarf with all my odds and ends. "I want it to be huge and long and kind of gutter-punk," he says. So I'm wondering if I do it lengthwise and just leave the tails hanging out all over.
Back to the question at hand (as far as what to do with scraps): make fish! I have wanted to make a tessellated fish blanket since they began appearing a few years ago. The original pattern for the fish is in an out-of-print Knitters Magazine, but you can also find it in the book "Babies and Toddlers: a Knitter's Dozen" or just do a search on the phrase "tessellating fish." There are a couple similar patterns out there that do the same thing and it can be a great stash buster. -
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Re: what to with the scraps....
Thu, January 31, 2008 - 9:09 AMThe choice is yours: you can just leave the ends hanging. I've seen many projects knit with Prism's Hot Stuff (lots o' hand-tied novelty yarns) and they all just leave the ends hanging as extra accents.
A fun way to make the long scrap scarvies is to throw all your scraps in a bag. Blindly reach in and grab a yarn to cast on. Cut when you're done, leaving several inches as fringe. Blindly reach in again to knit the next row. Cut, leaving tail, etc., and repeat until it's done. You'll end up with the coolest color combination and texture, and w/o any planning on your part. Most of us naturally gravitate towards certain colors and textures so, without any planning, your scraps will most likely perfectly coordinated.
Baby sweaters are also fun for scraps. I loooooove Zimmerman's surprise jacket, b/c you can just change yarns willy-nilly and it will always look like you planned it. www.knitpicks.com/Baby+Surp...55220.html . There's an adult version, too, which lets you pick your gauge. -
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Re: what to with the scraps....
Fri, February 1, 2008 - 1:32 AMThanks Amy for reminding me what that yarn was called...it was indeed Prism "Hot Stuff" (which I note they don't seem to make anymore, although they still have "Cool Stuff" and "Neat Stuff"). IMHO, you would have had to work pretty hard to disguise the tails in "Hot Stuff"...they were as much a feature of the yarn as the eyelash stuff they used so liberally. Hanging tails in this scarf at least were part of the design.
Carrie, I'll show you the scarf when (if) we ever get around to tea. -
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Re: what to with the scraps....
Fri, February 1, 2008 - 9:10 AM<<. IMHO, you would have had to work pretty hard to disguise the tails in "Hot Stuff"...they were as much a feature of the yarn as the eyelash stuff they used so liberally.>> One knitter, when making vests, would pull the tails to the inside and just leave them. We heard tell of one woman who actually took each knot apart and woven in the ends... she was not a happy person.
What about non-knitting scrap crafts? I just tried making a belt w/ bulky yarn and some old friendship bracelet patterns. It looks kinda cool (though I'm definately rusty since my tween days).
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Re: what to with the scraps....
Tue, February 5, 2008 - 5:58 AMyou can knit little squares in different patterns, stripes, geometric, flora, and then you can put them al together and make a blanket.
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Re: what to with the scraps....
Thu, February 14, 2008 - 8:05 AMHas anyone seen the naughtyneedlesknitting.com/ book? You could make pasties out of scraps of yarn (i.e. the kind that topless dancers wear, not the Cornish meat pies... LOL)
They have a little gallery on their site with pictures from a burlesque show.
Another idea-- save the yarn scraps for your favorite scrap booker. My sister in law asked for a pile of my scraps for Christmas one year... she was happier than a clam and it saved her a lot of money, too!
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Re: what to with the scraps....
Mon, February 25, 2008 - 11:02 PMIf you're really ambitious, and love color/2 stranded work, you could do something a la Kaffe Fasset....I took a class where we had 2 color schemes (light/dark, warm/cool, red/blue....etc) and we simply did like 2 arms lengths of each of our different yarns, and made a ball, knotting w/square knots. Do this w/each color scheme, and you can do some really beautiful patterning, that's very unique.....
Like this:
fibrealive.typepad.com/fibre_...807.jpg
As seen in his book "Kaffe Fassett's Pattern Library" (such an amazing book!!!)
And, it's fun!
;)
Quinn
