Leftovers That Outweigh the Original Project

Six years ago, I discovered a terrific little pattern for a braided cowl. Ordinarily I don't have much use for cowls, but this one was more like a Celtic or Egyptian collar, resting lightly on the shoulders and keeping you warm without restricting movement or falling off. I made two, one in bright colors for KD and one in darker jewel tones for myself.

Needle: US 8 (5.00 mm)

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Solids in Soft Blue, Persimmon, Lavender Blue, and Sage; Autumn Red, Pagoda, Chocolate, and Dark Sage

Pattern: Braid-It Bright, an absolute jewel of a pattern that is sadly no longer available online

The trouble was, each one used only 13 grams out of a 100-gram skein, leaving me with LOTS of acrylic leftovers in many colors. Clearly, blankets were the solution. I am coming to have a deep love for blankets made from little shapes.

I knit the pieces of the first separately and sewed them all together. I have no idea why I thought that was a good idea, but by the time I knit the second one, I was older and wiser, and knit them together as I went along, stopping to weave in the previous row's ends before starting the next.

Needles: US 8 (5.00 mm)

Yarn: same colors as above, all that was left

Pattern: Vicki Mikulak's Knitted Hexagon Blankie

In between knitting up the first blanket and the second, I knit up a bunch of yarn my sister J gave me (leftovers from a striped scarf), this time exploring the fun of laying out the hexagons in the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilting pattern.

Needles: US 8 (5.00mm)

Yarn: Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn! in Soft Pink, Orchid, Soft Blue, Dark Raspberry, Hyacinth, Navy, Dark Country Blue, Light Sage, and Forest Green

Pattern: same as above

The End of the Blue and White

While I was on a roll of using up categories of stash, I decided acrylic leftovers were next. Decades ago I bought enough acrylic in blue and white to make a double-knit blanket. I discovered how labor-intensive double-knitting is, and also how much I loved knitting with non-acrylic. Various projects ate away at the blue and white stash, until finally I seemed to be down to the last couple of skeins.

First, I was seized with a desire to learn to crochet granny squares. I crocheted, backed, and stuffed a little 8x8 pillow so fast it was out of the house before I got a picture of it. I learned that granny squares are dead easy, suitable for watching tv, and slightly addictive. But also fairly useless, unless you like the finished product more than I do.

I had made a knit blue and white hat in Honeycomb Brioche, and had enough yarn for a scarf, although only enough white for the ends of the scarf. I had to remember what Honeycomb Brioche was called, and then remind myself how to do it. The middle portion is just straight brioche. I should probably point out that I am of the knit-below school of brioche, not the yarn-over school (the results seem to be indistinguishable).

 Needles: US 8 (5.00 mm)

Yarn: Spinnerin Wintuk, long-discontinued

Pattern: Honey Comb Brioche, regular Brioche

Homespun Party

The annual round of medical appointments (all done, all is well) provided a venue for lots of calming garter stitch. I had recently unearthed my stash of Lion Brand Homespun, and I wanted it used up and gone, so I whipped out two scarves, a hat, and a baby blanket in quick succession.

Needles: US 11 (8.00 mm)

Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in the gorgeous Pueblo colorway, now sadly discontinued, 103.6 yards/93 grams

Pattern: Lion Brand One Skein... Scarf, which is available via the Internet Archive, but I only used it to establish needle size and number of stitches; it's just knit every row

Recipient: KD

Needles: US 11 (8.00 mm) and US 10 (6.00 mm)

Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in Montana Sky, 1 skein (which meant enough for a hat as well)

Pattern: Scarf: same as above. Hat: cast on 84 sts, worked in garter stitch for a couple of inches, switched to stockinette until it was 6", decreased 5 times around every other row until 10 sts left, finished off. I was going to do the whole thing in garter, but it ate up too much yarn

Recipient: NKD

 

Needles: US 10 1/2 (6.5 mm)

Yarn: Lion Brand homespun in Quartz, 3 skeins

Pattern: Margit Sage's Concentric Squares Baby Blanket

After all that, still one skein left over, so I made a little toy to go with the blanket (or not):

Needles: US 10 1/2 (6.5 mm)

Yarn: Lion Brand homespun in Quartz, less than 1 skein

Pattern: Lion Brand's Bunny Blanket Buddy

And now I am, finally, out of Homespun.

Third Time's the Charm

My third and probably final pair of Escalator Socks were made for DH in some lovely plum-colored yarn, and as an added bonus, perfectly match one of his shirts:

Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm)

Yarn: Zitron Trekking XXL, 2 skeins

Pattern: Sara Amorosoa's Escalator Socks

Mods: Shortened and squared-off the toe for a better custom fit, the advantage of non-surprise socks with the recipient right there for frequent try-ons.

I haven't made as many pairs of socks in this pattern as I have of the Hermione Everyday Socks (5 and counting), but it really does make a nice man's sock.