Over the last year I’ve amassed a hodgepodge of scraps, half-finished skeins, and not enough of a single colour to knit anything substantial/uniform.
So I’m on a mission to cut down my stash before I buy anything new. Here’s what I made this week:
1) The Slip Stitch Stash Hat
My “scrap jar” was stuffed to the gills with bulky-weight yarn, from cheap acrylic Caron Cakes to swanky merino Malabrigo. Using alternating slip stitches, I made this super fun, very cozy hat for my niece. The cat ears were my husband’s idea, which I freestyled to moderate success. I’m a big fan of transitional clothing, so someday when my niece decides that she doesn’t want to wear a cat-eared toque anymore, she can simply take them off from where I sewed them on without compromising the structural integrity of the rest of the hat.
2) Tiny Cable Sweater
I had just enough of these two shades of purple Caron Cakes scraps to make a sweater fit for a doll, so that’s exactly what I did! I had so much fun making the dolls from Louise Crowther’s Knitted Animal Friends this year, but up until now I had yet to succeed in making the clothes that each animal comes with. I also wanted to try my hand at cable knitting, so I thought that a smaller workspace would be the best opportunity to do so. I didn’t have a cable needle, but an errant bobby pin made for an excellent substitute. In the end only one of the five cables on the sweater turned out perfectly but considering these were my first ever, I’m content with that ratio. It’s also worth noting that the sweater turned out rather cat-sized; however, my girl’s a staunch nudist so I couldn’t truly test my hypothesis. But perhaps another knitting cat parent would find that information useful! Wink wink.
This little self-imposed challenge has been a great exercise for my creativity, and I’m excited for the possibilities each wad of scraps may bring.