• You made a pair of socks and had almost 1/4 of the skein leftover
• You bought an extra ball of yarn when making a sweater
• You bought souvenir yarn ... in every town you've visited for the past decade

• Embellishments - sew them on a hat or bag, or attach to a pin and use as an accent on many different outfits.

(http://www.molliemakes.com/craft-2/tutorial-tuesday-crochet-flowers/)

• Stuffed animals - give them to a child or put them on your desk, they're not just for kids anymore!

(http://happyamigurumi.blogspot.com/2014/12/fee-amigurumi-pattern-owl.html)

• Scrappy afghans - granny squares, stash-busting stripes, and log cabins are all good choices.

(https://notyouraveragecrochet.com/as-we-go-stripey-blanket/)

And finally, my recent favorite method of using up stash yarns ... holding several yarns together and using a big hook to crochet a blanket, rug, or shawl in record time.  Check out what three strands of fingering weight yarns look like when you crochet them with a hook the size of your pinkie finger (that's a 9.0 mm, or US M/N hook in the picture):

My obsession started with the yarns in the "grab bags" we had in the shop, and when I ran out of them I moved on to raiding my leftover yarns.  Seven shawls and three blankets later, I still love the look of it!  Almost any pattern for worsted weight (or larger) yarn will work, so have fun poking around on Ravelry to find a pattern that looks like fun to you.

And by the way ... if you try this technique, don't be afraid to join yarns in the middle of a row.  There's a great way to do it almost invisibly called the "magic knot."  Check out this tutorial for more information on how to do this crazy-useful technique, which also comes in handy when you're making a lacy fabric where it would be difficult to hide the yarn tails.

- Gretchen

Labels: 2016, afghans, amigurumi, crochet, easy, embellishments, quick, stashbuster

Many customers have been curious about a project I have been working on, a striped cotton baby blanket I designed for my newest nephew.  It’s worked in crochet linen stitch (sometimes called moss stitch), which is one of the easiest and most versatile stitches in the craft.  It’s basically [single crochet, chain 1] worked into the chain-1 spaces of the previous row.  After the first row or two you’ll fall into the rhythm of it - it’s very relaxing to watch the beautiful fabric just flying off your hook!  This stitch breaks up pooling in handpainted yarns and gives an interesting texture to solids.  By playing around with color, yarn weight, and hook size, you can get a myriad of different effects with this one simple stitch.

Kogarashi Cowl (a self striping yarn)

Braedan’s Blankie

1. Pick a hook size that is AT LEAST twice the diameter of your yarn.  Bigger is better, but don’t go crazy with it.  Work a small swatch to make sure you’re happy with the drape of the fabric you’re making.
2. Leaving an 18” tail when you make the slip knot, make chain stitches until this foundation chain is the width of the cowl you want to make (between 6” and 8” is pretty standard, but you can make it wider or narrower).
3. Work the linen stitch back along the foundation row - instructions here.
4. Continue in linen stitch until strip is desired length (or you don’t have enough yarn to complete another row), then cut yarn and secure last stitch.
5. Sew the ends of the strip together with the long tail you left at the beginning.  Mattress stitch is often used, but you could whip stitch it or use any other sewing method you like.  

• For a regular loop, join the two ends without a twist.
• For a Mobius loop, flip one end of the strip once before you join the ends.

6. Weave in ends.

Labels: crochet, easy, linen stitch, pattern, quick, stashbuster