Odd balls! Yarn questions

I could put a £100 dress into a charity bag without blinking but a £5 craft item will send me into a panic, do i meed it ? Will i use it? What if ?
I need to downsize my stash of all craft products and just concentrate on the ones i actually use but it is so difficult to do.

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Shirley @pirateswag it is difficult to put a time on the carpet because from the time I was about 12, I have always used up oddments to make blankets, so most of that carpet was already blankets that were stored in the airing cupboard. It was my daughter’s idea because we couldn’t really afford a carpet but the existing one was getting a bit threadbare. I went out one day and when I came back, she had placed all the blankets on the floor and it has been like that for over 2 years now…washing is no problem and we just lift the sections to hoover underneath. ( well SHE does…I am a slob and let her do all the housework )…lol…

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Another place to record, swap and sell your stash is Ravelry, which although US owned, has lots of UK users and you can restrict sales and swaps to UK only. A lot of folk also make themselves an Instagram destash account and have regular clear outs that way, but posting here on the forum sounds like a great idea too.

What Ravelry is even more useful for is finding great ideas for using your stash - just click on the ‘Patterns’ section, type “scrappy” into the search field and you’ll find pages of ideas (you can also restrict results to knitting only if you’re not much of a crocheter and filter results to the type of thing you like knitting). One particlar scrappy blanket project everyone has been knitting for the last few years is this one: Ravelry: Cozy Memories Blanket pattern by Shelley Dupont although you’d have to have plenty of stash in the same weight for that. I’m personally currently using up my shawl yarn ends to make myself a scrappy knit in the round cowl - there’s no limit to what you can do with scrap really - you just need the initial inspiration! :grinning:

Ravelry totally revolutionalised my knit and crochet life - it is THE most amazing centre of knowledge and inspiration, plus a great place to record your projects and chat with others in the forums, if that’s your thing. https://www.ravelry.com/

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Wow amazing xx

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I’m currently working on an all over pattern jumper using remnant balls from 2 previous projects and balls bought for a different project where I changed my mind and decided I didn’t like them together. Original pattern was cream on a red ground but my version is 5 different colours on a pale grey ground, by using multiple colours I don’t need quite so much of any one colour as was quoted in the pattern.
(I also have plans to knit my preferred top down, knitted in the round, raglan sleeved, jumper pattern using lots of left over bits of colour to give a rainbow yoke so I only need to buy a few balls of a colour (dark grey or similar) for the body and sleeves)

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It appears other’s have already answered your question having just read the thread properly! Old age setting in!

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you could always try freeform crochet… I have made clothes using freeform knitting and crochet… you make a small motif, then change colour add another few stitches…in any direction and any stitch…no rules…any yarns and any size needles or hooks…I have a lovely friend Prudence Mapstone in Australia who has written many books about it and you can even use yarn of just a few inches in length…Prudence came to stay with me many years ago and is delightful…google her…this is one of the freeform books that you can buy x
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…I also have large pieces of freeform crochet on my chairs and beds…x

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All my crocheted items are made from oddments left over. And most are made by just starting off round the neck and seeing where it goes, hardly ever use a pattern!

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I crochet blankets and donate them to cats and dogs homes. If there are any near you I’m sure they would appreciate some knitted blankets, especially at this time of year.

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I’m doing something similar just now, trouble is I start using odd balls but my ocd takes over if the colours don’t work so I end up buying more yarn to match the colours I’ve decided are ok together and I always over order because you’ve got to have enough to make sure you can finish don’t you? :rofl::rofl:

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Sadly I don’t, well I can, I just don’t find crochet easy, thank you though.

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Oooh I do like the look of that, thank you I will go google. :grin:

Thanks but sadly I’m not that clever, I can adjust patterns and do my own colourwork but if I tried that it’d probably look like something the cat threw up. Great suggestion though.

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What a lovely thing to do, I’d never thought of that, thank you :blush:

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I can give you plenty of information about freeform crochet as I belonged to a wonderful group for many years. the good thing about it is that “anything goes !”…and it is fun…I will take a photo of one of my pieces later that I made as a play mat for my granddaughter …it has lots of pockets and curls a bit like a giant twiddle muff and babies and children are fascinated by it. Often freeform is referred to is “painting with yarn !”

@PaintedHorseArt

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here is one of my pieces of freeform…just draped over a chair but you can join pieces to make any shape…even jackets etc…
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Here is Freeform crochet, in a single colour, which I covered the crocheted bodies of the bears with. Great fun, brain-teasing and no two pieces need be the same.

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I have a stash in an old linen bin and just knit a square as I go I hope in this millennium to sew together!

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those are adorable Janet @janetwilliamson xx

Sounds great Sasha! Hope you share a photo when you’re done :smiley:

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