Stash Busting

Sometimes I go up to my stash to find something and I end up forgetting what I went for, and just trying to sort and organize the stash.  The larger project quantities don’t bother me nearly as much as the little leftover balls of yarn from finished projects.  Those bits seem to reproduce like rabbits!

Over the weekend, I began a project that might help to use up some of those leftover bits.  I use fingering weight yarn for socks and shawls, and over time, I’ve collected quite a few little leftover bits of it.  It takes 100 grams (actually less, since that’s how I’ve gotten all these leftovers) for a pair of regular socks for me.  Mickael’s socks take about 150 grams or so.  Most fingering weight yarn is sold in 100 gram skeins (a few come in 50 gram skeins), so the new skeins are off the table for this project, which is fine - this is to use up the leftovers.  I’ve found that the footie socks take just under 50 grams of yarn, so anything between 50-75 grams is going into a pile for footie socks.  If it’s under 50 grams, its part of this project.

What am I making?  A few weeks ago, I ran across a free crochet pattern for the Meditative Blanket.  It’s made of squares and it’s join as you go.  I learned in The Babette, that sewing a bunch of squares together takes me several years, so if I can join them as I go, I’ll be ahead of the game.  The original blanket made by the designer is in a subdued, soft color scheme.  I’m just using leftovers, so mine kind of looks like clown barf.  I’m hoping that the more colors I use, the better the colors will play together.  I know that tends to work out pretty well, and it will make a soft, lightweight blanket either way.  So I’m embracing my inner Molly Weasley and using up all of these leftovers.  I have no clue how big I’ll make it.  It’s all of nine squares right now.  I’ll just keep going until I think it’s big enough.  If I run out of leftovers, I’ll set aside until I can make more socks and get more leftovers.  Here’s my Ravelry page for the project if you’re curious about more details!