Fun With Yarn

Friday and Saturday afternoon I tossed my stash like I do each year to see that there are no bugs munching on my fibers and to bring forgotten yarn to the light.  I started putting single, mostly souvenir skeins into a basket planning, oh I don't know what.  Last night after I put all the yarn bins away I still had that basket of 10 random skeins of yarn.  Then I had a brainstorm.  I carried them upstairs, made sure they were entered into my stash on Ravelry, and then I used Ravelry's pattern search function to find a pattern for each skein of yarn.  It was fun narrowing and narrowing the search parameters until I had a dozen or so to choose from for each different skein.  Some were more challenging to match up than others but I managed.  I will admit that they're all accessories--shawlette, wrap, fingerless mitts, scarf, hat, 2 cowls, a neckerchief--common stuff and the patterns are all pretty simple but the yarn's what's going to make them shine.  Want to see?

I'm very intrigued by this one.  This is Classic Elite Yarns' Silky Alpaca Lace with about 460 yds. in the skein so I chose this Wrap To Go by Zelda ThreeOhFour.

Here's an eye-popping skein of Knit One Crochet Too's Ty-Dy Wool that will become an After the Rain shawlette.






 

This skein of Freedom Spirit will make a pair of Easy Fingerless Mitts that promise to be warm and fuzzy.

Because a person can never have too many hats this Berroco Keltic will make a One Skein Beanie.

I think the Straightforward Cowl will look and feel luxurious in this Crystal Palace Yarns Taos with the southwestern-ish colors.

More than once I have looked at the Inside-outside Scarf pattern because it involves an intriguing technique of knitting a stitch in the row below.  It calls for 2 skeins of the same color with long color repeats used from opposite ends but I figure these 2 skeins of the same yarn will make an interesting scarf.

I suspect that the Lilou Loop Cowl will become a go-to stash-busting pattern but for the first making it'll get this red and sparkley skein of Lustro from Artful Yarns (sadly discontinued).






The hardest search was something to make with this skein of DK weight 75% cotton, 25% wool.  I finally settled on the Country Rose Neck Kerchief, which is the only crocheted one in the bunch.





As eager as I am to cast on one (or all) of these I am determined to do a bunch of finishing before I start starting.  Today I got 2 WIPs finished:  the latest Purse Stitch scarf which I made wider and therefore shorter than the last ones, and Car Knitting Warshrag #5.  This project lives in a bag in the driver's door pocket of my car for grabbing for waiting room or the bridge is up knitting.  I'll be casting on another Ballband Dishcloth later so that it's back where it belongs tout suite.  I am determined to finish the third Double Thick Dishcloth and the current afghan block, maybe the next one too, before allowing the temptation of casting on to take hold.  Fingers crossed that I'll be strong.