The Yarnarian chats about leftover yarn.

I apologize for not posting much this week. I've been buried in yarn dyeing for the BlankieMania forum on Ravelry. BlankieMania is for lovers of Shelly Kang's amazing Blankie. Basically you knit mitered squares out of left-over sock yarn, pick-up and knit them as you go along, and ta da, you have the most adorable blankie around. Very few of us have gazillion balls of left-over sock yarn. Yep, we have lots of it, but not in the variety you want for a genuine Blankie. So the good folks on the BlankieMania forum organize all sorts of swaps to get a lot of yarn goodies. And I had the grand time of dyeing up just sort of a swap. Such fun!

I personally have about 20 squares done. I have the feeling that my great-grandchildren will get this blankie. It's not from lack of interest, it's from lack of time that I don't work on it. But I am getting inspired.

Another great use for leftovers are Monstersocks, again with a forum on Ravelry. Basically you use up tons of leftovers to make really cool socks. The ones I've seen are so cute. I haven't made them yet, but I'm thinking that this would be a great summer project.

Other great uses for leftovers are here:

http://yarnloopie.blogspot.com/2009/05/sunday-morning-shawls.html

http://persnicketyknitter.blogspot.com/2007/08/what-to-do-with-leftover-sock-yarn.html

http://mollie.vox.com/library/posts/2009/09/

http://merelyasuggestion.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/sock-yarn-blankets-2/

That should keep us all busy.

Knitting News: A pair of socks knitted in my Rachel yarn, the one with the nice twist to it. I am playing around with variegated yarns again, just because I like dyeing them. Knitting with them is always a challenge unless you want to do ribbing or stockinette or one of my variegated yarn patterns: Roundabout socks, Forward and Back socks http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/forward-and-back, Slip Zig socks, and others in my collection.







So, this is my latest, goofy pattern. It's all knit and purl, no lace (!), but the way the knits and purls interact with each other, gives the pattern a bit of sway here and there. There are no weird knitting tricks here, and how it looks off the leg and on the leg are totally different. I don't have pics of it on my leg because I can't take a pic of my own feet worth a damn, and the Hubbo, as wonderful as he is, is a crummy photographer. (sorry, Dear.) No name yet. Got any ideas?





And because I'm still shawl-obsessed, here's my latest. Like you can tell what it is.



By the way, I love, love, love this colorway. I am not sure that anyone else does, but I can actually taste the colors here. Don't ask me to describe the taste to you, just that it feels wonderful on the palette.

pendie and Wendy - Clearly you have good taste!

itsJUSTme-wendy - Well what else are you going to do with all those little balls of yarn? Tee hee.

Hunter - some of us are very frugal, cheap, mingy. Also I rarely get holes in my socks. And now, having said that, they will probably all develop holes. sigh.

Susie - Those leftover balls of sock yarn are major bonuses to our knitting: they cost nothing, we make something very pretty and unusual, and we use them up, more or less. I say "more or less" because inevitably I have leftovers of my leftovers. sigh.