Yarn Bombs - Part 2!

Yesterday was International Yarn Bombing Day! And boy oh boy was it fun! I think I'm on a fast route towards becoming a yarnie delinquent. After decorating the tree in my front yard, I decided to take my yarn with me on our usual weekend dog walk.  Our chosen yarn bomb sites:

THIS UNASSUMING LITTLE BENCH:

AND ONE OF THE THESE TREES.....

HERE ARE THE PICS:

YARN BOMB GANGSTA HANDS!

I probably should be more "anonymous" about this, but it's Portland and I seriously doubt anyone is after me. In fact, while we were yarn bombing plenty of people came by to talk to us and not one of them asked a single question about what we were doing with the yarn and the scissors and the camera. Nope. All they were interested in was our dog, Annie. Oh Dog-loving Portlanders. I think yarn bombing is pretty darn cool, but I suppose Annie can be cooler. Especially when she decides to drink bomb water fountains.....

Happy International Yarn Bombing Day!

Finally, some motivation to do guerilla style knitting!
I woke up this morning and read that today is officially International Yarn Bombing Day.
So, I decided that it was my DUTY to grab some needles and go throw yarn at something.
Since I was still in my pajamas, I started with the tree in my front yard.....

These are just some quick pics I took. I'm hoping to get some better ones this evening, plus some pictures of whatever else me and my yarn decide to deface today.

Oh my, it's a happy day indeed!

Scrap Yarn "Necklace" Tutorial

Remember last week?  Huh. Neither do I. Summer sunshine makes me spacey.

Anyway, I believe I told you I was going to share a fun tutorial involving scraps of yarn. Now to be honest,  I've been hemming and hawing about whether or not to follow through on my promise because my original idea for this tutorial didn't quite work out. And I'm not totally in love with the compromise I ended up with. But given the beauty that is never-ending internet space, I'm going to share it with you anyway. So start collecting up some yarn scraps and read along for a free little tutorial on how to make this necklace!

BABY SCRAP NECKLACE

Materials You'll Need:

Some scissors and....
A whole bunch of yarn scraps, the more the better.
They can be any length from 2 inches to 2 feet, but I think it's best, if possible, to use scraps that are all the same gauge. See that one straggly red piece hanging out in the picture above? That's a piece of dk I tied in by accident and it really does stick out. Of course, I'm realizing now that I could just snip it out and replace it with another scrap.  So, you know, just dig in to your scrap bag. No worries.

 Well, that's it for the materials list. (It is just a necklace made from yarn after all...You've probably guessed by now this will not be rocket science).

STEP 1: Tie your scraps together to create a ball or skein of "scrap yarn."  You'll want to tie them together using a square knot. Find instructions here. Basically, you'll cross the end of your new scrap over the tail of your last scrap. The new scrap is on your right, the old scrap on your left. Then it's "right over left, left over right." So essentially, pay attention to the color of your new scrap to add on. You'll only be moving that color yarn. You'll end up with a strong knot like this...

STEP 2: When you've gotten through all your scraps or have had enough of tying knots, wrap your "yarn" around the back of a big chair to create a skein.  Use some extra scraps and tie around all the strands in a few spots to keep them together when you remove it from the chair.

OPTIONAL STEP : Once you remove your skein from the chair you might want to give it a good soak and let it hang out to dry to straighten any wonky strands.

STEP 3:  You'll have the beginning and end of your yarn hanging out from your yarn circle. Adjust them so that you have one strand hanging at opposite ends of your circle. Like this....

STEP 4: Now, wrap the loose strands around till there's a little tail left and then tuck that tail back under the wrapped yarn and pull. Trim the end.

 

 STEP 5: Trim off any unruly bits and pieces and then grab your necklace by either end where the wraps are. Take a longish piece of yarn and thread it through the ends like this....Adjust the length, then tie it on!! 

You can also twist it a few times before you thread the yarn through for an effect like this...

 

Admittedly, I feel a little silly wearing yarn scraps around my neck. But, I am still terrified by that horrific mound of yarn leftover from industrial factories, and all of the fiber waste that must exist in the world (just check out the sale racks at chain stores). 

So I'll wear my necklace proudly, and if anyone tries to give me crap about it, I'll tell them my neck is a rather lovely place to hang out.

It's way better than the garbage.

What to do with little baby scraps...

While we're on the subject of scraps, I will confess that yarn wrapping hasn't solved all my scrap woes. I still have plenty of tiny little baby scraps leftover from not always following that "leaving a 6 inch tail" rule. I'm talking a few inches here, the kind of yarn scraps that fall on the floor and look like little fiber worms. I've been puzzled for a long time about what to do with those, since felting isn't really my thang.

But, aha! I think I might have stumbled on a solution. It all started when I came upon this yarn in PatysLoveys etsy shop.

I think this kind of yarn is gorgeous. It reminds me of a woven rug, the kind of yarn that I'd rather look at than knit with. What's amazing about this yarn is that it's spun with scraps! And they look all grown up.

I started thinking about how I could make my own yarn out of scraps, and surprise, surprise I am not the first person to think of this. Behold the yarn scrap balls from Crochet Bug below:

I've since been diligently square knotting my baby scraps into a nice little ball of yarn. The ball is almost grown up enough for the project I have in mind. Tune in on Saturday and I'll be sharing my yarn scrap project, complete with tutorial and free pattern! Woo hoo! Yay for scrap busting!

In the meantime, I probably should stop whining about my piddly little scrap collection. It's just a few bags worth, drowned out in the sea that is my yarn stash. It's not like it fills my backyard or house or anything.

It's not like GIANT HAY BALES made from yarn...

I'm still kind of in shock that these things exist.

 I'll stick with the baby worm scraps, thank you very much.

Wrap This - Scrappy Jewelry for Scrappy Knitters

Like most knitters, I have a lot of yarn scraps, those odd little lengths of string that are sometimes barely enough to cast on with, but are long enough that I feel guilty throwing them out. I collect the detritus of them whenever I'm done with a project and stuff them into a drawstring pouch, hoping one day I'll find a use for them. 

Well, my sweet little scrappies, that day finally came. During one of my whirlwind "I need to organize my house!" weekends, I decided on a whim to "yarn wrap" my CD spool cover to cover up the ugly plastic.

It was so new and refreshing to use yarn in a needle-less kind of way, I started to think of other things I could yarn wrap. I wasn't quite ready to wrap the tree in my front yard (though looking at this picture from a tree in Japan, I think that should be one of my goals in life)...

So, I settled on yarn wrapping jewelry instead. Much more functional, summertime appropriate, and even better I got to use my long-waiting scrap collection!

Since I couldn't find anything the exact shape and size I wanted the earrings and pendants to me, I made my own shapes by hand forming lightweight, white polymer clay. I poked holes for the findings where needed before baking the clay.

These pieces ended up looking much sunnier and happier with their bright, wrapped stripes, and I like the way the white of the clay peeks out.

So, if you're feeling scrap happy this summer, or just need a break from knitting, put your scraps to work on some jewelry! These lovelies are also available for sale at my etsy shop .

Striped

 I've been having a love affair with stripes lately. Is it just me or do nautical stripes become trendy every single summer? As soon as the weather hints at warming up, I suddenly see images of people in pretty navy stripes standing all sunkissed by the dock. And every single year it sucks me in.

It's been cold here - too cold and rainy I tell you! - so I've lately been rocking a very cozified version of the stripes look. Kind of like this outfit above from Totokaelo,  but without the heels, the purse, the skininess and the overall clean, stylish vibe.

Memorial Day weekend has arrived though, and I'm hoping that means that summer isn't too far away. So I should probably be updating my stripe warbrobe to include less hats, scarves and overall wool content.  For instance, I should knit this Madewell top for myself in cotton....

 

Madewell Scenic-Stripe Top

That is if the idea of figuring out all those multi-directional stripes didn't make my brain hurt!
But I could at least go for more summery bright colors in my outfits like this one... 

 

The Italian Job - from Chictopia

This outfit looks decently warm enough to pull off in the near future, except I wonder if I only like it because of the major jealousy I am feeling for  her hair...

Regardless, my brain is whirling for ideas for striped knit things. But then I start thinking of the whole "dealing with all those yarn ends" problem. I've knit a few striped things in the past, and they never come out quite as nice as the fine gauge machine knit items. Hmmm...What do you think out there, fellow knitters? Are striped summer tops worth knitting? Any ideas?

While I mull this over, here is another manufactured striped item I came across, which seems rather apt for this weekend. The Grill Power Dress!

Sneaking up on Summer

Now, you all know I love to knit. I love yarn. I love learning new stitch patterns. I love barrelling through a sweater in a weekend, my hands glowing with the promise of something cozy to wear.

But, I have a problem. It's called summer. As soon as the weather warms up, I have about as much desire to knit as I do to run a marathon... which is to say, I get exhausted and sweaty just thinking about it.

Last summer, I came up with a rather sneaky pattern to beat the summertime knitting blues. It not only produced something I wanted to wear right away (which I'm starting to think is the only reason I ever knit anything), but with a lightweight cotton and only a few stitches on the needle, there was nothing overly warm or cozy to scare away my hands.

The past month, I've been trying to come up with a new, equally summer-friendly pattern to knit, but, well...I'm stumped. I try to imagine a knitted friend I might need this summer, but apparently I'm feeling rather hopeful and well-equipped. Give me sunshine in the morning, lakes to swim in, and big, ripe slicer tomatoes, and I'll wear anything. Acid-washed jean shorts. A turban. A clover chain around my neck. I don't care. Just give me summer.

So, until I can wrangle some kind of motivation out of my sunshine-addled brain, I've been sticking with the necklace cowl. Knit in fancy, silver glitter or multi-color stripes, they all feel like summer to me.

I've been knitting these up for sale in my Etsy shop and in the Crafty Wonderland store in downtown Portland. And while apparently I'm not interested in anything new for myself, I do think I might be convinced if this yarn were involved...

Madelinetosh Pashmina, Turquoise

Swoon.

Wouldn't this make an awesome necklace cowl, with big chunky knitted turquoise "beads"? And there'd be a whole lotta yarn leftover for something else, something new and exciting and a little summery? Come on, hands, you know you want to....