The Island of Misfit Yarn

A little here, a bit there, half a skein there. It never fails. When I’m working on a project I always make sure I have enough yarn. Sometimes I barely squeak by with 6 inches to spare to bind off. My heart races on those because I really don’t want to frog maybe hours of work in a few seconds because I’m two double crochets from finishing. Talk about an action packed time! Of course more oftenly I end up with spare yarn. Anywhere from enough to make a one inch ball to half a skein. I am a self described hoarder when it comes to yarn and I just can’t toss these away. So I ball them up, wind the bigger ones into cakes and pop the in “the box” where yarn goes to linger. Here yarn stays until I can come up with something to do with it. What about all those cool colours that just aren’t enough to even make a hat? Or those that I can’t find any use for but can’t throw away because it’s just too nice. I call my box, The Island of Misfit Yarn. There’s still use in these strands, and someone will love what they make, but we just haven’t gotten there yet. I pulled out the box this weekend while doing some straightening up. To my surprise, the box is really full. I mean really full. Onto the floor it went and I started to see what I had. It was like a discovery adventure, what would I find! How many years ago had I used that yarn? What is….. That?? I decided to do something about it. I culled through, sorted what had enough to work with and what I did not, yarn sizes and types. I searched my books and opened up The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet. It has many different kinds of stitches. I’ve seen others make multi-striped, multi-stitch blankets and they always look so cool. So I thought I’d give it a whirl myself and find all kinds of stitches to make it look awesome.  I started it Sunday, just a few rows. I should have known better than to crochet when I’m tired. It’s really not a good idea. Let’s just say 1/2 of the progress I made got ripped out before I just plopped it on the floor and went to bed. Friends don’t let friends crochet tired…. We’ll just have to wait and see how this one goes. Cross your fingers for me!