Scrap Recycling Part II: The Mutant

OK, so as promised, here is my update on my scrap recycling experiment.  I whipped off the prescribed scarf (and I did take a picture, but since I’m on dial-up it takes FOREVER to upload pics, so I have to find some time to do it…maybe tomorrow) in a couple evenings.  I was a bit disappointed in the results, but I think it’s because my remnants are less scraps and more partial balls of yarn.  By the end of the scarf I had barely touched the second remnant, so I modified the pattern and added a sc border so that it wouldn’t look so much like I ran out of yarn and quick added another color.  In any case, it is what it is, and I still have a great big ball o’ scraps to play with.  Enter the mad scientist within.

For Christmas I made a sweater for Lyra (Yolanda and Garrett’s little girl).  The pattern came, once again, from my Crochet-a-day calendar (I think it was called the Little Darlin’ Sweater).  Anyway, I fell in love with this pattern (Lyra also became the recipient of a sweater vest based on the same design).  First of all, it’s mostly in one piece.  Sweaters are fairly novel to me still, and I pretty much suck at the whole seam joining thing (at least via whipstitch – I can crochet a seam no problem).  So, the body is all one piece (it’s kind of an interrupted round), with a lovely square neck.  The top half is sc and then it moves into a shelled pattern for the bottom half, which makes it sort of a long, empire cardigan.  The sleeves are sc attached and then done as rounds.   It sort of has a kimono feel to it (particularly sleeveless).  Anyway, loved the pattern, and was pretty sad that it only made up to 6 months (I could so see myself being the crazy lady who gave her the same sweater every year, only bigger).  Plus, I wanted one for myself.  But, as I’ve said, I’m not so much the working without a pattern type.

So, there I sat with my ball of scraps and nothing to make with them.  I started a chain, made a corner, chained some more, cornered again…pretty soon I had started a larger version of the sweater.  I measured against myself…it’ll be a little big, but that’s okay.  Best of all, it’s using up yarn like crazy.  By last night, I had three different colors of scrap yarn in it! And it’s producing the funky kaleidoscope I was hoping for.  I’ll try and throw a picture of my work-in-progress up, too.

In other news, I bit the bullet and subscribed to this magazine.  One of the frustrating things about being a crocheter is that we have a tendency to get boxed in with granny squares.  These serve their purposes, but I often find myself longing for something more imaginative.  Every once in a while, I want to create something beautiful rather than utilitarian.  I’ve been drooling over the creations featured on the mags website and finally decided to give myself an early birthday present.

Scrap recycling

Last night I was re-watching The Incredibles and sorting last year’s crochet pattern-a-day calendar (I know, my life is scintillating).  Anyway, I came across a scarf pattern that utilized an idea I remember admiring and wanting to try, but with many projects, it got filed away in lieu of other things.  Basically, you take all your scrap yarn and connect it, either by tying or by a technique called “the Russian join” (I improvised…I couldn’t figure out the instructions for the Russian join).  Then you use it like any other ball of yarn.  The devisor used two strands for the scarf: one of your scrap yarn ball and one of a solid color.

This idea was brilliant to me.  Once you start crocheting, you start accumulating all these partial balls of yarn (particularly if you do a lot of multi-colored stuff).  After a couple years, I literally have a cupboard full of half spent skeins, or full skeins that are different dye-lot numbers.  I have a couple things that will use scraps – I make a cat toy (called a  catnip birdie) for which  I blatantly stole the pattern that uses both material and yarn scraps.  I’ve used scraps to tie presents.  Material scraps make great packing material.  But all of these combined will not equal the accumulation.  So, I was very excited when I saw this idea.  Not only will it do something with my scraps, it (I hope) will yield a funky, colorful result.  And, since each ball is unique (because it’s made up of different scraps), each project is one of a kind.

So, I diligently sat down to make my ball o’ scraps and started the project (a scarf).  If this works, I plan to experiment with other garments (hats, sweaters, etc) and stitches.  I will keep you posted!

Uuuugggghhh

Friday shows.  Horrible horrible horrible.  I think I sight read my part better than I played it this evening.  There’s something about the combination of the end of a work week and reacquainting yourself with the show after five days off that tends to spell disaster.  I was losing concentration halfway through the first act and was absolutely hopeless during the second.

If I can, I crochet during the dialogue scenes (some shows are more amenable to this than others).  I use it as a my “out of it” gauge.  If I can’t follow the pattern, I’m in trouble.  Tonight I not only got lost in the pattern, but had to rip two rows out because they were wrong. 

If only you could do the same thing with notes.