Leftovers

First of four is finished. (I have decided to give the clogs Borg names. It reaffirms my “resistance is futile” outlook)
1of4clogs
When I was done…this is what I had leftover in the grey.
leftovers
I’m of two minds (sorry…three) about this. Mind One reflects the “knitting as an extreme sport” theory
Whoa! Did you see how close that was? There’s like, two meters left! When I was knitting along on the last row, I was just flying and when I looked over at the yarn I was like…””Dude, I don’t think I’m going to make it.” Then, I was like halfway down the row and I thought, “Am I going to make it or am I gonna like…flame out” ya know? So then I thought “just go for it…just try the row man…just try it!”. So I just kept knitting and then it was like the end of the last row, and that’s how much was left. It was awesome, it was like…so close to the edge. Radical.
Mindset two is a planner and a clear thinker.
Hmm, so when I make the next size up out of the other skein, I’m going to be screwed.
Mindset three is the yarn harlot.
I can’t believe I’m not going to throw that away.
It’s true. I’m going to save it. I have never thrown away yarn. Can’t do it. Some kind of sickness is what it is. I have bags of these little bits and I swear to you that I have no idea why I’m saving them. (Other than the most basic of all philosophies “Yarn good, me keep yarn” ) Once I realized that I am driven to save these oddments of yarn I started trying to fix things by saving patterns for stuff that could use these bits and pieces. Little dolls, stripey things, 63 different things made out of granny squares…coasters. It was when I realized that I don’t like, want or need little dolls, stripey things, anything made out of a granny square or coasters that I started thinking about where I’m going with this. What is my plan? Why? Why? Why? So here’s today’s question. Throw it away? or Save it? What would you do?

34 thoughts on “Leftovers

  1. It is spring. I realized this morning that every spring makes me want to THROW EVERYTHING AWAY. I shall indulge that impulse some this weekend. That, and cleaning windows. Which is probably futile because sometime soon we shall have a brown rainstorm, where all of the wheat field dust between the Cascade Mountains and here is dumped upon us.

  2. I toss it. Why? Because I have bags and bags and boxes of yarn, dresser drawers full. I collect those little patterns of little things with the intent of creating something cute and tiny – never happens. Maybe, someday… but probably not.
    Julie

  3. Although, on second thought.. that is a really nice gray and sometimes gray is hard to come by. Maybe I’d save it.
    sheesh…

  4. Cut it up into 3″ lengths (no knots), mail it to Quail Hill Carding Studio with some wool and she will card it all together into a lovely fluffy cloud that is a joy to spin. Better yet, add some bright colored yarn to the mix and get a nice heathered blend. Problem solved!

  5. Ah, Star Trek. Knitting and Star Trek go well together. For starters, it’s an hour of knitting – and you can do the complicated knitting, since you’ve -ahem- already memorized most of the episodes.
    Leftover tiny bits of yarn are GREAT for stuffing knitted toys (Debbie Bliss has a lot of great teddy bear patterns, for one – although her finishing instructions are nonexistent). However, if you already have a huge stash of fibrefill, I’d say it’s time to start a 12-step program!

  6. Ack! Save it! A rotary cutter, a little time, some other beautiful fleece to which the grey will be a nice color contrast, and voila – tweed yarn! O.k., so yes, I *do* have my own jar(s) of little bits. 😉

  7. In most other areas of my life, I pitch everything, however with yarn, I’d have to say I tend to pack rat the stuff. However, I’m learning that if I just hold my breath, toss it in the trash, and then walk away, it only hurts for a second, and then it’s done. I feel better afterwards.
    I have to tell you, that as much as I am sorry for your loss and expense in regards to your washing machine, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! for sharing the experience. I felted my first project last night, and I had no idea yesterday morning when I read your post that I would be putting my washing machine in peril. No one has ever told me that, it wasn’t in my pattern instructions, and it would have ruined the experience for me. So, after reading your comments, and the article you linked, I went to the store and bought myself a handy little zippered pillowcase. My bag is gorgeous. And everytime I look at it/use it, I am going to think of you.

  8. Mind four says: “Hurrah! Another trip to the yarn store because this little leftover bit is clearly not enough to make the larger size for the next pair of clogs!”

  9. I can’t believe that I am not the only one who saves two meters of yarn! I can’t believe that I am not the only one who has X-Treme knitting in my head as I try to make the last row with a nonexistent amount of yarn! I feel fantastic, I feel happy, I feel comfortable. What is this feeling? Ahh, yes, I have found the mothership! I am home!
    Don’t throw it out, save it, put it in a drawer, I don’t know why, but that it was I do and clearly we are soulknitters!

  10. There’s a place in Wisconsin called Quail Hill Carding and they will card thrums (no knots and the lengths have to be 3 inches or less, I think). You would have to sort colors a bit so you don’t end up with a gray/mud batt.
    Or you could throw them away.

  11. you have a problem throwing that out?come over and see what I have to throw away.me can’t seem to do it ;0(
    i did read in some magazine a million year’s ago about a lady that throw’s out her bit’s and pieces to the bird’s.they take string ect. for their little nest’s.
    and please bits and pieces means thread and wool to all those with filthy minds ha!

  12. OR you could needle felt little lengths of yarn onto felted clogs and bags as decoration, or turn them into felted buttons! You can get a bunch of short pieces of yarn, roll them around between your hands under running water, and Viola!!, you have a felted ball/button/bobble thingy. Sweet! I also noticed felt buttons retail for 12 bucks apiece-ack! You NEED those little pieces of yarn…I swear…

  13. I wouldn’t throw ends away. You can make afghans out of all the different colours and weights to make something unique and useful. Whenever I get a certain amount of leftover yarn I start making granny squares until I have enough to make up into an afghan. You can also just start knitting or crocheting using the odds and ends of all weights to create something different and beautiful as well as useful. Afghans make lovely gifts and also are used by ministries to the poor. I know a woman who makes scarves and mitts to give out to street people.

  14. Save it! Could be just the right amount to use when a pattern calls for that mysterious thing called ‘waste yarn’.
    -Lo

  15. And I thought I was the only one saving all those little snips of yarn! (Nice to be reminded why I come here. 🙂 )
    Some things I’ve used my yarn bits for: tying packages, closing bags of chips/flour/cereal, keeping dp needles together, stitch markers, cat toys (when tied together in a clump), toy stuffing, bird nests (put outside on bushes if it’s tiny wooly bits).
    Yes, I am a packrat, why do you ask?

  16. My geekiness is showing, but I love the idea of giving projects Borg names. My dog is named “Seven of Nine”….which is not as morbid as it sounds…there was no first or second or third of nine….I just really liked the show..er..name. Anyway, I can not tell you how many episodes of Star Trek have been watched in my house while knitting…something about it just makes my needles fly.
    As for the little pieces of yarn, I don’t know what to tell you. I am a new knitter, (only since January) but I already have a nice little bag of bits and pieces…I see my future and I am afraid.

  17. So nice to hear someone else hangs onto those odds and ends, too! I agree with Krista Jo – use it to stuff stuff. I just need to remember next time to pay attention to colour and not stuff a pink pillow with black and brown bits of wool – d’oh!

  18. Speaking as someone who moves homes, on average, once every two years, I fall firmly (and clearly solitarily) in the “pitch it” camp. I can’t express enough how completely certain I am that I will never, ever, have a desire to make coasters out of ends I’ve collected. I’m quite confident, however, that you’re now trying to work out what it is the Quail Hill people do with those three-inch segments so you can do it yourself. Maybe my answer should change to “I’d give it to Stephanie…”

  19. I save a couple of threads in the event of diaster mending then you shove the rest in a bush for the birds. They love to make nests of it. So do a kindness for a baby raptor.

  20. I’ll second (maybe third?) the throw out window for the birds suggestion.
    At Liza Lucy’s, where I work (gloriouscolor.com),
    we toss fabric bits that are too small for the Gee’s Bend ladies, or even for tying up quilt kits, out the back windows for the local birds.
    On these not-quite-spring grey branches days, they’re very cheery.
    Jeez, that does sound twee, doesn’t it?
    Too bad.

  21. As a total hoarder i keep everything. Bits of yarn don’t get thrown away, instead they reside in bags unless the bags fall on the floor and the dogs make a nice snuggly bed (read great big tangle) out of them.
    I have even taken to keeping all the rubbish and neppy bits from my carded fibre because a)i have spent ages scouring the fibre and it is wasteful and b) i think it might be great for using to fill quilts. I blanch at being ruthless during the skirting process but i know that i have to be strong.

  22. Save it! I have many golf ball size, or smaller pieces of yarn. They always come in handy for something. I think I got that from my grandmother when she first taught me to crochet. (so, that’s where that came from)
    On numerous occasions I’ve had family members hit me up for a length of yarn in a wide range of colors. Nieces an nephews have come to me when their science projects needed some color, to suspend Jupiter from a coat hanger, impromptu cat toys, or a clothes pin doll needed some hair.
    I save it protected in a zip lock bag…..you never know when you may need it.
    Peace

  23. I only keep scraps of yarn from my finished socks and/or slippers, incase they ever need mending.. so in this particular case, I say keep it.. but as far as your OTHER BAGS go, well…… 🙂

  24. OK. Fast forward many, many years. You are dead (sorry). Your heirs are picking through your stuff. Is anybody really gonna say, “Oooo! Thank goodness mom saved 88 pounds of yarn scraps. I want ’em and ______ (insert name of sibling) can’t have ’em!”
    Or, is there gonna be a big toss-a-roni and much muttering under the breath.
    Toss that shit. Wool grows on sheep. They grow more.

  25. God it feels so good to find fellow horders. I save avery bit of leftover yarn as well. Used to give it to the hamster (natural fibers only) when my daughter had one to build his nest. I like the bird nest idea and maybe I can part with some of it.
    I dream of some day sorting the whoe mess into color related smaller bunches and machine stitching it together into ?? (placemats, bowls, coasters)

  26. Two Words. Mosaic Knitting/Crochet… it’s like knitting without pattern, a scrap here, add a scrap there- and create a fabric with no pattern. Thats what scraps are for.

  27. The very instant that the last few yards of original wool hit the scrap heap, those carefully secured ends will start popping up and unraveling. Even if they are hundreds of miles away. Or a well loved, tender, tame cat or dog (who would NEVER otherwise do THAT) will go mad and shred a corner or nip a hole.
    This never happens if the yarn just got used up, even if it was used for a repair. It only happens if it gets thrown away.
    It’s a Yarn God thing.
    Forget about scrap projects – they are ugly and scrappy and don’t fool The Yarn God.
    So the bottoms of most of my knitting (and yes, crochet) baskets have bags of little rolled up balls. I call it insurance.
    Go figure, but it works for me.
    Stitch happy,
    Maddy in Florida

  28. I saved all of my scraps and rolled them into a ball. Ultimately I made an afghan with one of Barbara Walker’s tweed stitches and made sure that where the yarn was joined fell to the back side. I left the tails of the yarn, and did not weave them in, so one side is really hairy and one side is smooth. I call it my Polish depression afghan. I suppose you could make a vest or a hat like that, and if you are brave wear it out.

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