Improvising Crochet with Stash Busting Yarn

I am quite proud of the three blankets that have evolved from my stash busting efforts. As I noted from my previous post, my goal was to create pieces while including large quantities of yarn from my extensive stash.The main criteria for each blanket was that I had to work with the yarn that I already had on hand.  The designs evolved as I sought attractive combinations.  The available yardage for each color helped to determine the eventual design.  I like to work with the extended Granny Square, and there are infinite design options that are available to me.  

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Project 1  A variegated Red Heart Super Saver in pink, white, green, and lavender was the driving force for this piece.  I also happened to have a Caron pound yarn in a pale pink and several partial skeins of white that matched the colors in the variegated yarn.  The Extended Granny Square started with 8 rounds of of pink, followed by 2 rounds of white and 6 rows of variegated yarn.  The sequence was repeated, ending in 2 rows of white.  The final edging consisted of 1 row of pink in Half Double Crochet (HDC) followed by 1 row of variegated in the same stitch. The completed blanket was a 40 inch square which would work as a blanket for a girl or a lapgahn for a women. I donated this piece along with the shawls from my previous post.

Project 2 This 42 inch blanket or lapgahn is suitable for a boy or a man.  It started with 8 (135 yard) skeins in red worsted Just Yarn that I bought from the Dollar Store.  I was drawn to the color and the delightful hand feel. I bought all the red skeins that were on the shelf, and I had 1080 yards of for the project.  Now I needed a pleasing contrast for my blanket.  I did not want go the patriotic route in red, white, and blue.  Luckily, I was able to pick up two large skeins of dark grey RedHeart yarn when I bought my shawls to the collection site for Threads of Love,  Frequently people support our cause by donating unused yarn to our synagogue.  Since I did not have to buy the yarn, I felt it qualified for inclusion in my stash busting  mission.  

​I started with an 8 round square of red, followed by 2 rounds of grey and 4 rounds of red.  Then I had to determine if I would continue with the same sequence or whether I wanted to increase the number of grey or red rounds as I continued with the blanket.  I brought the piece to my Craft Group at the Woodbridge Center and posed the question to my fellow knitters and crocheters. I was especially interested in the views offer expert gentleman knitter as the proposed blanket or lapgahn was designated for a boy or man.  We finally decided to stay with 4 red rounds, but I would inrease the number of grey rounds by one after each red bunch.  After my last set of 5 grey rounds, I realized that I was running out of yarn.  Therefore, I would stop making solid sets of rows and begin work on the edging.  When  you crochet the Extended Granny Square, you can achieve vertical stripes if you alternate two colors for several rows.  Since, my last group was done in grey, I began the edging with a round of red clusters.  I followed with a row of grey and then one of red.  I had enough yarn for 5 total rounds.  The piece was finished with a single round of grey in Half Double Crochet.  

Project 3 The 8 skeins of grey worsted yarn from the Dollar store had 115 yards per skein.  The 920 yards were also designated for a boy's blanket or for a man's lapgahn.  When I placed the pale grey yarn next to contrasting colors in my bins, the white and black spoke out to me. I still wanted a pop of color, and so I bought out the cherry red. The initial square was made up of 10 rows of grey.  The contrast sequence was 1 round of red, 1 round of white, 2 rounds of black, and 6 rows of grey.  I had planned to follow the sequence two more times, but I ran out of grey yarn after round 5 oof the last grey section.  Therefore, I transitioned immediately into 3 rows of HDC in red, white, and black as I had done for the larger granny stitch cluster rows.The completed piece ws 42 inches of cozy comfort.

My stash busting mission used a significant amount of yarn: 1 large skein of varigated yarn, 1 pound of pink yarn, 2 incomplete white skeins., 8 skeins of red, 2 large skeins of dark grey, 8 skeins of light grey, and partial skeins of red,  white,and black.  When I look back to the skeins used from the previous article, I had made a significant dent in the yarn that was overflowing from bins and assorted shopping bags.  White I donated the girl's blanket, I decided that I would donate the red and grey blanket, but keep the grey blanket with the red, white, and black accents.  I like to have pieces on hand when I need to come up with a gift.  

After all of this stash busting, I was further motivated to reorganize all of my yarn.  Most of it was useful, but buried.  Some belonged to a bygone era.  Others just did not fit color palettes that I enjoyed.  After dumping all remaining seven bins on the floor, I sorted by color and weight. Two other piles remained: the give-away pile and the throw-out pile.  I brought the giveaway pile to my craft group and most of it was taken.  I tossed the throw-out pile and and remainder of the give-away pile.  Now I have just 5 bins and no stray shopping bags of yarn. Best yet, I have planned my next 3 large project since I have grouped all of the colors and I know how much I have have of each skein as well as the coordinating colors.

Thank you for your reflections and feedback.  As always, I welcome you to join me on my stitching journey.