I love starting new crocheting or knitting
projects. But I hate wasting yarn. I feel guilty if I started a new
project when I haven't finished old ones; and then go purchase new yarns.
Guess it was the training I got when I was young-we always had to finish
our "chores" like cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning our rooms;
finishing our homework, before we could go out and play.
I love to "go play" at craft and
yarn stores and it is worse now that I am an avid smart phone user and get
these text hits with extra sales percentage notices from Jo-Ann's. Gives
me added excuse to save money when I shop for yarn I don't actually need.
Well this latest crocheting and knitting
projects are perfect to get rid of any color and any weight/texture of yarn you
might have. I am making scrap yarn dog beds. They are simple, no
patterns, no rules, great mindless knitting or crocheting, being creative and
making fun cat or dog beds while using up tiny scraps to large amounts of yarn
that have been sitting stored away for a very long time.
Here is how it works. You take any
and all yarn you want to get rid of or use up and make 2 piles. We all
have them, hard for me to just throw away any amount of left over yarns from
other projects. One pile with light colored yarns, one pile with dark colors.
You decide which pile you want to put any multi colored yarns you have,
or which pile the shades of colors that actually are so bright, they could be
considered dark or light. It won't matter. Even if the weight or size
yarn is thin to large, you are going to be knitting or crocheting with double
strands, one light, one dark.
Even if you have a fairly short/small
amount of one shade, it doesn't matter, the more colors, the better it looks.
I put the lights and darks in separate
plastic bags and worked out of the bags until the yarn ran out, tied a new
color and kept on going.
The measurements and stitch numbers depend
on the size. You don't have to make a dog bed, you can make an afghan
too, using the same process. You measure how long do you want the
crocheted or knitted item to be. I already had a dog bed pad. So I
measured the pad/cushion. It was 40" x 26".
I took one
strand of the light yarn and one strand of a dark yarn and started casting on
(knitting) or chaining (crocheting) until I had the longest length and added 3
more stitches; skipped the closest stitch to my needle and half double
crocheted back all across those cast on stitches until I got back to the
beginning. When I came to the end, I chained one, turned my work and went all the back across again. I actually had 110 single crochets for the one
bed.
You can stop at
this time to see how it compares to the dog pad you have or use a measuring
tape. These stitches will be the same amount all the way, back and forth
until you have your width-(in my case it was 26" actually x 2). It
needs to be on both sides of the bed, so you have to crochet twice the size so
you can fold the blanket you finish in half and stitch up 2 sides; slip your
existing dog bed inside and then stitch the 3rd side closed.
On one bed, I made tassel ties on the last
remaining opening so after I slipped in the bed; I just tied it closed with 4
ties.
Once you get going, it is a matter of just
to continue crocheting. But the best look is to keep starting more yarns,
more colors. So say for instance, you have a full skein of pink and a
full skein of brown and you keep going back and forth and back and forth.
You will have a solid block of those particular colors. I wanted
more of a Bohemian look.
Once you get going, it is a matter of just
to continue crocheting. But the best look is to keep attaching more yarns,
more colors. Periodically, I would cut either the light or
the dark color and add a different dark/light color and it would change the
whole look.
If you have wools you are using up, you
will have to hand wash the final project, such as the dog bed. I didn't
use any wools for the dog beds, but I did use wools for the scrap yarn throw I
made for the couch. I figured I wouldn't be wishing the throw as much as I will
the dog beds.
If you are making the throw, on mine, I
did a single crochet all around the 4 finished edges to make a nice edging.
You don't need to do that, you can just get to one end when it is the
size you want and knot it. Weave in all your loose pieces for all those
tieing on the new yarns. You are done. See below, this dog bed has the single crochet trim which I happened to have a longer piece left over of the aqua so the trimming around was all one color. Annie, by dog doesn't care though. Just her, the bed and her toy. A happy dog.
The yarns I thought I wouldn't ever end up
using, worked perfectly. I was making some pumpkin bunting swags last
year and bought too much orange yarn. I was reluctant to use it even on
the dog bed, but finally I got the nerve and just knotted it on, on my
"light" strand and ended up using it all up. (See the round pillow photo, you will see all the orange yarns) I also had a lot
of this baby pink yarn which I thought would look too light with my "dark"
strand. I again, just went for it, when my light yarn ran out, I knotted
on the pink yarn with whatever dark yarn strand I was crocheting it together and it
was amazing how it all blends.
It was really funny, on the first dog bed,
after I stitched up the 3 sides and put down the new crocheted yarn bed for the
dogs, they immediately went for it and it really seemed to me they were
sleeping on that one more than the other bed. So I still had a huge stash
left, off I went to make another one. They love them!!!
And the scrap yarn throw on the couch is
the one that is mostly used instead of the beautiful knitted cable stitch white
one.
I still have some scraps left, enough to
make one more project, this next one is going to be a pillow. This one is
going to be round as my pillow form is round. I will make 2 of them and
stitch them together all around to close them up with one small section using
yarn ties. Nothing big deal or complicated. See how bright this aqua color
is? It doesn't look that bright with the 2nd color. The center of the circle, it has that orange yarn mixed in with
that pink/blue varigated yarn, it all works together.
I hope you try out this Bohemian look for
a dog or cat bed; or make yourself a afghan throw for the trailer, couch,
cabin. My conscience is almost cleared enough to take advantage of Jo
Ann's latest sale!!! Show me your project if you decide to make one of
these and don't hesitate to email/comment me if you have any questions. I
am going to attach a link for you to a good YouTube tutorial by Jayda
InStitches-I watched to get myself started when I first decided to use up all
my yarn and to make these dog beds.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2Gln0u9H08
Have fun!!
Have fun!!
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