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Small Scraps, Big Ideas: Scrap-Busting Inspiration

We craft, and we get leftovers. Those little bits, 5 grams here, 20 grams there, add up fast. Or maybe you are left with a pile of gauge swatches once a project is done. You could save some (like we suggest in our How to Create a Gauge Library and Building a Library of Samples and Swatches posts), but sometimes you just don’t need to keep them. Unravelling is an option, but what do you do with that small amount of yarn? Finding creative ways to use up these scraps can be tricky, but we are here to help! In this week’s SweetGeorgia Spring Stash-Down post, we are sharing stash-busting ideas to make the most of those leftover bits.

If you’re just hearing about this now or haven’t participated yet, we’ve been focusing on stash and seasonal (spring or autumn) cleaning all month long. Be sure to check out our earlier posts, A Fresh Start in Stash Organization and Handmade with Love: The Impact of Charity Crafting.

Scrap yarn
Gather all your scraps and get ready to be inspired!

Anita’s Scrap-Savvy Projects

If you’ve ever reached out for help at SweetGeorgia, whether looking for a specific product, troubleshooting a technical issue at the School of SweetGeorgia, or been shopping in-person at the studio, chances are you’ve connected with Anita. As our Customer Happiness expert, Anita is not only the person answering your questions, but she also helps pair yarn colours for customers, makes many of the samples for SweetGeorgia, and always inspires us with her latest homemade bakes! Her ability to transform small leftover bits into beautiful projects makes her the perfect spotlight for this post!

Little Time, Little Materials, Little Projects!

Anita loves using up scraps from past projects or from various leftovers from the studio. She always has small projects on the go, knitting away between helping customers in our front retail space. Her projects need to be easy to pick up whenever she has a moment, something she can put down quickly, and she can jump right back in without missing a beat. These quick, compact projects are full of fun colour changes thanks to the variety of scraps she uses, and they offer that satisfying sense of accomplishment in a small, snack-sized project. It’s the perfect way to make the most of those little bits of time and leftover materials!

Hexi-puffs Scrap-busting projects
Everyone in the studio is swooning over Anita’s Hexi-puffs, little puffs of joy filled with scrap yarn!

Hexi-puffs. This is based on The Beekeeper’s Quilt pattern. The best part? They are stuffed with scraps and from the tails of ends woven in, making sure there is zero waste!

She is also working on a cowl using the stranded colourwork concept from the Seaglass patterns in Wool and Pine. Watching how different colourways mix is like candy for the eyes. (Although, Anita has knit her cowl so tall that it reaches hip height; now the team is teasing her to turn it into pants, lol!)

Scattered throughout this post, you’ll find photos of some of Anita’s past projects!

Anita's Seaglass cowl
Anita’s cowl uses the stranded colourwork from Wool and Pine’s Seaglass patterns.

Stash-Busting with Scraps

When your stash leaves you with small bits and pieces, it is time to think small. Whether you are whipping up quick accessories, cute little toys, or just making the most of your scraps, we have ideas to keep your creativity flowing without needing a lot of yarn (or time!).

Advent Project Patterns

Many yarn shops and indie dyers create advent kits with mini skeins (typically 5-10g per day) and a pattern to go with them. Searching Ravelry for advent patterns is a great way to find projects that use small amounts of yarn.

Anita's owlets
Wing it! These little owlets are a personal, self-designed pattern by Anita, proving you don’t always need a pattern, just a bit of inspiration!

SweetGeorgia Party of Five Patterns

We’ve been selling our SweetGeorgia Party of Five sets for years, knowing that many patterns don’t need full skeins when you’re working with multiple colours in a pattern. Plus, it is just fun to use multiple colours in any project. That’s why we’ve designed a variety of patterns using our SweetGeorgia Party of Five sets that are also perfect for scrap-busting. Some patterns even call for two sets, which gives you a chance to incorporate even more scraps/colours or use up larger scraps leftover from other projects that left you with half a skein (or more).

Beyond Knitting: Multicraftual Scrap-Busting

  • Crochet: Granny squares are a great way to use up scraps! Or try our Coast to Colour shawl, which is a fantastic option, allowing you to incorporate small to large amounts of leftover yarn as your shawl grows.
  • Felting: If your yarn is non-superwash, you can felt it into toys or dryer balls. This also works well for leftover fibre from spinning; perhaps the fibre is a colour you don’t love or a braid you split, and you now have fibre leftovers.
felted acorns
Cleverly, Anita collected acorn tops from her driveway, felted small balls, glued them inside, and added a yarn string to create this amazing little ornament!
  • Punch Needle: As long as your yarn is longer than the punch needle tool, you can use it!
  • Weaving: Debbie Held led a weave-along using scraps of handspun yarn, but any yarn will work! Use longer pieces for warp or shorter bits for weft. Read her post, Stash-Busting Handspun Scrap Yarns on The Rigid Heddle Loom. You can also explore tapestry, which can use small bits of yarn, too! 
  • Spinning: In the School of SweetGeorgia, Kim McKenna demonstrates how to use yarn scraps to turn them into wool neps for spinning in her Nuances to Spinning Better Yarns course. This is a great way to incorporate special luxury fibre yarn scraps into your projects. 
  • Stuffing: Small yarn bits can be used as stuffing for toys, pillows, and more, just like Anita’s hexi-puffs, make sure that no piece of yarn goes to waste.
what the cluck
Based on the free Mimics pattern, Anita made over five dozen of these adorable little chickens!

At the School of SweetGeorgia, we teach a variety of fibre arts, including wet and dry needle felting, knitting, weaving, spinning, crocheting, dyeing, punch needle, tapestry, and more. Come take a look if any of these topics spark your interest!

Team-Approved Scrap-Busting Projects

Patterns

Here are some projects our team at SweetGeorgia has used to work through their scraps:

Designers

Some designers specialize in tiny, scrap-busting projects; here are a few of our favourites:

Christmas puds
Anita’s Christmas Puds are another example of her self-designed creativity: thinking outside the box, using what she has in her stash, and making something magical!

Join the Conversation & Community

Do you use your scraps in stash-busting projects? Do you have any patterns to share and inspire others? Join the conversation in the SweetGeorgia community and inspire each other to make the most of what we have!

We Invite You to Connect with Us:

  • In the School of SweetGeorgia Forums. Our vibrant community is there to support you, with instructors and fellow members ready to answer questions and share guidance.
  • Join our SweetGeorgia Discord to chat about fibre arts, share projects, and explore further topics like sewing, 3D printing, and machine knitting.
  • Visit our SweetGeorgia Ravelry group, where we’ve been sharing yarn, fibre, patterns, and make-alongs since 2008.
  • Follow us on Instagram and our SweetGeorgia YouTube for inspiration, how-to videos, podcasts, and more!
  • Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest pattern releases, colourway announcements, and make-alongs; you never miss what’s going on!

However you choose to participate, we’re happy to have you in the SweetGeorgia community.

The post Small Scraps, Big Ideas: Scrap-Busting Inspiration appeared first on SweetGeorgia Yarns.



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