After finishing three short sleeved tops my stash can finally breathe more freely and I have more energy to knit smaller things again. I wound a bunch of mini skeins and swapped them with friends, and wanted to show you some ideas of what to do with them. (Check my links for inspiration for knitting with scraps below).

After finishing this third Elfe-tee, I am now definitely ripe for some smaller projects again. This one was intended to have long sleeves, but the yarn ran out, so a short sleeve it became. Which is fine by me, as I am a hot blooded Northman (woman, well, you know…). And again that great feeling of having used up two balls of yarn to the last inch!! It can’t get better!

I just love these colours and the yarn is so soft! I cant believe that I kept it in my shash for more than 10 years without using it. But I’m so glad it found it’s destiny now.

So now that I actually know that sweater-ing is pretty cool if you found the right pattern that does not drive you nuts with lots of math (hello dyscalculia :P) I am sure to knit more tops. The next ones are already picked out!

But for now I am in LOVE with this pack of scraps that just landed in my mailbox!

I had this idea while talking to a knitter that I know from Instagram and I asked her to swap sock yarn scraps with me. You know, because not only is the grass greener, but also the scraps are happier and more colourful on the other side.

If you feel like swapping scraps, drop me a line 🙂

So we decided to wind off a bunch of small 10g balls of sock yarn from our stash and swap them with each other. And since this was a good idea, some more people joined in! So I just replaced my kind of boring yarns (because I know them already :P) with exciting new scraps. That’s what I call two birds with a stone!

Now I am incredibly in love with my surprise kilo of all the happy colours that are crowding my scrappy bowl (which had to get a neighbour to help out) and coudn’t stop myself from casting on the first project.

Since I am not gifted with plenty of patience it had to be a vanilla sock, of course. But I really like this one so far! (If you need help knitting socks you can check out this free pattern).

I am currently reading this book How Bad are Bananas by Mike Berners-Lee to see what I can do to improve my lifestyle. I am not a zero-waste person, although I wish I could, (Sweden is not big on bulk stores or other options to buy packaging free, and this annoys me so much) so I am aiming for at least being a 50% waste person. And to minimise my carbon footprint (pun intended) as much as possible.

I think knitting your own clothes is already a good start, using up all materials that you already have, is a good idea, too. Aiming for less packaging and using less/ recycle more stuff will definitely not hurt, either!

The next projects are already in planning and I’m still waiting for another scrap swap parcel to plan the colours and layout. Can’t wait to get started!!

This is what I want to make from scraps:

Definitely a scrappy sweater like the Lovely Loona by Astrid Müller . In fact I think this might justbe my next cast one… This also work for the UseWhatYouHaveKAL2019!

A few pairs of socks, possibly a pair of Tipsy Toe Socks 2.0

And maybe a bit of fair Isle like these Snail Socks

And if I’m feeling very curageous I’ll try to make a knitted version of this Elf coat by Regina Weiss

I’ll make more clothes and toys and will definitely keep you posted should I find new scrap eaters and inspiration. For now if you want to know what else you can make from scraps, see links below.

Do you have any more cool ideas? I’d love to hear them in the comments!

Scrap yarn blending techniques

Patterns that use scrappy amounts of yarn

20 free leftover project patterns

Happy knitting!