stash busting with little knits

I tried to pare down my yarn stash a bit before I packed it away in the basement! Here's a few of my "stash busting" projects. I had a shoe box full of Lily Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn. It comes in so many pretty colors, is super inexpensive, and is available everywhere! A few years ago, I made a small stack of dish cloths which get lots of use in the kitchen since they're very absorbent and the texture makes them great for wiping up crumbs. Over the last few weeks, I've added to the pile of dish cloths. These are all knit in the "double bump" pattern which I like because it lays nice and flat, no curling edges. Details on my Ravelry page.

These felted stacking bowls are a good way to use up worsted or bulky weight wool. Knitting the bowl only takes and hour or two and then they are felted in the washing machine and blocked over a mixing bowl. I have a set of these on my craft table for holding little things like thread, buttons, and pincushions. This blue and gray set made with Cascade 220 yarn will likely be gifted in the near future! Details on my Ravelry page.

Lastly, a baby item. Baby knits are so satisfying; they are much quicker than full-size clothing and use much less yarn! I picked up two balls of Sesia Mistral from a Canetta store as a mini-souvenir from our trip to Rome. The beautiful hand knit baby items on display (€100) were so tempting, but a couple balls of yarn (€8) were more in my price range. I originally tried the Meredith Baby Cardigan pattern with pretty lace detail around the yolk. It was cute, but the lace pattern didn't show up well with this saturated yarn color. As I was sewing on the buttons and debating whether I wanted to re-do it in another pattern, Dan asked what would be going through my mind when I dress our baby in it: "Awww!" or "Eh." I realized it was more of an "eh" and this pretty yarn deserved to be reknit into something more "awww!" I reknit it in the Baby Tea Leaves pattern that I used for my last baby sweater project. Hopefully the 6-12 month size will fit nicely in the autumn. Details on my Ravelry page.