13 USEFUL Tips & Ideas for Yarn Scraps!

forget the intro that I originally planned for the start of the video I just realized I made a typo in the title of my notes 13 uses for crap yarn I mean it's not wrong [Music] [Applause] [Music] if you're an artist or a crafter who occasionally doubles in yarn there's probably a good chance that you have one of these or one of these or possibly even one of these I'd wager you have a container of some description that is chock full of yarn scraps but what do we do with all that hard and fibery goodness you know other than let it continuously expand like some sort of yarn tumor well luckily for us there's actually quite a bit we can do with scrap yarn and today I want to share with all of you just a few of my favorite ways that you can potentially bust that scrap stash if you happen to have a scrap yarn use suggestion that doesn't appear on this list please feel free to drop that down in the comments at any time so in no particular order here are my favorite uses for scrap yarn number one divide and conquer well not so much the conquer part but the Divide part can be pretty useful this isn't so much a use for scrap yarn but something I find helpful to do before I begin using it and that is to separate my scraps in into three separate categories off Cuts remnants and full or mostly full scans the offcuts are as the name suggests the little offcuts of yarn snipped away at the end of a project usually only a few centimeters long remnants are that remaining three to five percent of yarn you have left over when your project just didn't quite use up the full skein and four or mostly full scans are those that get relegated to the scrap stash for one reason or another for me personally this is usually because they are a nightmare to work with and I can't foresee myself using them up in any other non-scrap project I prefer to separate my scrap into these groups because I find that each category has its own specific uses and pre-sorting them makes it so much easier later on to find what I'm looking for sorting your scrap yarn isn't something you necessarily need to do and if you choose to do so there are plenty of other ways you could categorize it as well by yarn weight or Fiber type just for a couple of examples but it is something that I have found really helpful in the past and maybe you will too Number Two Stitch markers have you ever been in a situation where you're out and about maybe you're a couple of hours away from home you've packed yourself a lovely little crochet travel bag you have a nice pattern all lined up ready to jump on your hook you reach into your bag of crochet goodies and uh oh you realize you forgot your Stitch markers if you're one of those thrill seeking risk-taking Daredevils who don't use Stitch markers absolute Madness I could never this probably isn't a big deal to you but for those of us whose brains can't be consistently relied upon to not bugger up the Stitch count this is where scrub yarn can save the day just a little bit of scrap yarn can be used in place of a stitch marker comes in handy in a pinch but it's also a decent alternative if you're someone who doesn't have or doesn't want to use regular Stitch markers number three running stitch marker building upon number two this is something I found really helpful as an amigurumi designer you will need a longer piece of scrap yarn for this to work the exact length is going to depend on the size of your project start as you would with a regular stitch marker but then as you crochet instead of moving your stitch marker at the end of each round weave your scrap yarn back and forth through your work as demonstrated this will leave you with a clear line denoting the start slash end of your rounds which can be really useful information in the amigurumi designing process especially if you're working on something that is complex in terms of shaping color work or perhaps even both number four stuffing as someone who makes a lot of amigurumi this is one of my favorite uses for scrap yarn it's pretty self-explanatory you basically just use scrap yarn as stuffing but as useful as this technique is it's not without its flaws the most annoying of which at least in my opinion is when the scrap yarn you've used as stuffing starts poking its little fibery fingers out between the stitches of your work to combat this I generally use a combination of polyfill and yarn scraps use regular polyfill stuffing to create a wall sort of like a layer of insulation and then add your yarn scraps inside this barrier with this method not only do you keep all of your scraps inside your work stop them peeking through but you use significantly less polyfool than you would otherwise and you get to use up a whole heap of yarn scraps so it's win-win-win really number five reuse recycle repurpose yarn scraps can be given New Life in other craft projects a quick Google will give you hundreds of ideas for this Pinterest is also a good resource I wish I could show you my large wine bottle of scraps that I had but unfortunately that broke all I really have left now is this this pretty mediocre thing but it does give you a general idea of what I mean if you have enough scrap there really is no limit to potential color combinations so you can use these to match any sort of Decor that you like number six kids crafts I do these a lot with my nieces and nephews and if I'm being totally honest with both myself and you guys I get a lot of enjoyment out of them too yum it's fun for all ages another quick Google or Pinterest search will provide you Limitless ideas for kids crafts using yarn but the top two favorites of my nibblings are yarn sewing and yarn winding I don't know if these are the correct terms for these particular crafts but that's what we call them also my youngest nephew recently expressed an interest in learning how to crochet and scrap yarn was definitely the way to go there you can tangle that as much as he likes number seven scrap specific project I feel this is another one that's fairly self-explanatory but you're basically just crocheting an entire project out of scrap yarn it could be anything it could be a basket a blanket a scarf whatever you want it to be as long as it's made from scrap yarn it's officially a scrap yarn project I'm currently working towards my own scrap project this is the yarn that I've collected for it so far I definitely have a little ways to go before I'll be ready to start but you can look forward to seeing that on the channel at some point number eight record keeping do you sometimes lose your yarn labels or if you're like me do you sometimes convince yourself that you'll remember all the important information and then prematurely throw out your yarn labels well that's no longer an issue for me because I do this I take a piece of scrap from a project tape it into my old notebook number it and then in my better quality notebook I will record any and all information I think is necessary to know about that particular yarn and you can record as much or as little information as you want brand yarn name color dialot weight length recommended hook size fiber type care instructions date purchased price when purchased there is so much useful information you can record and you don't have to worry about losing your yarn labels or being overconfident and throwing it out as a side note you can tape your yarn to the page where all the information is listed I just like having all my yarn together so I can see all the colors just a personal preference number nine prototypes I love using scrap yarn to design prototypes for my amigurumi and doing so allows me to design without the stress of worrying that I'm going to ruin a good yarn all that I'm wasting money on something that is inevitably going to end up cut up and recycled or be used as either a kid toy or a pet toy there's also the added benefit of being able to create multiple versions editing and adjusting the pattern where necessary the only limitation that I have is how much yarn is in my scrap stash number 10. highlighting this is another one that's more Emma groomy specific it could work for other crochet projects but as I haven't tried that yet I can't vouch for its Effectiveness there are certain amigurumi projects that I've worked on in the past and a couple I'm working on presently that are fairly complex and I'm specifically talking about shaping in this context sometimes when I'm reviewing those patterns it can be difficult to determine where the problem areas are because I've used such a wide range of stitches and this is where scrap yarn can come in handy I have started to use scrap yarn to assign a particular color to a specific stitch for example green for an increase red for a decrease blue for three single crochet in the same Stitch maybe orange for single crochet three together etc etc yes all these color changes are fairly time consuming but at the review stage it does allow you to identify problem areas a lot faster and you're not going to be doing this for the entire amigurumi just those sections that are really complex where you need to get the correct stitch in exactly the right position number 11 most frequently used items this one's not just for amigurumi but I'm going to be honest with you all I use it most often for amigurumi basically you just need to identify what crochet pieces you use most often perhaps this is flowers or leaves maybe you make a lot of pom-poms or perhaps it is crochet eyes for your amigurumi Critters once you have a list of those most frequently used items and a whole bunch of scrap yarn you're going to grab yourself a cup of tea or a hot chocolate and if you're a coffee drinker my condolences and go to town making yourself a bunch of your faves keep them in a bag or a jar or some sort of container and then in the future when you find yourself in need of a little decorative flare you'll have a whole bunch of pre-prepared crochet goodies to choose from number 12. the small details I don't think I have to go too in depth with this one other than to say that scrap yarn can be really great for adding small details to your project whether you want to use a latch hook a felting needle maybe you want to do some embroidery or just a bit of surface crochet scrap yarn really does come in clutch when you want to add those small but important details to your pieces number 13 testing new Stitches this is something I've only started to do recently as I've been finding my footing in the realm of crochet wearables I've found myself wanting to expand my Stitch repertoire so I can create at some point more complex design however I don't want to jump into crocheting a new garment with a stitch I've never worked with before so that's why I've been using scrap yarn to practice and I would recommend it really takes the pressure off if I bugger up I know I'm not at risk of ruining an entire garment or Worse not realizing I made a mistake until way too light and having to frog several hours of work and that concludes my non-exhaustive list of uses for scrap yarn if you have your own suggestions please feel free to pop those down in the comments I'm always happy to learn new ways that I can use up my yarn scraps and I'm sure there's other people out there who are in the same boat like the video If you enjoyed it or you thought it was helpful consider subscribing if you haven't already and I will see you all next week with another video [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Skein Spider

Views: 14,236

Keywords: skein spider, crochet, amigurumi, yarn scraps, yarn scrap ideas, yarn scrap projects, scrap projects, uses for yarn scraps, scrap busting, ideas for yarn scraps, scrap yarn projects

Id: Nj3J2MhYgwo

Length: 12min 16sec (736 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 06 2023