What To Do With Left Over Yarn

A hobby leaves lot of tidbits. Same goes for crochet with one being left with several types of yarn not enough to make a good sized bad. I use such leftover yarn to make coin bags among other things. Depending on the yarn left, a bag suitable for gifting little trinkets can be made.

Coin bags are also good for experimentation and trying out new patterns or stiches. Recently, at an exhibition, I saw these fantastic beaded crocheted bags. Done in beautiful colors and contrasting small beads, I also wanted to make something like them. While I wanted to try my hand at making those heavily beaded bags, I did not want to unravel the sample on not getting the desired effect. A simple solution to the problem - coin bags ! One gets to experiment with new techniques without letting the hard work go waste... The two red bags with blue and green drawstrings were made like this.

Another use for left over yarn, aside from making the all time favorite granny squares, is to make flowers. Frankly speaking, I am not an expert at making flowers though I would like to learn more kinds. Anyway, once you have a bunch of flowers, you can

use them to jazz up pretty much anything - a girl's dress, towels, cushion covers, beadspreads, throws, table mats, jar covers made of fabric, and the list goes on....

Left over yarn is ideal for making spirals, the method for which I read in a crochet book I bought a few months ago. The spirals are really easy to make and can be used for various purposes depending on the type of yarn. When made with silken yarn, they can be used as dainty tassels, which among other things are apt for adding glamour to a simple bob pin. The same spiral can be used to make a choker to go with any party dress. Bigger yarns made from rough thicker yarns form an ideal hanging for container plants. What's best about these spirals is the fact they use very little amount of yarn, so you end up using even the really small lengths of left over crochet yarn.

This article would be incomplete without a mention about friendship bands, which can be made easily. Crochetd friendship bands remind me of an interesting story of a neighbor who put up an exhibition of crochetd bags a few years ago. Just like any exhibition, all participants here too were required to pay a certain amount of money to book the stall. And, you know how people displaying their handicrafts are nervous about being able to at least recover the booking amount, my neighbor too was a bit apprehensive. She had a good collection of bags alongwith a quite a few stacks of left over yarn. Realizing that friendship day was soon after the exhibition, she made friendship bands of the left overs. Needless to mention, they sold like hotcakes and my friendly neighbor profited from their sale!