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Bust Through Your Stash with a Garter Stitch Blanket

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garter stitch afghanConfession time: my stash is starting to make me a little nervous. I have book leftovers, yarns I bought, things people have sent me to review, little bits of balls from projects I’ve finished and big projects I stopped in the middle.

Something needs to be done.

I have plans for some of this stuff; some will get used, some given away, maybe even a little sold. If you’re looking for a way to use a bunch of yarn (somewhat) quickly, check out the Color Blocked Afghan from Smiling Colors. More of a method than a pattern, she used two strands of yarn held together and changed colors five times across the length of the blanket.

You could also hold two different colors together, or have one strand the same color throughout and change the other one as needed.

Holding two strands together like that both makes it go faster and makes it go through yarn faster, both of which are great when you’re trying to process some stash.

What are some of your favorite stash busting projects? I’d love to hear about them!

[Photo via Smiling Colors.]

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Comments

  1. The end result would be much appreciated by the homeless. Friend pays a huge amount of postage to ship hers from the UK to Africa. My knitting group prefers not to pay that, we’re retirees, some on small incomes. I intend no criticism of anyone,it’s a free country for anyone to do what they like with their charity makes. but by phoning around locally, we’ve found 2 homeless hostels who welcome our stash-busting blankets.

Have you read?

Stitch Your Favorite Fruit on a Sweater

The other day I saw a post from Pinterest about trends for summer and it said one of them was “cultivating whimsy.” 

Well, I don’t know where Pinterest has been all this time, but we’ve been cultivating whimsy here at Craft Gossip for a long time. I love sharing projects that are a little different, things that make you smile when you see them, and will make you smile when you knit them and wear them or use them. 

Such it is with the Tutti Frutti tee knitting pattern from Bea Creative Knits. 

This cute little baby tee is worked top down in the round with contiguous shoulder construction to shape the sleeve caps. There are short rows for the neckline and folded hems with picot edging at the hemline, neckline and edges of the sleeves. 

All of this would be great on its own, but then there’s the addition of a super cute fruit icon, which is added with duplicate stitch. There are a lot of options, including strawberry, banana, orange, cherries, watermelon, lemon, blueberries, kiwi, peach, dragon fruit, apple and pear, so it’s likely you can add on your favorite fruit. 

It is offered in eight sizes, to fit a bust measurement ranging from 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 56-58 inches (142-147 cm). The design is meant to be worn with around 6.3 inches/16 cm of negative ease, but you can choose the fit you prefer. There’s also optional bust and waist shaping included in the pattern if you want to make it even curvier.

This is considered an advanced beginner or intermediate project because of all the skills involved, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun even if some of these techniques are new to you.

Grab a copy of the pattern for yourself form Bea Creative Knits on Etsy. 

[Photo: Bea Creative Knits]