Get Started on Stash Busting with Ziggy Triangle

I think that many knitters have as a new year’s resolution or goal to use more of their stash whenever a new year rolls around. I say pretty much every year that I’m not going to buy more yarn (unless, you know, I really need it for a project) and even when I’m not accumulating much, it still feels like I’m not making much of a dent in what I already have.

If you’re looking for projects that can help you use stash — whether it’s little bits of leftovers or whole skeins — I’ll be sharing more of that sort of stuff as we head into the new year and beyond. But for now, I’ve got the Ziggy Triangle by Leila Raven, which is perfect for using a solid yarn and a multicolored yarn, or a solid and a bunch of odd balls.

The pattern was designed for sport weight yarn but it’s easy to customize if you want to make it with different yarn. This would be a fun one to use your advent calendar minis or whatever bold yarn you have on hand.

It features a lacy zigzag pattern, and the designer recommends a smooth and colorful yarn paired with a more neutral, fuzzy yarn so you get a contrast in textures as well as in colors.

Because this is worked as a triangle, you can make it any size you want, just make sure you know how much yarn went into the first half so you leave enough for the second half (you can weigh your yarn before you start and through the process to see when you need to start decreasing).

As written the pattern makes a sweet little neck kerchief, but again, you can always make it bigger if you want, if you have more yarn or use a heavier weight yarn instead of the sport weight.

You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[photo: Leila Raven]

Next Pattern:

If you’re looking for a fun project to play with brioche knitting, check out the My Buddy knitting pattern/recipe from Casuarinagirl on Ravelry.

This project doesn’t include a brioche tutorial, so it’s good to know the basics, including how to increase and decrease, but you can always practice on a swatch before you start the project if you want.

The design is meant to be flexible for the yarn you have and what size and shape of project you want to make, from a skinny neck scarf to a asymmetrical triangle or a more classic triangular shape.

The shape you end up with will depend on how often you increase (and then decrease on the other side). The pattern mentions increasing every fourth, fifth or six row (and the one shown increases and decreases every sixth row) but you can do it even more or less often depending on the shape you’re looking for an how much yarn you want to use.

You can work to whatever depth you would like, or use almost half of the yarn you have set aside for the project and begin decreasing.

When it comes to yarn, she used three strands of yarn held together to make a super fluffy shawl, but you can work it with whatever yarn and needles you like to make a wrap that’s all your own.

If you are new to brioche (or to increasing and decreasing in brioche) it might be a good idea to make a little scarf or head wrap first before diving in to the bigger pattern, just so you’re more comfortable with the technique. Or just give it a go; nothing about brioche knitting is that difficult. (But you might want to use a lifeline because I find brioche hard to rip out or fix mistakes in properly.)

You can grab the free pattern for the Buddy Wrap on Ravelry.

[Photo: Casuarinagirl]

Next Pattern:

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