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Giveaway: Mini Skein Knits

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mini skein knits

Congratulations to Duane!

First off, let me say that June was spectacularly crazy for me, but things will be getting better after this week. So if you’ve won a giveaway and haven’t received your prize yet, or you’re wondering why I haven’t picked a winner in a while, please be patient and I promise I will get caught up very soon. Thanks! You all are the best!

One of the last things I did while I was still working at About Knitting was an article all about mini skeins. These little skeins of yarn include a small yardage but are rather irresistible because they often come in great colors or allow you the chance to sample a little yarn you might not be able to afford in larger quantity.

But the trouble with mini skeins is that you might end up wanting to buy a lot of them and not knowing quite what to do with them. They’re lovely as yarn art, of course, but wouldn’t it be better to use them?

That’s where the book Mini Skein Knits comes in (I reviewed it as part of the article linked above). The book has 25 patterns for accessories and home projects (as well as two lovely striped sweaters) that will help you use up leftover yarn or mini skeins (you can see the projects on Ravelry). It’s a fun and colorful book that’s sure to inspire you to use up your little bits, and I’m giving away a copy this week.

If you’d like a chance to win it, leave a comment on this post by the end of the day Sunday, July 10. I’d love to know if you buy mini skeins or if this is the first you have heard of them. If you do, do you use them?

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing, and good luck!

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Comments

  1. I have never bought these but have used oddments to make things in the past. Thank you for the giveaway chance

  2. This has peaked my interest! What fun and what a different approach this would be.

  3. I love them! Mostly, I have used them for knitting toys. I would love to learn more ways to use up my leftovers, which are usually sock yarn.

  5. Yes, I would buy them. When I knit dolls, you often use small amounts of different colors for clothes, etc. Would love to see a book with specific projects:)

  6. I haven’t bought any mini-skeins but have done swaps with knitting friends so have quite a few in my stash; I also have those small partial skeins that multiply like bunnies but I rarely find projects in which to use them. This book would be a lifesaver!

  7. I used to subscribe to a mini skein club (Koigu) and have used them all in a scarf or two.

  10. I’ve been eyeing them but haven’t purchased any as I’m not quite sure what to do with them. I’d love to get a copy of this book and try them out.

  11. I’ve never bought the mini skeins yet, because I haven’t found a use for them – until now! This book has peaked my interest, and has me re-thinking whether or not I’d be able to use a few of those skeins in some of my projects. Thank you for the great giveaway, and have a great 4th of July!!

  12. I have been intrigued by this book since it first came out. I have a couple of these mini sets that I’d like to use wisely. I would love to win this book.

  13. Other than using leftovers from my stash, I have not used them. I would love to use them in stranded mittens and
    hats.

  17. I don’t mini skeins because I can never figure out what to make with them. But I do love the colors and the materials so I am always tempted. This book would answer my “What can I make with these” question.

  20. I have not bought mini skeins yet as I have too much scrap yarn, but I will buy them when my supply depletes.

  21. This would be great! I.have tones of yarn samples from Jimmie Bean ut never get them knit up!

  22. Never tried them. Not sure if I have even seen them. But it would be fun to use them, I think.

  25. Mini skeins are so cool! They let you try different yarns without having to buy a lot! Plus they are a great way to get lots of color in your project without having to buy a lot of yarn! I love working with mini skeins!

  27. I’ve seen them a lot in sets of 4 or 5, sometimes as gradient sets, and other times just a group of “complementary” colors The dyer and I seem to always disagree on one or more color in the set.

  28. Mini skeins are like those little candy bars one buys at the grocery–a little treat of something sweet. I would love to see more ideas for using them.

    from sunny and bright VT,
    the Vermonster

  29. There are also some great patterns for doll clothes using mini skeins.

  30. I have alot of small skeins and small bits of leftovers. This would be perfect to use these small bits.

  31. I have not bought mini skeins before.
    I’ve seen lots that I love, but afraid to
    start buying… May not be able to stop…lol

  32. Would love the chance to win this book. Hoping to find some great ideas for stash busting the mini skeins. :0)

  33. I’ve just recently started buying mini-skeins – mostly for gradient projects (like shawls – they are my ‘thing’ 🙂 But I have some left-overs and was thinking of finally starting to learn fair-isle knitting so I could use those gorgeous complementary shades to knit hats, gloves and the yokes of sweaters. First though – I need to learn how! LOL I would love to have this book so I could get some more ideas and maybe even use up the mini-balls of left-over yarn from other projects that are just looking pretty in clear glass and plastic jars on my workspace right now. Thanks for the chance.

  34. I have never used mini skeins – I did not know about them! I would love to give them a try – thanks!

  36. I have bought mini skein sets because they’re often offered as gradients, which look great in all different kinds of projects

  37. I have never heard of mini skeins before but it sounds like a wonderful idea and I would love the chance to try them. Thank you for offering me the chance to do so.

  38. I have heard but never tried Mini Skeins before and would love to have this book.

  40. I’ve never purchased mini-skeins, but I have been tempted… The one thing that has stopped me is my giant stash of yarn that is in both mini and maxi skeins ???? This book might help me with my continuing effort at stash busting.

  42. I followed your link to ravelry to find a great surprise. I would actually knit and wear them all! I know, amazing right. I dont think that has ever happened to me before. If i dont win i will buy this book. So hello book shop, here i come ????

  43. I’ve heard of mini skeins like LionBrand bonbons. And when you buy a kit. But in my life, mini skeins are all the leftover skeins from previous projects. This book looks purr…fect.

  46. I have never purchased mini skeins, but I do have a lot of oddments in need of a project or two!

  47. I have bought mini’s for heels and toes on socks. Love the idea of projects made with mini skeins.

  48. Have bought mini skeins but haven’t known what to do with them. Would welcome ideas and patterns!

  49. I’ve never used mini skeins before but I’d love the opportunity to try them. I think the patterns for using multiple colors like the hat are just gorgeous but purchasing full sized skeins for those types of patterns can become to costly and possibly wasteful.

  50. This is the first I have heard of yard sold as mini skeins but I have many mini skeins of leftover yarn that my friends have given me. I use them to knit doll clothes.

Have you read?

Knit a Leopard Print Shawl and Learn about Yarn Substitution

When I was looking around for free knitting patterns to share recently, I came across this fun leopard print wrap from Yarnspirations. 

This fun bulky wrap gives you tons of practice with instarsia and makes a bold statement while keeping you warm. It’s rated for intermediate knitters and the design is charted but pretty easy to follow. And it’s only 50 rows and worked in bulky yarn, so it wouldn’t even take that long to knit. (You can grab the free pattern from Yarnspirations.)

So what’s the problem? The yarn that the pattern calls for has been discontinued, and it’s not a yarn that a substitute for immediately springs to mind. 

The original yarn was Patons Alpaca Blend, a single ply bulky yarn that was a combination of acrylic, superwash wool, nylon and alpaca. 

My first thought was Lion Brand Hue + Me, which is an acrylic and wool blend, with two plies instead of a single. It looks like it has the colors you would need to make this fun shawl. 

But as I was thinking about it, I thought this would be a good opportunity to introduce you to YarnSub if you don’t already know about it. This website is a giant database of yarn that can consider the qualities of the yarn you want to substitute and offer potential substitutions. 

It’s not only thinking about yarn weight, like I was, but also fiber content, number of plies, gauge and even the difference in yardage between one ball and another. It even looks at the price and can be filtered by your price range or preferences about fiber content (if, say, you’re sensitive or allergic to wool, for example, or don’t want to you acrylic). 

When I plugged in Alpaca Blend, it gave me a lot of different options, though many of them were self-striping or multicolored, which wouldn’t work for this project, and I don’t see a way to filter for solid colors only. 

Still, it’s a good tool to give you some ideas you might not know about or might have forgotten about, and it tells you how the new yarn is similar to the old one and how it differs, allowing you to make smarter choices when substituting yarns. 

[Photo: Yarnspirations]