KnitBits: Yarn Bombing, Using Scraps and Adorable Ducklings

If you’ve been around the knitting world long, you’ve probably heard the name Magda Sayeg, and if you haven’t, you’ve probably seen some of her work. She’s the person who made yarnbombing into a thing, and is known for her large-scale knit and crochet coverings from city buses, motorcycles and more. She gave a TED talk about how she got started in yarnbombing, the power of putting down your cell phone and making something, and the notion that “hidden power can be found in the most unassuming places.” It’s worth five minutes to watch.

We all have yarn scraps if our stashes, and it’s a great feeling to use up all those little bits. Yarnbombing is one way to do it, but there are lots of others that may or may not include knitting or crochet. This is an old list of 50 projects to make with yarn scraps, but it turned up on Facebook again recently and is definitely worth revisiting. I still want to wrap my office clock in yarn.

If you have any brown scrap yarn in your stash, you can knit yourself a bunch of Hot Cross Buns for Easter. This pattern from My Poppet is super easy and cute, and I missed putting it in my Easter knitting roundup the other day so I wanted to make sure you saw it.

And finally, the Boston Globe reports that the ducks in the Public Garden have been yarnbombed in the most adorable way. The ducks, which honor the story Make Way for Ducklings, have been decked out in tiny scarves and hats thanks to knitwear company STIK (aka S**t That I Knit). Make way for cuteness!

[Photo from STIK, via Instagram.]

Looking for more Easter themed Knitting patterns? Check out these Knitting patterns we found over on Etsy.

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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