Scrappy Novelty

One of my current ongoing yarny projects is using up some of the novelty yarn I was given a few years ago. It took a while for it to tell me what it wanted to be, but one day as I was making a braid using one of my kumihimo disks, I was admiring the colours and pattern of the braid, paid attention to the fact that it's hollow and squishy, and thought, 'If I made a bunch of these and sewed them together, this would make a cool bath mat.' Out came some scraps and odd skeins/balls of plain acrylic, novelty yarn scraps, and some ribbon yarn that a friend sent me. The experiment had begun. 

I am not planning any designs on these. How the yarn goes on the disk is random and depends on how many lengths of various colours I can get out of the scraps I have. I love watching each braid emerge and seeing how the colours are playing together. It's all very scrappy and improv, which is my favourite way to work! 

I like having a braid in progress, because this is completely mindless. Kumihimo can be quite intricate and require attention, but this is a plain 8-strand round braid, which only requires me to move strands of yarn from one slot to another and turn the disk. 

When I want to have my attention on something else, but still do something with my hands, this is perfect. On the bus, there are no hooks or needles or balls of yarn/thread to drop and roll away--it's all on the disk. When I am tired, unable to concentrate, or feeling meh, I can still do this without worrying about making mistakes that I will have to rip out and correct in future. It's actually a good thing I feel this way because I figure that to complete this project I will need at least 50 braids--maybe a few more. Kumihimo isn't particularly fast. Braid 14 is looking fabulous on my disk at the moment. I have a while to go, but the yarn isn't going anywhere! 😁

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Braid-n-Brooch

 I had a few very small scrap balls of yarn left from other projects. One was a lovely blue colour with some metallic bits left from a skein I'd found at a charity shop. I'd made a hat with most of it, which was a Christmas gift in 2019. I had some left after that, so I used it to weave some squares on my 4-inch square pin loom. I still had a wee bit left, so I set it aside. I also had some boucle that was a deep purple with small bits of other colours running through it. I'd gotten scraps and odd balls of this from a friend who no longer wanted it. I'd combined most of it with other scraps and odd balls to make a blanket wrap. I had a few bits left. I decided to see if I had enough of these yarns combines to make a kumihimo braid long enough to wear as a necklace. I did.

As I was braiding, I thought of a brooch I made a few years ago. It combines needle felting, crochet, tatting, embroidery, and embellishment. I had found a necklace full of metal beads and flowers in a charity shop and deconstructed it. I used a small flower on top of a needle tatted motif, both attached to a needle felted circle that is backed with a crochet lace motif and has basic chain stitches embroidered on it. The stem and leaves are needle felted and there's a brooch pin securely sewn to the back. 

I can wear this with the brooch pinned to the braid or not. I love it and I used up the last wee bits of that yarn. Yay!

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Scrapstraction!

Over a year ago, when we were still in Moville, I started doing a random abstract cross-stitch piece, using a scrap piece of aida cloth (14 count) and scraps of various kinds of thread. Whenever I needle tat or crochet or cross-stitch, I have bits of thread left over at the end. In the case of embroidery floss, I might have enough to put back and save for another project. In the case of crocheting, these are left after I weave in my ends well. I tend to leave long tails so I can weave in securely. When I am needle tatting, I always pull off more carrying thread than I think I'll need, because I'd rather not have to add more in the middle of a row or round if I can help it. Not wanting to waste any of this, I started keeping it in my cross-stitch pouch--embroidery floss, crochet cotton in different thicknesses, perle cotton were all saved and used. Every once in a while, I'd thread a needle with one and just make random stitches until the thread ran out. Then I'd thread another length of thread onto the needle and repeat. I had no set plans and just did what I felt like doing in the moment. When I got to a point that I felt was near the end, I did start filling in spaces and balancing colour. To finish the cross-stitch part, I did a frame of purple cross stitches around.

Then I had to decide what I wanted to do with it from there. I tried doing a collage background with watercolours and some papers, but wasn't happy with it. I considered various options, but in the end, went with needle felting and a kumihimo braid as a hanger. I used scrap ends of roving for the needle felting and scrap lengths of Homespun yarn to make the kumihimo braid. Everything started as scraps from something else. To finish, I slid a washer found on the sidewalk onto the top loop, crossed the ends over and sewed a button on the bottom and called it done--finally!

I had fun with this process. I'm ready to start the next scrapstraction piece!

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