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Too often, I have leftover small balls of yarn that I want to use without buying more of the same yarn if it doesn’t have a dye lot. Instead, I have been making an effort to create unique looks with stripes or gradient colors that coordinate and aren’t too garish. Taking marled or color striping yarn and combining it with a solid – oatmeal/aran, gray, or other neutral is one way of doing things, but taking similar yarns with subtle shade variations can create an appealing set and also use up yarn.

The lack of stores that carry washable, budget-friendly yarns you can try in person has made me more creative about trying new ones. Several months ago, I got a few different yarns at a yarn swap during World Wide Knit in Public Day. I was happy to score a ball of yarn that I wanted to try, but didn’t want to pay $10 shipping for yarn that I might or might not like. Now that I’ve tried it, I found that an online shop that I purchase from frequently, which has free shipping with a threshold that I would meet from other purchases carries the yarn.

There are still containers of larger remainders – half skeins and balls as well as a basket with assorted colors of tiny balls – in my stash that I can’t bring myself to toss. Though I haven’t been on a yarn buying hiatus, I have become more intentional about what I want to buy, try and give away. There is a lot of yarn that I don’t want to go to waste which I am making into eye-catching one of a kind sets!

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Drumroll, please… I have completed 72 sets this year. That’s right six dozen and my goal is 85 for 2026! I might need to change the goal or start on some other projects. Stay tuned…

Happy crocheting!

The mystery balls that I made were lurking about in my view again. Initially, I made them with the intention of making an afghan. After several false starts, I used one ball to make a couple of sets, then tried using another in a new stitch pattern. Nothing fancy, but the way the colors were stacking looked great. I tried a new stitch pattern for the scarf, and it’s looking great. The set is colorful but in a more subdued manner. While it may not look like or cost hundreds like a high-end designer’s items that use “scrap yarn,” I’m pleased with the outcome, how it will turn out, and mostly that it will keep someone warm.

The afghan I started may get unraveled and be incorporated into something that I’ll donate this year, since I’m not donating afghans as much. After further examination, I might continue working on it. It’s an afghan – how long will that take – and use it as a gift. I hadn’t looked at it in a while and didn’t remember how much I had actually completed on the project. It may be a keeper. Still, using leftover yarn with a neutral, in this case, black yarn, is a fun way to use up what I have.

Happy New Year!

After a pivot and change to the 2025 donations at the last minute,  I made hats to go along with the scarves earmarked for an organization that stopped accepting scarves. Also, I made hats to accompany scarves that I found around the house. Initially, my goal was 75 sets and 12 red scarves. I tallied up everything and thought I had made 104 sets, I donated 100 of those sets. Then a lurker appeared, bringing the total sets made for 2025 to 105 sets after the mix-and-match combos were included.

In 2026, I have plans to work on a couple of items for myself, and I want to set a manageable goal of 85 sets. I’m already working on two of the projects for myself and have completed 2 sets, and have the hat completed for the third. Additionally, I’d like to scroll less and hook more. That should make my goals more manageable.

While I did receive yarn for Christmas and a gift card, I would like to try out some new yarns I have seen online or heard about from friends. My plan is to buy the yarn on sale, so if I don’t like it, I won’t feel as bad as I would paying full price for something I don’t particularly like crocheting.

Here are the first two sets of 2026.

In addition to my goal of crocheting 85 sets, I would like to learn some new patterns, try different yarns, and increase my speed a bit.

Happy crocheting!

Officially, I have exceeded my goal of 75 sets for the year and met my goal of 12 scarves. Instead of stopping, I kept going. I decided to make as many as I could before the deadline to drop them off. In addition to the completed sets that I have, in the summer, my father found a box of scarves in the basement. In my craft room, as I was moving things for a furniture delivery, I found a larger cache of individual hats that I thought I had. Now, I am mixing, matching, and creating sets with the hats and scarves, and creating new ones in a flurry of stitches before I drop off the sets at a church for their hat and scarf drive.

Another organization that I have donated to for a decade or so – Foster Care to Success has decided to discontinue its Red Scarves program. The information wasn’t on the website, so I contacted the organization. After inquiring, I received a call saying that this is the last year, and I could donate the scarves locally. This made me look at my Where to Donate page and check to see if the links are current. At least three of the organizations are no longer accepting items for donation because postage costs have increased, and sending their donations to recipients costs too much. Each org recommends that people donate their items locally. This won’t deter me from making things to donate. There are many places in the Chicagoland area that will have coat drives, and if you read the fine print, they also accept cold-weather gear – hats and scarves. Even my local coffee shop has a bin for people who come in and need something to keep them warm.

My plan is to shift into overdrive this week to whip up a few hats to accompany some of the red scarves.

Here are a few of the scarves that I found in a box, and the combinations I made to complete sets. A couple aren’t exact matches, but they are close enough to make a set and keep someone warm, and that’s the ultimate goal.

Happy crocheting! 

Things don’t always line up. After making a hat, I had a couple of false starts on the scarf. The yarn is not forgiving and does not want to unravel nicely. It snags and rips. After two false starts, I decided to go with the basic double crochet. While working on the project, I decided to try a different edging, which made the scarf wider, because I didn’t count the number of stitches I had in each row. When I realized my mistake, I regrouped and kept going. For a more forgiving yarn, I would have ripped it out. For this snaggy yarn, I just kept going.

It doesn’t make a difference how long you have been crocheting. Everyone makes mistakes. When you realize that and don’t focus on the mistake as a complete failure but a learning opportunity, then you can just say – whatever and keep moving. That’s what I did. Next time, I will not try a new technique mid-project and also remember to count my stitches!

The scarf looks ok, it’s just not up to my regular standards. It will keep someone warm, so that’s the most important thing.

Happy crocheting! 

Beat the heat – crochet indoors!

People consider crocheting or knitting with heavier yarns a cool weather activity. Not me, crocheting is a year round activity… because these sets aren’t going to make themselves! Plus, there is air conditioning indoors. In many public places in the U.S.,  the air is cranked up so high that you want a shawl. Going to a lecture or a talk? Crochet. Enjoying a cool breeze at an outdoor evening concert? Crochet. You won’t move fast enough to get sweaty but the project will give you just enough warmth to knock the chill off.

Here are a few of the latest items I’ve created. I need to step up my red scarf game. I’ve made over half of the sets for the year, but I haven’t kept up the pace with the scarves.

 

 

Happy crocheting!

Spring is coming! The warm weather still hasn’t taken a strong footing in Northern Illinois.  What is constant, is that I’m still crocheting. I may not post often but crocheting is part of my daily routine. When I was looking at previous posts, I realized that I hadn’t made an accurate count of what I made last year. I know for certain that I made 12 red scarves. After that, things get fuzzy. I donated 72 hat and scarf sets, but 9 of those were from the previous year. I did make another 3 after those sets were donated. I made a few random hats – how many, I can’t say.

As we’re nearing Memorial Day 2025, I have been trying to make a better count of what I’ve made, I have completed 4 red scarves, 27 hat and scarf sets and 1 hat from leftover yarn. For the main goals I’ve surpassed a third of each. Now that summer is coming, there will be more time to crochet – Grant Park Music Fest and other outdoor events where I can sit and relax.

It still perturbs me that I didn’t make a note of what I made in 2024. For the past 15 years or more I have kept a record of what I completed and donated. Now, I need to do some sleuthing to figure out what I made. Not losing sleep over it, just curious as to what the final tally was for last year.

As for moving forward, I’ve found some new patterns that like and I’ve tried them out in yarns that I am familiar with… which is half the battle when you know how the yarn behaves.

Here are some of my favorite creations from the past few months:

A few years ago I made some mystery balls and had a plan to create an afghan. One, twice, three times I started an afghan and one is currently in progress. The project is in time out. While I was working with yarn that a friend gave me I thought I could use a mystery ball that I made to create a set. While the colors wouldn’t carry over in both pieces, having similar stitches would make it more artistic. A design house that is affiliated with Prada, Miu Miu, sells high end items with unmatched colors for thousands, so why not? People try to replicate the designer look. I chose to design my own with a twist.

Here’s what I started with…

 

 

 

 

 

 

First I started with the hat…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I created and finished the set…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a large section of color that would have made the scarf too wide, so I cheated and then finished the scarf with a chain of black. I’m ready to start the next one.

 

Happy crocheting!

 

Happy New Year!

This is going to be a colorful year. I have already decided that I want to get faster with working with color in my creations this year with multiple yarns, not just colored yarns themselves.

New Year’s Day, I made some attempts at interlocking. That’s where two pieces of mesh are worked together. Interlocking will be revisited when I have some lighter weight yarn. For the patterns that I have in a book, the yarn I have will be too bulky. The swatches did set the wheels in motion and gave me a few ideas of how I could do some similar creations without starting with two pieces of mesh, but one starting base and then adding a second or third color.

Then, the next day, I had an opportunity to go to a day crafting group gathering. While chatting with friends, I made a hat using two colors and figured I could do that more. It was a simple hat, but I want to experiment with more elaborate patterns and incorporate oddballs into my work.

There are a couple of sketches that I made that I will try – they may or may not work. If they do, great, otherwise, they may give me ideas about other things that I want to work on.

For 2025, I am committing to making 12 red scarves and 75 hat and scarf sets.

This will give me the opportunity to make a couple of things for myself. I have an idea what I’d like to make and the yarn, I just haven’t found the right pattern. Let’s not forget the mystery ball afghan that I started working on and the new blanket that I want to make for myself.

Have any of you set crafting goals for the new year? Let me know what you’re planning.

Happy crocheting!