I'm All Stitched Up

Sometimes I wonder if I’m just a pack rat, or a full blown hoarder. I can’t let go of anything, even the little scraps of yarn after I complete a project. Yeah, those pieces left over after completed the “dreaded” weaving in ends.

I know weaving in ends is so controversial. Some hate it, some love it (like me), and some don’t do it at all. Glue? Melting the acrylic (or whatever material will melt)? Everyone has a different way of taking care of them.

Anyway, this is not really about the actual weaving in of ends, but more of the aftermath–what do you do with the little sprigs left over? Some use them for stuffing, which is a great idea. Until recently, though, I couldn’t use that as my fabric was too hole-y to allow it to look nice enough.

So… I save mine! I mean, as long as it’s like 3-ish inches, it’s getting saved. I tie them together and then put them in big bottles, so it looks a little less like trash (let’s be real!).

I love the look of alcohol bottles. Especially the unique bottles. It’s a shame I haven’t been able find any to just buy already empty.

I use a magic knot to tie end pieces together. So far, it seems to hold up pretty well, though I haven’t quite tried it on something I’ve washed or wore a lot. I’ll have to experiment and get back with you.

Once they’re tied together, they go down into the bottle. Yes, sometimes it gets a little tangled on the way back out, but it’s not too bad.

Saving my scraps this way really helps me go down memory lane in regards to my projects as well. Usually, I attach them right as I finish a project. Well… usually. I’ve fell quite a bit behind lately, as this box shows. Yeah, that’s going to be a little harder to untangle.

Another big benefit to the chaos is that it gives me some new color combinations I wouldn’t expect. For example, I made this pillow based on the colors that lined up here. I think the colors look really nice together. I’ll definitely be using this combination in the near future.

RIght now, I cake them straight from the bottle to my winder. This time, I got about 4 cakes and 550 grams in total. I guess in this case, it’s less of a magic ball and more of a magic cake. (Why does everybody and their mom call a technique magic?)

I used almost all of it to make this pillow! I only had about 11 grams by the end of it. And what do we do with the scraps of our scraps? But of course, add it back to the bottle!