We all know what to do with skeins of yarn! Knit a sweater, crochet an afghan, even partial skeins are made into warm winter hats or mittens. Even smaller balls are delegated to the scrap happy basket where traditional granny squares combine what you thought were the tiniest amounts of your coveted stash. Well guess again as my most recent granny square afghan came to life, I discovered smidgeons.
Yes, smidgeons! Smidgeons measure less than the amount needed to complete the smallest center of a granny square afghan. To my dismay, some of my yarn stash was so small I would get part of the way through the middle and find myself at the end of my yarn! I swore this was never going to happen to me again so I took a center apart and measured the yarn. It takes about 8 feet of yarn (92 inches to be exact) to make a center.
But… it is just too time consuming to pull out the measuring tape and make a determination for each small ball of yarn. So I devised a method to quickly make the guesstimate! My arm span is five feet so I figured if the yarn measures a little over 1 ½ arm spans, I can make a center piece.
Anything less than that would be delegated to what? The smidgeon bag of course! Now what will I do with the smidgeons? At first, there were not enough smidgeons but as I worked through the scrap yarn basket, I found I had more and more smidgeons some measuring just 8 inches! Why could I not throw these little smidgeons away? When it dawned on me… I needed a smidgeon scarf. Crocheted of really small amounts of scrap yarn, the smidgeon scarf is warm and fun! This simple patterns is free!
But it gets better… How you say? Well, as I was scrap happy crocheting, a little pile of trimmings, a byproduct of weaving in the yarn tails, gathered each evening. They were quietly gathering on the table. They were so colorful and vibrant. One day, they begged me not to throw them away. I wondered why I hadn’t saved them before. On a whim, I put them into a glass just to see. Before long, the snippets multiplied and overflowed the glass. They needed a bigger home! They moved to a plastic gallon container where they mingle and cajole each day with the new arrivals. Fat, skinny, short, tall, a rainbow of colors, getting along in their own little world. I am in awe. Each piece brings its own history, its own story yet contributes to this entanglement. I see potential. I ponder what will the snippets become?
