Of late, I have been working on organizing my crochet empire/guest room.
To that end, I have begun making a series of crochet stash bags that I am using to house and organize my yarn. Additionally, I have been incorporating any longer scraps I find into my great-granny square project.
Yesterday I finished the fourth in a series of what is now five bags. Using a vintage acrylic yarn and the time I had while waiting for my son at various lessons, I made this bag:
and then filled it with more orange yarn. Some vintage, some not — all of it acrylic.
I selected this orange for the bag because when I started the project, I was not completely enamored of the color but knew that the yarn (already over 30 years old) was sturdy, serviceable, and would last pretty much forever. By the time I was 2/3rds of the way through, however, I decided I loved this orange and was regretting having used it for “just a stash bag.” I had to resist the urge to unravel it and save the yarn for a future project.
I think part of the reason I came to love the color so much is that vintage yarns are a window into the zeitgeist from which they hail, and this particular orange was popular at a time in my life when I was much more carefree and had many fewer responsibilities. It is almost as if the color transports me back to a time and place that was much simpler than the world I currently inhabit.
Scrap afghans are similar to vintage yarns in that they are a color assemblage that evokes the zeitgeist of the times from which they originate.
My most genuine scrap project is the project I call the great-granny square. I started it in September of 2009 at a time when I was sorting through my yarn stash and divesting myself of yarns I was not using. It is a record of the projects and acrylic yarns I have known over the past 13 years:
I am looking forward to the day that I have all of my stash bags made and have finished the great-granny square, because these projects capture something about both my past and my future, and for just one moment, however brief, it is as if time stands still, and I can enjoy the view.
Cool to see your stash bag! I did one in scraps. It also works out pretty well. I like the idea of using the color on the outside to house the stash of that color. dI may need to steal that idea. 🙂
@Ruth, thank you! @Richard, I would love to see your granny square as you work on it @Cami, where can I see the scrap bag? I wish I had enough scraps to do both the scrap great-granny. A stash bag made from scraps would be perfect for storing the small bits that accumulate over time.
I keep finding little balls of yarn that won’t make much of anything and wonder what I should do do with them. Perhaps I could use your granny square idea.
The great granny afghan is wonderful! A feast of colour for the eyes!
Colorful and useful! I LOVE your scrap granny square afghan! Oh and that bag is really cute! I was pondering over it when you first showed it.