Bashing the Stash!

I love seeing Tricia's Stash Bash post every week, and try when I can to post one of my own. This week I actually have a few things to share, and I'm excited!

First off is a small crochet basket. I made it holding 3 strands of yarn together and using a large hook (either K or N, I cannot recall). I definitely want to make several more, and will be making them bigger than this first one. I just retrieved a bag of reclaimed acrylic yarn from one of my basement yarn bins (oh, the places we all hide yarn!) and will definitely use it to make more baskets. This one has a base of dc, increased to 36 stitches, and then hdc in a spiral until it is the size desired. I added handles by working 5 or 6 chs, skipping that many stitches below, twice, and working the number of skipped stitches into the chain when I came back around. There are probably a million patterns for something like this out on the web, but I'm just going from my knowledge of crocheting in the round.

My second stash-bashing project is also crochet, but on the opposite end of the spectrum from the basket: lacy snowflakes worked in a light fingering/baby yarn. All of the patterns today are coming from Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs. I have yet to decide if I will repeat any of them, but as this project is also part of my Holiday Stashdown, I will probably repeat a few. Plus, I discovered more white yarn in my stash that is not destined for anything else-- more snowflakes! :-)

That's all for today! Be sure to hop on over to Tricia's to get more stash-bashing ideas!

Invasion of the Hexagons!

Over at Barbara's blog (Made in K-Town), there has been an on-going Beyond the Square Challenge. Barbara's goal is to make over 100 of the motifs featured in Edie Eckman's Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs book (there are 144 motifs in the book). I've wanted to join in, having purchased the book a few years ago, but haven't really gotten into it yet.

Motif #34

This weekend, however, I pulled out my book. Armed with some "sport weight" yarn from one of those old ornament kits (from my aunt, who didn't want it at her house), I started in the hexagon section, searching for snowflake-like motifs. I didn't want any of my hexagons to be abandoned, so I am doubling my Beyond the Square Challenge with the Holiday Stashdown Challenge.

Motif #43

The following motifs passed the snowflake-look-alike contest:
Motif #29 **
Motif #34 - it's very picot-y**
Motif #35
Motif #36- super easy after all those picots in 34**
Motif #37
Motif #38
Motif #39
Motif #43**

Motif #29

After hooking 34, which had 5 rounds, I decided for my "first round" of hexagons,  I would only hook the smaller ones. 36 was a little denser than 29, but still looks really pretty worked up. 43 was super quick, and looks adorable.

Motif #36

A note about my yarn: I don't think it's sport weight. I'm using a F hook, and sometimes that feels too big for this yarn. But by using it for this project, it will not longer be in my stash, languishing.

Another note: sorry for the not-super-clear photos- red and artifical light don't get along