The idea of using up yarn or yarn from stash has always appealed to me. There are lots of things that you can do with odds and ends, but sometimes you need a bit of inspiration or you end up chucking the whole lot out.
Here, I've started a mitred square heart sachet. The pattern is free from Interweave.
I just wished that I 'd realised before I started that there were going to be about 200 billion ends to sew in. This is bit of koigu that I had left over from a pair of socks. The colours are really fantastic. The knitting is however, very fiddling and a nightmare for someone that doesn't love to sew
For such a small piece of knitting, it is taking an extraordinary long time to finish. Good thing that it's not something that can be out grown.
Here's a photo of the heart all sewn up and stuffed with potpourri. I bought the potpourri from from Norfolk Lavender. If I made a bunch of them, my hydrangea might look like it's flowering!
... but that's not likely to happen, my experience with mitred squares now confirms that there isn't going to be a lot of mitred squares in my future!
That is so pretty. I've been working on a pair of socks in the same colorway. I've been knitting lots of baby socks lately to use up extra sock yarn - I think I'll try this pattern next.
Posted by: Kim at May 22, 2006 07:54 PMSo very pretty. I was sent one as a gift from a Rowanette and I love it! Filled with lavendar - my favourite.
Posted by: Lesley at May 22, 2006 12:19 PMJust want to second Helene on the link to Vivian Høxbro, Danish knitting designer who's very known in Danish knitting circles for her Domino knitting (and knitting in ends). It really takes the hazzle out of it!
But on the other hand, as Debi says, there should be no need to weave in the ends when everything is going to be sewn up, anyway - it will only make the heart softer and the fabric will be denser, so there is less risk that the dried potpourri might fall out.
I've never made this so I dont know the construction, but if you're gonna stuff it with potpurri, why weave the ends in at all? Just stuff em inside and be done with it! Who will be the wiser? :)
Posted by: Debi at May 22, 2006 03:23 AMThanks for showing those zillion ends...i am now certain that i won't attempt that pattern! :P
Posted by: Emy at May 22, 2006 02:59 AMYah. I'm impressed that you finished yours because mine went sailing across the room like a comet when I figured out that it was going to have 1) ten million ends; 2) take me as long to knit as a hat and not be wearable and 3) be damn fiddly and not a soothing knit-break at all.
Yours is lovely, though. And deservedly so for conquering the deceptively (not) easy random end knit-up pattern.
Posted by: Francesca (Stuntmother) at May 22, 2006 12:42 AMWow, what a lot of ends. It is so beautiful though, and absolutely stunning posed on your hydrangea like that.
Posted by: Louise at May 21, 2006 10:28 PMWhat pretty Koigu. I almost always make one of these to go with socks now - unless I've had the sense to do the socks toe up and use all of the yarn. I usually weave in the ends as I pick up the next mitred square and then only have a couple to do at the end. I carry the pattern and a few odd ends of variagated sock yarn and tend to make a heart sachet whenever I run out of the current project I am carrying. They are great presents for children and adults alike.
Posted by: Kirstie at May 21, 2006 08:16 PMVery Pretty!!! The sort of thing people should be able to knit whilst asleep and then when they wake up they could admire while they get on with other things that are not so fiddly - still very pretty.
Posted by: juliet at May 21, 2006 08:13 PMawww, too cute! could you have just tied a knot in the ends and stuffed them inside?
Posted by: kris at May 21, 2006 05:20 PMRemind me to show you how I do it next time we meet up -I usually only have 1 or 2 ends to sew in when I've finished. It does look sweet though - I might have to pinch the idea for Hearth and Home!
Posted by: Yvonne at May 21, 2006 03:00 PMThat's very pretty although I agree, I don't think I'd want to sew in all those ends either, especially on something so small... A.x
Posted by: Amelia at May 21, 2006 02:17 PMBeautiful! I'll have to bookmark the pattern- Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Maryann at May 21, 2006 01:33 PMVivian Høxbro - the mitered square queen from www.viv.dk has a tutorial on how to weave in ends as you go. I always do this when knitting domino squares, it leaves you with just a few ends in one side:
http://www.viv.dk/Patterns/EDownloads/t03-k-darn.pdf
Oooh, it's so pretty, fiddly knitting and all!
Posted by: colleen at May 21, 2006 01:19 PMVery pretty! A bigger mitered square wouldn't be so fiddly, of course, and they really are kind of fun.
Posted by: Mary de B at May 21, 2006 12:32 PM