Pile of Scrap

Smells like scrap...Bullscrap!...Full of Scrap. I'll stop now. The puns are getting painful.

I'm nearing the end of a project started as a camp counselor several years back. I'm one of those old-fashioned never throw it away types, and in my tenure as the Craft Shed Lady at a Girl Scout Camp I had several bins just for things that everyone else would throw away. Rowdy children were roped in to picking up beads from the dirt out front, and I dutifully sorted their spoils back into the jars and bowls from whence they came. The box of paper scraps was shredded and pulped for home-grown recycling. Fabric bits and tiny yarn scraps were used for stuffing plushies. But if it was tie-able it became scrap yarn. Yes this was the exploitation of children as slave labor, we were building character.




Many a campfire I sat and crocheted strap after strip of lumpy uneven twine dotted with beads, knots, dried glue and pine needles. But few things brighten up a room like a riot of colors and textures strewn across a chair. I've worked back and forth in strips as I think that best highlights the beauty of the yarn. I made a large piece and decided that it was getting unwieldy, so I split the project in two. I completed the first half back as a counselor. I've been working from time to time on the second half since. I'm almost at the final strip, where I'll join the two pieces, it has long ago ceased to be a walk around project and so it waits for cold winter nights to be worked on.

I'm not the only one out there who can't stand to throw it away, here are some other etsians who are using every last bit!

jocelyngermany

I admit, this piece is a little classier than mine, all nice woolen yarns and no ends hanging out. A more subtle reuse I think, and it looks very warm and cozy!

I dare you not to awwwww! HappyKittyCrafts has raised the cuteness bag on this little scaled turtle. Light colors and sweet little circles I would give this to any child who needs gifting. It looks like a project suitable for all those left over balls and strands.

HandMeDowns little star is adorable! (Take note people who have me on their gift list) Super colors and a wonderful design I think it would make an amazing tree ornament that you wouldn't pack up after the holidays.

And here it is, a girl after my own heart, the inspiration for this post, a renewal in my faith for reuse. KnotOriginal's "Oh Scrap Scarf". Chunky, uneven, full of love! This of for people who are proud of their thrifty ways and want to spread the no waste gospel, amen brother, that's not bull scrap.