Stash Busting

I have been trying to chip away at some of my crafting stash.  Being a sewer, crocheter, crafter, etc, etc., I have quite a bit of stash in all departments.  My yarn stash has grown by leaps and bounds this past year -  I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not - and I figured I should tame the beast perhaps a little.  Really I only felt I had to use some of it up when I had to hide two  recent yarn purchases in the laundry room!
My Grammie used to make those crochet topped kitchen towels we all find so handy, and when she passed away my Mum gave me the towels they found in her stash.  The towels were taking up space in my yarn cupboard, so I figured by completing those I would make extra room.  After a few quick Google searches I found a pattern I could use and completed all the towels.

Also taking up space were five balls of really soft yarn I bought for a dollar each at my local yarn store.  When I saw Jill's granny stripe cowl I was sure this was the perfect pattern to make up a scarf with the yarn.  After I stitched a few rows I realized it didn't work with the yarn I had, so I ripped it out and made a simple scarf with alternating rows of double and single crochet.  This actually worked out perfectly and I used almost every bit of each colour.

My felted sweater stash has grown as well; in most part due to my volunteer hours at a local charity clothing shop.  I found an interesting pattern on Pinterest to make some slippers from felted wool with leather bottoms.  I thought these may be a little quicker to make up (not to mention longer lasting) than crocheted slippers.

Admittedly these aren't the most beautiful slippers in the world, but boy are they warm.  I used two layers of felted wool plus a layer of suede for the foot bed, and my favourite felted sweater for the top and back.  The hardest part was making the pattern, but once you have that done you are good to go for many pairs.  I wish I had made the pattern out of strong tissue paper like the author suggested:  I would have been able to fit the pattern around my foot and seen then that my top and back pieces were too large. At that point I could have adjusted the pattern before cutting the pieces out.  I will still be able to take these ones apart to re-adjust; and re-cut my pattern pieces so they fit better.  It was a nice project to complete in an evening.

The website with the tutorial is here.

This next project wasn't so much of a stash buster as the amount of fabric used was pretty small.  However it was great in that I had absolutely everything required to make it and I was able to complete it in an afternoon and evening of blissful making.

The pattern is from the February issue of Bustle and Sew magazine.  When Helen showed her preview of this month's magazine I knew I had to make this one.  I even cleaned the house a day earlier so I could enjoy this issue the day it came out!    I did change the pattern just a bit:  I changed the container into a little jug as opposed to the mug in the original pattern.  I also had no wool felt, and I didn't like the look of the acrylic, so I covered the felt piece with a piece of fabric.  It made it more difficult to do the free motion embroidery, but in the end I am happy with how it turned out.
We got about two inches of snow yesterday as I stitched this, so it will be a long time before I see any real snowdrops!
Tomorrow is the last day of January - oh happy day!  I am finally in the mood to do some Valentine crafting.
Thanks for visiting!
Jenn