Stash Bust with Innocent Smoothies

I love Stash Busting and using up all those tiny amounts of yarn that I seem to end up with. You know that silly amount that is not quite enough to make a whole item with but you simply cannot think what to make with it.
I found this  The Big Knit  A lovely way to use up all your fiddly bits of yarn and do something for others as well.
So who or what is Age UK? They are a charity that helps the elderly will all sorts of things they even have schemes where you can get help with the garden and decorating your home. They do charge for the gardening and decorating but it is not a huge amount compared to employing a firm to do this.
Age UK

So I decided to join in the fun and make some little hats for the Innocent Smoothie bottles.

 I loved making these little hats.
I was able to experiment with using new techniques like using two yarns on the same row swapping the colours as I went. Green and Yellow one row the Yellow and Green the next creating a nice pattern.
A funny little hat with odd eyes yes they were meant to be odd sizes and a tassel rather than a pom pom or bobble.
A sun hat just for something different it is a nice orange colour with a yellow band around the bottom of the hat that I sewed in.

 These were a little different a hat with braids, one that made using the two yarn method again this time in bright orange and yellow and a striped hat all with pom poms or bobbles.

Two more that I made this time I embroidered the flower and added a tassel and the blue one is a sort night cap or as someone said a blue Smurf hat.
All were easy to make and fun to do plus I used up some small bits of yarn that I had left over from various projects.
As they seem to do each year I will make a lot more for 2014 so when I am fed up making larger things I can make these and help others as well.

Stash Buster Slippers

I has been a while since I posted and a lot has been going on. Problems with Arthritis in my neck caused awful headaches every day thankfully it has settled down again. Various other problems seemed to arrive one after the other that took up my attention and meant knitting took a back seat for a while.
However I am back and decided it was time to make myself something.
On Sparkpeople we have a September Stash Buster Challenge and I decided to make some slippers.
Now I have never made them before and hunted a round for a really easy pattern to follow and found one.
Grandma Connies Slippers

These are so easy to make that I made them really quickly.
What I used:
5mm needles
2 strands of DK yarn held together as one ( DK yarn is 8ply yarn in the US) I chose two different colours of green that I thought would look good together.
A small amount of bright yellow and orange for the embellishments.

My Slippers

 Here they are not bad and adding the picot crocheted edging around the cuff added a nice finishing touch to them. I also made my own crocheted flowers I had  no pattern to follow to made it up.
I will try and write down what I did.
I used 4mm hook
DK yarn in yellow and orange

Chain three and join to make a circle
work Treble crochet ( TrC) stitch until circle is full slip stitch into first TrC
Change colour
Chain 1 work 3 TrC into same hole chain 1 skip one stitch slip stitch into next hole
Repeat until you meet the first petal and slip stitch
I think that is what I did I just played around until it looked right to me and I was happy with the result.
Sew in thread ends and hey presto a flower is born.

Slippers on my feet

The slippers are nice and cosy just right for the colder evenings ahead of us and perfect for when I want to relax and knit when all the washing up is done and I can just chill out.

Later on I will make another pair so I have on a change of colour and can wash the others. These are fun to make and so easy a beginner could make them.
Next project will  be this  Simple Lines Baby Blankets 
I want to make one for the Neonatal Unit along with an Angel Pocket I want make a few up and then give them to the unit.