On first projects and recycled yarn

In yesterday's post, I forgot to talk about the first project in my challenge - the Zig Zag Baby Blanket. I found the free pattern for this blanket on Ravelry, offered by http://www.knitculture.com/. Using the Sunshine (yellow) and Wonder White Bernat Cottontots yarn in my stash, I started on this blanket right away, and here's how it's looking so far:

Isn't it pretty? The yellow and white are so cheerful together. Thank you, Knit Culture, for the lovely pattern!

As for the second project, last night I had an idea. The pattern for the Cozy Striped Kerchief indicates - obviously - that there are stripes in the finished product. I had originally thought I'd just do the whole thing as a solid color using the Silk & Bamboo paired with the CityLife ladder yarn. However, the idea of a contrasting stripe began to appeal to me, and I thought about what I could use.

Wait! I remembered something! While going through the stash over the last five days, I ran across a ziplog bag full of little brown balls of yarn. Oh yeah, I was unraveling a sweater I had picked up A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO at a local clothing swap. The unraveling was almost finished and, for some reason, I put it down, never to think of it again. Sheesh!

The fiber on this sweater was gorgeous. It had a heathery brown/bronze look, and it consisted of 70% tussah silk and 30% cotton. This was perfect for the kerchief since it was comparable to the fiber content in the silk/bamboo yarn.The sweater itself had a fraying hole in it too severe to repair, so I took it with joy. It felt like I was rescuing that beautiful yarn!

Upon unraveling, it revealed itself to be a 2-ply laceweight yarn made of one strand of brown and one of tan, thus the heathery result.

I knew I couldn't use it as is, but then I tried putting four of those 2-ply strands together, gave them a twist in the opposite direction, and realized I would have an 8-ply DK weight yarn right there. Yippee! I asked my daughter to dig out my long-neglected drop spindle and got to work.

Ta-da! You know, God is so good. He gives us so many little things that bring us joy. This brings me joy. :) I used the brown on the garter ridge, as indicated in the pattern, and I really like the way it looks.

I haven't decided yet if I'll use it on every garter ridge, although it will help extend the kerchief a bit. I'm not sure how long the one skein of ladder yarn will hold out and I'm committed to not purchasing anything else to complete any of these projects. So, I'll wing it and get as much out of each of these three yarns as possible to be able to make the kerchief its intended size.

By the way, keeping these two projects going at once has revealed something to me. In the past, I would begin a project, work on it for a while, get bored, put it down, and then forget about it. Then I'd stumble upon another fascinating project and repeat the cycle. It's no wonder there were so many unfinished projects in my house!

However, keeping two or three projects going at once seems to detour this problem. If one project becomes tedious, I can set it down, pick up another, and keep going. In this way, I have been finishing more projects than ever. Thanks again, God, for those little mercies.