Holy Slip Stitch, I Almost Had a Froggin' Heart Attack!

  A project caused me quite a bit of anxiety today! I'm working on another Scarf of the Month pattern. This one is designed to use up my (or your) yarn scraps. Not those teeny, tiny scraps that only make the center of a motif, but those I-made-a-hat-now-what?-rest-of-the-skeins that take up room in my (and maybe your) yarn stash.

  And what's one of the most popular, classic ways to use up yarn scraps in crochet? Granny Squares! I'm not sure if you're supposed to capitalize the "G" or "S" according to grammar, but Granny Squares deserve capitals in my book even if you're not! This project isn't a "Square", though. It's a Rectangle. Plus, it isn't made in the typical Granny Square fashion... Anyway, meet my "Holy Slip Stitch, I Almost Had a Froggin' Heart Attack" moment:

  Oh no, I have the whole length of the scarf to go... I was sure I could get another round from what's left of this skein, but it's not looking good anymore! I can see the table through the strands of my center-pull ball. You know what I used to do in this situation when I was a beginner? I would freak out! "Omg, no, don't tell me I'm going to have to join yarn!" I would increase my tension in a hopeless effort to stretch the last bit of the yarn, making my stitches impossibly tight and pulling the whole project out of whack. And usually, I'd still run out of yarn.


  I'm glad I let go of that habit a long time ago! Though it was looking like I'd run out of yarn before the end of this round, I kept my tension nice and even. But don't think I wasn't still having that holy-slip-stitch froggin' heart attack inside! I figured I would have to rip out (frog) the half of a round that I had done. I kept working as my hopes diminished, and realized about halfway through that I hadn't run out of yarn. As my hopes increased again, I managed to squeeze the last yards out of an old skein and finish the round:

  The reason I was so anxious is because I don't have any more of this color and I can't find it in the store, either! I found it online, but then I'd have to wait for it to ship. And the dye lot probably won't match. And the point is to get rid of some of the stash, not buy more! (Wait... No. Cleaning out the stash IS so we can buy more!) Plus, who wants to wait when there's Granny Square projects to work on?

  I was left with just enough to maybe make the center of a classic Granny Square. Maybe. But I'm happy to kill this skein, because it's been in my stash forever! Seriously, it's the same skein I made my Boo-Boo Bag pattern with. That was one of my first patterns. And this yarn was sitting around for at least a year before I started the blog... Probably more. By the way, I've since discovered that the pattern for the Boo-Boo Bag also makes a nice sandwich pouch! (...That doesn't mean I use my ice bag for sandwiches, either. I made another one for that!)

  Since I'm getting sidetracked, I'll get back to crocheting now. This almost-heart-attack will be the cause of another post later, so you'll see more then. Stay tuned to see how I figure out if I have enough of another color to start the next round!

Happy Crocheting!