Author: Vincent, Naomi

Knitting & crochet

Published on 12 November 2024 by David & Charles in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 112 pages, 285 Illustrations
272 x 211 x 9 | 460g

Love yarn but don't know what to do with all your scraps? This guide will show you how to make wonderful, colourful cakes of yarn to create scrappy but beautiful crochet makes. This unique book explains how you can use up the small balls of yarn that are left over from project making, to make bespoke ‘scrap cakes’ – chunky balls of scrap yarn – specifically to suit a crochet pattern.

Crocheting with scrap cakes gives the finished project a multicoloured scrappy look but in a considered way, because the author explains how to create the scrap cakes to get the perfect colour contrast. She also explains how to make scrap cakes with different colour themes by sorting your scraps into tonal groups before winding them up, it's the perfect way to play with colour and make unique yarn for your crochet projects.

The front of the book features a section about how to make the scrap cakes which author, Naomi Vincent, makes on a winder. She also explains how to make them if you are winding the balls by hand in order to make sure that the yarn comes from the centre of the ball while you're working.

Naomi explains how many lengths of each colour yarn you need for each part of the pattern, how to measure it out and in what order, how to do the ‘magic knot’ technique to join the yarns and the order they need to be wound in.

In addition to the instructions about making the scrap cakes there are 15 crochet projects for colorful scrappy makes including a shawl, scarf, bag, hat, cardigan and different sized blankets and throws. The projects use lots of interesting crochet stitches and techniques - there's a granny square blanket, a corner to corner throw and some fun stitches like the mini bean stitch and the cluster stitch, and there are instructions for all of these at the back of the book for reference.

This has everything you need to bust your stash of 'yarnlings' and make some amazing crochet projects along the way!