One of the constant challenges of thrifting yarn is finding something to do with one skein of yarn. Often it's a yarn that really won't work with anything else, like this Premier Parfait XL Pom Party skein. It came in a Premier mystery box (to be revealed in a future post), and is just 36 yards of a #7 jumbo bulky yarn made of 80% Polyester, 19% nylon and 1% metalized polyester. The skein also had a bit of yarn missing from it, so I'll assume it was a customer return. I've never crocheted with a #7 Jumbo with flecks and metallic bits in it.
Here's a skein of Yangbaobao t-shirt jersey yarn. The label is mostly in Chinese, but it's a polyester knit, about 7 oz., and maybe 150 to 200 yards. Red is a hazard color to me, so I don't have much in my stash. I've also never used t-shirt yarn, either, so my stash contains zero to go with it.
Let's try and make something out of these two skeins.
For the Pom Party yarn, I looked up patterns on Premier's website; there are exactly five and only one that was viable with the amount of yarn I had.
I made a modified (smaller) version of the Party Bird Crew pattern, sizing it down by half and substituting my own design for the wings. I skipped adding the tuft on the head because it looked a little silly to me.
Here's the finished bird -- and yes, the whole thing looks silly. It was a bit of a chore to size down the pattern, but I discovered via the pattern how to crochet eyes rather than use safety, which is something I've wanted to learn for amigurumi I want to gift for small children. I didn't take a picture of the remaining yarn but I have about four yards left; I'll use that to tie packages during the holidays.
I would probably not invest in this yarn again unless a project specifically called for it. It's fiddly due to the thickness, which is hard for me to manage, and also sheds quite a bit. Sewing with it destroys the yarn, too.
The Yangbaobao red t-shirt yarn worked up very stiff, exactly like basket material, so it was fortunate I decided to make a little tray basket out of it. This is a patternless project with increasing rounds around a magic ring/single crochet center, a lip of single crochet around the posts of the last row, a row of single crochet on top of that, and a finishing brim of slip stitches all the way around. I used nearly every bit of yarn, too.
This makes a nice tray for my diabetic testing supplies and glucose meter.
I would not purchase the t-shirt yarn again myself; it's extremely stiff and thick when it works up, has almost no give (surprising me given that it's made from t-shirt material) and would only be good for decor items.
Both of these projects were good experiences, and I used up skeins I probably would have donated otherwise. So there are two ways you can use a single skein of yarn to make something. :)
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