box of bits
One of my crazy habits idiosyncracies is that I hate to throw anything away. As a result, I have a box full of rejected crochet pieces: the prototypes that didn’t work out; the spare pieces I made to take photographs for patterns. The box is now full to overflowing (and has been for a long time!), and I’ve sometimes wondered if I’m being stupid by keeping these useless pieces.
But, are they really useless? No, they are not! Allow me to present the case as to why I am actually very smart for keeping all these random bits:
Exhibit 1: Photo Props. When I needed to take a photo for my stitch markers, I just delved into the box to find some photogenic pieces to clip the markers to for my photo:
The pieces in this photo are actually (clockwise from top left): a rejected flower design from my African Violet pattern; a snout from a prototype pig that never made the cut; and a spare section of shell from my Sea Turtle!
Exhibit 2: Experimental Pieces. When I wanted to try out yarn brushing with non-wool yarns, I delved into the box to find some pieces I could test it on:
Cotton and acrylic samples – perfect!
Exhibit 3: Emergency Yarn. I can’t believe this has happened to me twice now: a couple of weeks ago, I ran out of black yarn with one round to go on the final leg of my Farmyard Pigs, and yesterday I ran out of white yarn with one round to go on another new design..! The black yarn was old and a new skein probably wouldn’t have matched, and the white yarn was out of stock when I went to buy a new skein… What’s a girl to do?!
Luckily, in both cases, after a momentary panic, I thought to search through the magic box for any pieces made from those same yarns. And there I found a rejected Boston Terrier ear that was made from the right black yarn, and a partial Beagle body that contained the right white yarn – a minute of frogging and I had salvaged more than enough yarn to finish both my amigurumi 🙂
The defence rests – one more crazy perfectly sensible habit justified! The box of bits is staying in my craft room – I wonder what it’ll come in handy for next time…
Email newsletter
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Ravelry: June
Instagram
Emma said
Your work is fabulous! I also love your safety pin stitch markers. Were did you get them?
June said
Sorry, Emma, I thought I’d linked to them in the post! (I’ll fix that in a moment!) You can buy my stitch markers in my shop: www.planetjune.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=10
Liz said
Aha! I knew there would be a need for all those ‘extra parts’. Love the idea, and lovin’ ur entries!
Stacey Trock said
Great idea!!!
Marie Rowley said
I love your blog and your creative. I was wondering if you would be intersted in being a quest blogger at mariescozycorner.blogspot.com I know that my readers would love your blog and get to know you.
please email be and let me know I am looking forward to working with you.
marie
le chat qui coud said
i love the pig!
Robyn said
I agree. Platypus. Love those little animals.
Rose said
Thats cool, what carolyn said in her post gave me a great idea on what you could design next! A Platypus! that would be sooooo cool!
June said
Thanks for the comments! I’m especially happy to notice some new commenters popping up – welcome to my blog and thanks for saying hello! I appreciate every comment and I’m looking forward to checking out your blogs too when time permits 🙂
Re: the Franken-ami – I was thinking the same thing too, but I just can’t bring myself to do it! I like neatness and symmetry too much. Although I have to admit that the disembodied heads in the box are a little creepy too!
Re: cat toys – yes, I forgot to mention that use in the post! I have added catnip to one of the ball-shaped pieces and given it to Maui. He’s so cute – he likes to carry it around in his mouth. I have to be careful that he doesn’t associate non-catnipped yarn with toys though, or I’ll start losing amigurumi pieces all over the place! A couple of times I’ve left a partially-finished piece upstairs in my office/craft room overnight, and come down in the morning to find that my work has mysteriously migrated downstairs during the night 😉
melissa said
what a fabulous post june!
i love your box of bits and how your mind works!
xoxoxo
m & e
Rikke said
Dear June
I keep a box exactly like yours full of small “things” – but they always come in handy – sometimes several after years of storage.
Thank you for an inspirering blog!
Rikke
Carolyn said
Throw them all together and see what you get! It worked for the platypus, didn’t it?
becky said
Hmm, maybe I should have a box like this, I just end up throwing stuff like that away no idea why just do. But your reasoning makes sense.
Lynne said
Sound perfectly sensible even though it may make you look like an amigurumi mass murderer, but keeping that box visible in your craft room.
Karen said
Fantastic post – this makes me feel tons better about my unfinished-with-no-intention-of-finishing basket. Those quote-unquote WIPs could actually be used for something!
puglette said
hi june! i see a box full of potential kitty toys. i am sure maui would love a stuffed pig snout prototype.
hugs,
puglette
:o)
Shove said
I totally save my unused pieces too! I was just thinking the other day that I might make a crazy Franken-gurumi made up of all of them together, but now I might just keep them around for future use of all your good tips.
Amy said
Taking note…never throw away tiny crocheted animal parts! And you should see my swatch pile! I keep all those too, but not actually in one giant box, I put them in little folders with the patterns they went with. I love the box you keep your crocheted bits in. 🙂
Kathrin said
Yay! I am not the only one who has a box like this! Thank you =)
Also, thank you for sharing the tips what to do with them. I have a ridiciously high amount of crocheted flowers in the box. When I’m in a rush to gift wrap something I just attach some of the flowers to the ribbon
Amanda said
Hilarious, and practical! What an awesome reason to keep… junk? You know, maybe some day you should see if you can get a Frankenstein outta there.