I spend too much time on Ravelry. It is truly addictive. I was recently looking for some stash busters and was amazed at the variety of projects and ideas.I thought I would share a few of my finds with you. The first 2 are not Ravelry. I found this while Goggling (another addiction of mine) when looking for some craft ideas to do with my young nephews at the cottage this summer. Dream catchers Many children will be familiar with Dream catchers from their studies in First Nations Cultures which (if I remember correctly) is about grade 3 in York Region. The Ojibwa believe that a dream catcher changes a person's dreams. Only good dreams would be allowed to filter through… Bad dreams would stay in the net, disappearing with the light of day.Good dreams would pass through and slide down the feathers to the sleeper. For more information on Dream catchers, use the following wikeipedia link which also contains other helpful information links. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcatcher Dream Catchers are great cottage projects for kids. The base can be made from a variety of easily accessible items - coat hangers, paper plates, margarine lids. Cover them with yarn, web the center and then decorate with found objects from the beach - feathers, shells, pine cones. The following link is a very kid appropriate set of directions for Dream catchers. http://www.thatartistwoman.org/2009/07/how-to-make-dreamcatcher.html God's eye A God's eye is a yarn weaving and a Huichol spiritual object. The Huichol or Wixáritari are a Native American ethnic group of western central Mexico, living in the Sierra Madre Occidental range. http://www.katcoyle.com/blog/2007/11/gods-eyes/ provides the following instructions Treasure Pouch A little fun something you can knit for kids with just a few meters of sock or DK yarn - a Treasure Pouch. If you are spending time at a beach, it is a perfect little pouch for special stones or shells. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/treasure-pouch Little Ditty Bag A nice little pouch you might enjoy for yourself is a Little Ditty Bag. Pattern at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/dots-little-ditty-bag A 50gm ball of cotton makes a bag the perfect size to be a project bag for socks You could use small left overs to create stripes. Knit with variegated cotton , you can get some funky colour pooling. Deep Sea Flower Dice Bag Knit with just a few meters of Kureyon or Silk garden Pattern at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/deep-sea-flower-dice-bag---anemone-de-mer Minnow Hat We took this little hat knit with left over sock yarn to the Frolic. It got more attention than anything else in our booth. It is a scaled down version of the Dead Fish Hat from Knitty (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fish-hat-dead-or-alive and uses just a few meters of sock yarn. And what sock knitter doesn't have tons of left over bits of sock yarn. The pattern only offers one size, newborn. I am playing around with resizing to fit slightly older children.The one I knit used a mere 10 gms for the red sections and 20 gms for the body. A free pattern on Ravelry at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/minnow-hat Baby Surprise Jacket There are over 17,000 Baby Surprise Sweaters posted on Ravelry. It is the third most posted project. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-surprise-jacket Mitered Sock Yarn Blanket Free Pattern at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sock-yarn-blanket If you are unfamiliar with miters, don't fear this project. All those little squares/diamonds are joined as you go, not seamed together at the end. Gabriela is doing a class on the technique used to make this project this summer. Christine's Stay On Baby Booties These adorable booties use just a few meters of sock yarn. I recognize this yarn as one of my favourite colourways of Trekking, now unfortunately discontinued. FREE Pattern on ravelry at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/christines-stay-on-baby-booties Saartjes Bootees & Easy Peasy Newborn hat Saatjes bootees & Easy Peasy Newborn hat in Regia Kaffe Fassett Design Line colour Snappy 02900 http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/saartjes-bootees http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/easy-peasy-newborn-sock-hat Easy Peasy in Zauberball Crazy1701 A diagonal knit scarf/shawl using random bits of left overs. http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring08/FEATspr08FK.html Mini Mania Linen Stitch Scarf One of my favourite stitch patterns is linen stitch. I have used it dozens of times in various projects. One of its most popular uses is as a scarf with hand painted yarns. . The young lady below has knit a huge version using up a ton of different colours of sock yarn. I love it. It is on my list of must do projects. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mini-mania-scarf Squishy Love Shawl The shawl/wrap below appeals to me also. I love all Noro Yarns. I can't bear to throw away even the smallest scrap of Noro. The shawl below uses a unifying skein of solid yarn knit in random garter stitch and eyelet stripes with a selection of small amounts of various Noro left overs. I have all the left overs, just have to select a solid unifying colour. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/squishylove-shawl Knitter's Journey Afghan - This Becomes this Using Stephanie Pearl McPhee's pattern for the Knitters Journey Afghan Pattern Description from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: “This is one of my favorite projects and one that can reflect a knitter’s journey as well as any scrapbook or postcard collection. It was inspired by a quilt I had as a little girl made of the leftover scraps of fabric from the clothes my grandmother sewed. There was a square that was a piece of my mother’s favorite nightie, a square of an uncle’s flannel shirt, bits of a summer sundress and a soft bedsheet. Our lives and stories about what people did and where they went in the clothes made from those fabrics were laid out in bits and pieces and backed with pink cotton, and I loved it. This knitting project serves the same purpose: It uses the leftovers of projects gone by (or as they go by, my personal choice) to work a traveler’s afghan.” This pattern may be found on pages 206-209 of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off. This Becomes this Or this I hope you have found some inspiration to help use up your stash. If not I have one more option. At Serenity Knits we are happy to accept donations for 2 local schools with knitting clubs and a local church which knits charity afghans. If you have any yarn or knitting needles you would love to get rid of, drop them off and we will get them to the schools or church. Happy knitting Beth