One skein yarn ideas for your 'Gala Mixed Fiber' yarn

Originally posted May 29, 2012 6:50 AM MST

Gala Mixed Fiber yarn

Acquanetta Ferguson

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For those who don’t know, Big Lots seems to be the place for yarn for a $1. That’s right, they sell yarn from $1 to $3, though I usually stick with the $1 skein.

Acquanetta Ferguson

These yarns are actually kind of hit and miss when shopping. The first time I tried, the yarn batch yielded only a few gems, but the second time I tried, I hit the mother lode. The yarns are all mixed fiber such as acrylic, polyester, and nylon and the yarn comes from Turkey. In fact, what I love about the yarn besides the awesome price is the self-striping yarn that can be found.

One thing about the yarn is that there is not much information on the packaging such as weight, and each yarn is a bit different. Some are fingering weight, DK to bulky. One way to find out exactly is to either do several gauge swatches with different hooks or taking a ruler and wrapping the yarn around the ruler a certain amount of times around one inch on the ruler to see what the yarn weight is. Click here for the chart.

The yarn you get is usually 1.76 ounces and because you are only getting a small bunch of the same yarn lot (usually), the problem then becomes how to crochet a project and making sure that you have enough yarn, because chances are that you will never find that same color batch again.

Some ideas I’ve found will allow you to create a full project with only 1.76 ounces or less. I also came up with a design that will yield a pretty cool beanie that can also be worn as a slightly slouch hat.

Here are some interesting patterns I found on ravelry:

• One Good Turn by Ali Green uses a 1.76 oz skein for a cute Mobius circle scarf, which makes a very cute scarf. You don’t need to just use the Gala Mixed Fiber yarn, as any 1.76 yarn would do.
• Cozies, from coffee cups, soda cans to cell phone cases are another way to use a small skein of yarn. As you can see, you can make several.
• And see below for the hat pattern I created. It is a slightly modified version of theAy’Mani Hat, with a bigger hook and fewer rows, the hat, with the right color can be masculine or add a feminine touch with a flower, bow or button.

Please do not post this pattern on your website or take it as your own. I ask that you instead link to my page, which will help with internet karma. Mainly yours. Of course you can sell anything you make from this pattern.

Materials:

• Gala Mixed Fiber Yarn (Try to use the one that is the variegated/self-striping to achieve results)
• K hook

Stitches and terms used:

• Slip Stitch – sl st
• Space - sp
• Half Double Crochet - hdc
• Back Loop Only – blo
• Single crochet – sc

Gauge: 4 rounds = 4"

Magic circle or chain 4, sl st to form a circle. Please note that this hat is seamless (well the body of the hat) and will just continue around. You may want to use markers for the beginning round to keep count.

Rnd 1 – Ch 3 (counts as first hdc and ch-1) and do a total of 7 hdc ch-1 st in the ring. 8 hdc

Rnd 2 – Hdc ch-1 hdc ch-1 in each ch-1 sp of previous round, repeat this around. 16 hdc

Rnd 3 – Hdc ch-1 hdc ch-1 in ch-1 sp, *hdc ch-1 in next ch-1 sp, hdc ch-1 hdc ch-1 in next ch-1 sp* repeat around. 24 hdc

Rnd 4 - *Hdc ch-1 hdc ch-1 in next ch-1 sp, 2 hdc ch-1 in next 2 sp* repeat around. 32 hdc

Rnd 5 – *Hdc ch-1 hdc ch-1 in ch-1 sp, 3 hdc ch-1 in next 3 ch-1 sp* repeat around. 40 hdc

Rnd 6 -16 - Hdc ch-1 around. 40 hdc

Rnd 17 – Sl st, ch 1, then sc in same stitch, *1 sc in ch-1 space and 1 sc in dc from previous row* repeat around, sl st in ch-1. 40 sc

Rnd 18 – Ch 1 sc in blo around sl st in ch-1. Fasten off.

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