Afghans For Christmas

 

I had one of those zippered vinyl bags that comforter sets come in stuffed full with skeins of yarn I had accumulated from thrift stores for 99¢ a skein.  Over the years I'd used that yarn to make a variety of projects which left me with a lot of odds and ends.  In the spirit of a very thrifty Christmas I decided to pull out all of my yarn and see what I could do with it.  I began by making winter scarves for each one of my daughters and one for my oldest's boyfriend.  I had hardly made a dent in my stash.

 

They loved the color combinations

It quickly became apparent I had enough yarn to make another, much bigger project so I got busy and made a pile of granny squares.  Granny squares are my favorite way to use up odds and ends of yarn leftover from other projects.  By the time I had finished I was thrilled and surprised to find I had made enough squares to put together two afghans for my girls as Christmas gifts.  I laid out the squares and then handstiched them all together.  Then I added a binding to each afghan.  And thanks to some Amazon boxes I was able to get them all wrapped up last month to tuck under the tree.

 

For a thrifty Christmas we sure had a lot of gifts under this tree

Using up all of this yarn made for some extreme decluttering too. Now all of my yarn fits into a small plastic bin and the comforter bag has been retired.  I think the afghans turned out very pretty and they are super soft and cozy.  The girls seemed quite pleased with them and the large size is perfect for some serious snuggling to stay warm or to lay over their beds at night.  They will enjoy these for many years to come.