A couple of summers ago we were staying at the local campground while we waited for the paperwork to go through on our new house we had bought (another story entirely) and was abosuletly bored. Everything was packed away in storage.
However, the large rubbermaid bin containing my stash of yarns was close to the door so I got my husband to help me haul it back to the campground.
I was going through my stash and found a large amount of cream yarn and another large ball of light brown. Then there were a few partial balls of light blue and a couple of purple. The two blues were similar but not the same color. None of the yarn had a ball band but for the most part I guessed it was acrylic although the purple and one ball of blue might have been a mohair blend. All of the yarn was about the same weight (thickness) though.
Fate? Maybe.
Okay, the yarn was more of a worsted weight than a sport weight and the crochet hooks I had were a really thin one, a 5mm, and an 8mm or something close to that. The pattern calls for a 3.5mm hook though.
Anyway, I decided to make the best of the situation and went to work with the medium size hook making the first inside (colored) flower. The petals didn't curl too much and I thought that they were okay so I changed color and tried the outer hexagon. That didn't curl either. Of course the gauge was WAY off, but since this was just going to be a baby blanket anyway, I didn't really mind. I used up all the light purple making flowers, then started on the blue. BUT the light blue ran out before halfway and the second light blue in my stash was obviously a different color.
So what do you do when your yarn runs out AND you have no idea what type of yarn it is either?
Well, I decided to use the other color blue and to put it in the light brown stripe so that it looked purposeful instead of accidental.
Finally when my hexagons were all done, I crocheted them together (with the wrong sides facing) so that the single crochet faced to the front. (Remember, I had no sewing needles either.)This made the pieces fit together with a honeycomb effect. And finally, I added a row of single crochet around the outside in light brown to pull it all together.
Now it is finished, I am quite pleased with my baby blanket and I know that it is a unique piece as I have changed it to suit me (and my yarn).
Have you altered a pattern? Share your story below.