Make coasters & stitch markers with yarn leftovers

​This is the year I plan to make a serious dent in my yarn stash.  But what discourages me is the leftover yarn. I find it hard to put the extra yarn I did not use right back into the stash.

 I love the satisfaction of moving a yarn entry into the "Completely Used Up" filter on Ravelry.   So I'm always on the lookout for stash-busting projects.  

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​While stash-diving for my latest project, I found a ball of short lengths of cotton and acrylic yarn that were knotted together.  I think this came from an eBay yarn lot.  I cut the lengths free and used the longer ones to crochet a round coaster.  It's a little oversized, which I like in a coaster.

I wove in the yarn on each row, and started the new row in a different place.  It's the only way I know to avoid those jogs that mess up circular crochet.

I used the really short bits to make tiny tassels for stitch markers.

I just tie them up, catch them in a jewelry wire loop and run it through a small bead cap.  That gets joined to a jump ring with another loop.

These markers are perfect for lace-weight knitting projects--they are colorful and very light.  

When I want a stitch marker for my crocheting,
I just add a lobster claw clasp (instead of a jump ring) so they can be moved from row to row.

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