Do you ever wonder what to do with little odds and ends of homespun yarn?

In the fall of 2016, Doug and I spent a few days in Wales (blogged about here) and included a stop at The Lost Sheep Company in Colwyn Bay.  There, in addition to chatting with its charismatic owner, Chrissy, and wading through waist high bundles of fleeces:

We purchased four tiny skeins of homespun yarn from Welsh bred sheep.  In the below photo, the yarn on the left was un-labelled, followed left-to-right by Jacob, Welsh Mule, and Black Welsh Mountain.

I had differing yardage of each yarn, and they were of different yarn weights.  I wondered for a long time what to do with them, and one night shortly after the New Year, I just picked up the first skein and started to knit.  I didn’t do any gauge swatches or fuss with measurements.  I didn’t do any math.  I cast on 180 stitches with a size US 11 needle and started to knit in 2×2 ribbing.  When I got to the end of one skein, I added another, and kept knitting until my yarn ran out.

As Doug was the one who picked out the yarn, I made the cowl for him.  I think it suits him well.

It is amazingly plush and cozy, and has a fantastic hand.  With the exception of the small nups of colour in the un-labelled batch, it is all un-dyed. I hadn’t knit with handspun in some time, and really loved having it on my needles.

Emma was still here when I finished, and she had just finished knitting her own cowl (blogged here), so I tried to get a photo of the two of them.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to get Doug and Emma to cooperate and not be silly?

Photo attempt #7:

Photo attempt #13:

Photo attempt #312:

Photo attempt #2,397:

This is, of course a slight exaggeration, but they delight in being silly, especially when I am trying to get a photo for the blog.

If you are trying to find a use for small bits of homespun yarn, I recommend this fun and easy solution.