Mini skeins are small skeins of yarn. They are often 20 grams, or 80 meters of fingering weight yarn. Some companies sell them at half that size. Usually, they come as a twisted skein, like the red and orange skeins in the middle right of the photo below. They twist out to hanks, as in the left of the photo below. Wound up, they make nice small balls.
There are many many things to make with minis. One skein might make a toy. Two or three will give you a hat, cowl or fingerless mittens.
The blue-on-blue hat on the form was a travel project. I brought two skeins of each colour, just in case. I used less than two of the dark blue and about 3/4 of a skein of the lighter blue. It was a simple pattern. I cast on 140 stitches and made a 1×1 rib for almost two inches. Then I alternated two rows of dark blue with two rows of light blue. I started to shape the crown at 6.5 inches and closed up when I had 12 or 14 stitches left.
I was more cautious with the yellow and blue hat, and used 1.6 skeins of the blue and 0.6 of the yellow. I made five sets of yellow stripes, reminding me of a music stave. When the gap looked right (9 rows), I added another set of yellow stripes, repeating the pattern until the hat was the right height.
The first cowl I made used seven minis, one of each colour of the rainbow. Others have been three or four. The nuthatch one at the top of this page has three main bands of one skein each and one contrasting (brown) colour of half a skein.
The fade set above uses three minis. I cast on 160 stitches, reduced the curl by making eight rows of garter stitch, then added seersucker pattern to make it more interesting to knit. When I finished one ball, I started the next. The top mirrors the bottom in that it has eight rows of garter stitch to reduce curl at the edges.
This pair of fingerless mittens took two purple skeins and less than one blue skein. The colour work is simple stripes because I wanted it to be reproducible. The bottom edge is scalloped because I like this edge, and it adds interest. In the cuff, the stockinette between the ridges is purple, and peeks out when you bend your wrist. The eyelet band at the top of the wrist also adds interest. It’s an easy quick knit that looks impressive and doesn’t take a lot of time.
Naturally, you can use minis for larger projects like sweaters. You would just have more ends to weave in. I made a shawl from minis in an advent calendar (unfortunately no longer have a shawl or a photo). It was a greater investment in time, though it had more textures of yarns and more variety in pattern.
I tend to associate mini skeins with mini projects — something quick and easy without a lot of leftover yarn to incorporate into something else. At the same time, I think I’m suited to minis because I like something quick and easy without a lot of leftover yarn.
Juliette Knits 