This is 9 of 9—Make Nine, that is! My final project for 2025 for the “yarn” prompt is completed, blocked, and ready to wear.
 |
| My Taos crocheted wrap. Make Nine 2025. |
My “yarn” prompt: pattern and project parameters
In late Spring, I decided the "Yarn" prompt project for my Make Nine 2025 challenge was a commitment to use a collection of leftover yarns I had from a shop-and-swap. The parameters were:
- a pattern intended for a variety of yarn colors, or one that could be adapted for my collection of disparate yarn leftovers (a stash buster),
- an easy-to-memorize pattern—something that required little concentration (no stitch markers, or the need to carefully count stitches),
- a flexible finished size,
- portable for traveling—perhaps something with modular units,
- and, if possible, I wanted it to be a crochet project this year.
I mentioned my search for a portable, scrappy yarn project to Pati, the owner of Louisville Fiber Supply, a lovely yarn shop in Kentucky. She turned to her earmarked collection of patterns on Ravelry and shared inspiration with me.
 |
| Make Nine 2025 “yarn” prompt: the Taos wrap. 16.5” x 66.5” |
The Taos wrap
The pattern that had the most potential for what I was looking for was Taos by Cristina Mershon [found on Ravelry]. It checked all the boxes.
Shawls are perfect for stash-busting because they don't require exact yardage and can easily be made wider or longer with additional rows or blocks. The Taos wrap, with its modular units, could accommodate the diversity of colors and fibers that I planned to use up (for example, for fingering weight and sock yarns, I sometimes used two stands held together). The resulting piece would be a beautiful tapestry of my leftover balls and impulse buys!
Swatching
 |
| Swatching the motif. |
After doing a few test swatches of the units, I realized I needed to modify the pattern because my initial swatching efforts produced diamond shapes rather than the squares. I also needed to accommodate the different yarn weights of the leftover yarns. This meant being flexible with stitch count and adding border rounds of single crochet (if needed) to get them to a 2.75” size (the size of my units). This project was a true exercise in intuitive crochet.
Wrap stats
I worked on this Make Nine wrap from mid-August to early October. The finished piece incorporates yarns of many earthy colors that reflect nature’s end-of-summer to early-fall color palette.
- motif size: 2.75” square
- 6 x 24 = 144 motifs
- finished size: 16.5” x 66.5”
Here are “before” and “after” photos of the yarns used.
 |
| Collection of leftover yarns. |
After completing the wrap:
 |
| Remaining yarn after the project’s completion. Several small balls were completely used up. |
I incorporated these yarns from an impulse buy (before photo):
 |
| Impulse buy yarn. |
I made a dent in reducing these—especially the two balls of the blue-green yarn that was used for joining and the edging. (I actually had to introduce one new blue-green yarn that very closely matched the original in order to have enough yarn to crochet the edging around the perimeter.)
 |
| Remaining yarns after completing the wrap. |
One of the fun parts of making the motifs was using the variegated yarn. It had long color changes, so I could usually crochet the entire inner or outer motif section before the color changed. The color combinations reminded me of the changing colors of the leaves in the landscape—especially with the leaf-shaped motif of the Taos pattern.
 |
| Using a variegated yarn resulted in a variety of motifs. |
One of the not-as-fun parts of making many independent motifs with two colors of yarn is weaving in the tails. With 144 motifs… there were A LOT of tails! Here is my thread tail jar [ORTs (odd random threads) jar] from making Taos.
 |
| Empty mayonnaise jar with yarn tail cut-offs—ORTs. |
The picot edge
The final detail, and perhaps my favorite, is the picot edge. The edge had 3 rows of single crochet plus the picot row.
 |
| Pico edge detail. |
This simple, elegant border treatment provided a beautifully finished look that added a delicate little design element to the wrap. It took minimal extra time to crochet the picot edge, but that detail was so worth it!
 |
| Taos wrap with a picot edge. |
A stash-buster project is the perfect way to honor the yarn you already own by turning “potential” into “purpose” in a truly unique item. This one came together in a harmonious color story that was not planned, but worked out very well.
I was able to finish and block my new wrap just in time to show it to Pati when I visited her shop again this past week.
Make Nine 2025 is complete
Make Nine 2025 is “a wrap” (so to speak). I finished this Challenge earlier than usual (in October) and will be looking forward to Make Nine 2026. I’ll post a Make Nine 2025 recap—with photos of all 9 projects—some time before the close of this year.
 |
| Make Nine 2025 tracker. |
Every year, the Make Nine Challenge pushes me to tackle a new technique, work with a new material or art supply, try a new-to-me pattern, or finish projects languishing on my to-do list. Each project and finish is very rewarding.
If you’ve been thinking about doing Make Nine or tackling your fabric or yarn stash, let this be your sign of encouragment. Sometimes the best projects are the ones you build from what you already have—and the people who inspire you along the way.
