From the Yarn Basket: Practical Goods for Our New Apartment #1

Although I have spent a great deal of time knitting and crocheting fun cowls, gloves, and hats this summer, I also stitched together some necessities for our move. When we moved into our new apartment in July, we had the usual extensive shopping list of basic items that accompanies any move. If you read this blog with any frequency, you know that Cory and I are of a frugal nature (see this, this and most recently this). That said, I'm sure you can imagine how quickly we grew weary of the money hemorrhage that occurred as we made run after expensive run to buy food, cleaning products, and other miscellanea. 

That's when I decided to put my hobby to good use and make some basic things for our new home. I needed something to occupy my time while waiting for paperwork to process anyway, and it came with some bonus smugness as I now feel completely justified in hauling a significant amount of yarn across the ocean (you can't leave behind the essentials, after all!). 

First up, drawer liners. We bought an array of extraordinarily cheap kitchen utensils from a combination of charity shops, Euro Giant (American readers, think Dollar General), and Tesco, but we had no drawer dividers or silverware drawer organizers. As an alternative solution, I quickly crocheted two drawer liners using some cheap acrylic Red Heart super saver yarn in dark sage. I don't even remember when or why I bought the yarn, but it feels like one of those green dish scrubbers you use to clean the bottoms of pans. No good for anything you would want to wear or even rub your skin against, which meant it was perfect for this project. I made two squares, one using a V-stich, and one that is essentially one big granny square.

For the second liner, you might notice a notch in the upper right corner. That's where I ran out of the yarn. So close! I hate when that happens, but in this case I figured that the liner would still effectively serve its purpose, so I decided to leave it as-is. Everything is still loose in the drawers, but at least they aren't scraping against the bottom. The liners have held up beautifully over the last couple of months, and the best part is that since they are acrylic, they are a breeze to clean!