Anyone who knits or crochets will inevitably end up with small amounts of yarn leftover from projects. We all have that basket, box or bag full of little balls of yarn because we can’t throw them away, it is perfectly good yarn. But what do we do with them? So, dive into your stash and unearth all of those little balls of yarn you have been tucking away for years. It is an opportunity to play and experiment with color.
First, you need to see what you have. Lay it all out on a large table or the floor and begin sorting by yarn weight. If you kept tags or remember what the yarn is, this will be easy. You will have balls of yarn you are not sure what weight they are, match them with the weight they are close to.
Next, determine if each ball has enough yarn to use in a new project, you can do this by feeling or weighing the balls. If a ball is at least 10 grams, it can usually be used in a new project.
Now it is time to decide what to do with the yarn. Depending on the project you decide on, you may want to group the balls by color family or in groups of complimentary colors. The fiber content is not as important when working with various yarns, having a section of your project that is fuzzier adds to the uniqueness.
Small Projects
Hair Scrunchies use 10-20 grams/ 50-80 yards of fingering weight yarn. This pattern by Nina Hologcova starts with a provisional cast on and knit in the round. After adding the hair tie to the center, the scrunchy is finished with a modified 3 needle bind off.
Pom Poms and Tassels are fun and easy and you can use various colors and yarn weights. Use them on hats, to make decorations/wall art, add to gift packages.
Add fun color to the toes of your next pair of socks.
Knit or crochet embellishments such as flowers, cords, duplicate stitch and visible mending. Nicky Epstein’s books Knitted Flowers and Knitted Embellishments are great resources.
Amy Marie has various coaster patterns that use 10-13 yards of two colors of yarn and are knit in a mosaic garter stitch.
Larger Projects
Choosing a larger project can utilize several balls of left-over yarn or you can use a combination of a left-over yarn, and an advent set or single skein of yarn.
Here are seven projects.
1. Leftover City is a scrapy, colorwork cowl by Kacey Herlihy using simple, graphic colorwork repeat. It is written for a total of 375-450 yards of fingering weight yarn. You can use up to 9 different colors, at least 10-20 yards of each color are needed. The finished measurement is 21 in/53.5 cm circumference and 13 in/33 cm tall. The pattern includes both written and charted instructions. Although written for fingering weight yarn it will work with a variety of weights as gauge is not critical. Kacey includes information on calculating the number of stitches to cast on based on your yarn.
2. Scraptastic Cowl by Ambah O’Brien uses DK or light worsted weight yarn or 2 strands of fingering weight held together. The cowl features a chevron- like pattern. You can use any number of colors that work for you or follow Ambah’s cowl with 5 colors. You will need at least 25 yards of each color. The finished measurement is 27 in/68.5 cm circumference and 11 in/28 cm height.
3. The Beekeepers Quilt is a pattern on Ravelry that has 11,000 projects! It is written by Tiny Owl Knits and is made of little stuffed honeycomb shaped puffy pockets called hexipuffs. The hexipuffs start like a toe up sock and are knitted in the round. After stuffing, they are finished like the toe of a cuff down sock. The pattern has a three-needle crochet bind off, but you can use any bind off you choose. This is a great project to take on the go but putting them together may be a challenge. You will need 384 hexipuffs for a lap throw measuring 3 ft by 4 ft. Some Ravelers have made 600-800 hexipuffs for stunning bed-size blankets. This is definitely a long game project. Alternatives are to not stuff them for a flat hexipuff, duplicate stitch on the hexifuff (graphics, letters, messages), make just enough for a seat cushion or wall hanging. There is a crochet version called Hexapuff Lap Quilt by Julie Blagojevich.
4. Gnomes are a wonderful way to use small amounts of yarn. Sarah Schira of Imagined Landscape has Gnomes that use different weight yarns and have unique personalities. You can be creative in color choices. She also has patterns for accessories (mushroom, cottage, trees) and clothing for your Gnome. There are other designers with Gnome patterns including crochet versions.
5. Check out Wool & Pine’s stash buster patterns. They have a series of projects in the Sea Glass series including hats, mittens, sweaters and cowls. The Sea Glass patterns use one-by-one colorwork throughout the item and includes instruction (videos) that show the technique of magic knot so there are no ends to weave in at the end. These patterns are fun and addictive.
6. Another pattern by Wool & Pine that uses small amounts of yarn is the Whidbey Bag. The backpack is knit in the round, top down and seamless with one color. Then, using a darning needle, yarns are handwoven in the bags body. The bag itself takes 500 yards of DK weight yarn then 1-3 yards (depending on yarn weight) of yarn is used for the stripes.
7. Excavation is a diagonal fringed scrap blanket by Jane Pihota. The pattern uses scraps sized from a few inches to multiple yards. Garter stitch is knit diagonally starting with three stitches, increasing at the beginning of each row to the middle point then it gradually decreases down to the final stitch. Each color is used for two rows. There are no ends to weave in, they are left at the edges to create fringe. You can make the blanket any size since you can decide what is halfway.
Using up these treasured leftovers can create a unique colorful item. Be bold and create fearlessly.