Ever since I made striped socks from leftover yarns, I’ve been thinking about other ways to use up the odds and ends in my yarn stash. Here are some fabulous projects I found poking around online. They are mostly knitted although the ideas could easily be adapted for crochet fans.
The project that reminded me the most of my own was Wool and Chocolate’s pair of striped “longies” for her toddler. I love the rainbow of colors she used for these cute pants. They came out a little large, but not to worry. The kid is sure to grow.
Blankets broken into smaller blocks are an obvious choice for using up scraps. The traditional granny square block can be made into afghans of any size, and they look great when they are made with lots of different colors of yarn. (Confession: I love granny square afghans.) But you don’t have to crochet your blankets. Completely Cauchy’s knit blanket is made one small square at a time.
Jesse Breytenbach of Jezze Prints also makes one block at a time, knitting two yarns together with half linen stitch to get a beautiful mix of color and pattern.
If you don’t like the random look that can result from using up scraps, check out Dorien’s tutorial at Just Do. She shows how to sort the yarns and mix them in the knitting to get a graded look that is elegant and artsy.
Don’t have enough yarn for a big project? Then go small. You can knit an army of tiny bunnies using Mochimochi Land’s free pattern or fill your forest with colorful crocheted owls by following Bunny Mummy’s step-by-step instructions.
What’s your favorite way to use up your yarn scraps?
