A Scrappy Shawl Knitting Pattern to Use All Your Odd Balls

January 21, 2024 by Sarah White

Since I’ve been writing a lot about using your yarn stash and leftovers from other projects a lot lately (see projects with two strands held together, patterns for leftovers, projects using minis, to name a few) the algorithms that be keep showing me more of that kind of content. And I can’t imagine I’m the only one with excess yarn on their hands (don’t call it too much), so I keep wanting to share them, too.

So it is with the Scrappy Knit Shawl from Morale Fiber. This one turned up after I was looking for stash-busting shawls for a forthcoming post, but I felt like it was worth mentioning because it’s such an easy and effective technique.

This is a triangular garter stitch shawl, easy as can be, meant to use up leftovers small and large. Start with your smallest balls while the rows are tiny, and use bigger balls as the shawl gets bigger. You can even incorporate the yarn ends into the fringe on the sides, and/or add it separately.

The fun thing about a project like this is you can make it with whatever weight of yarn you happen to have the most of, or you can hold two strands of a lighter-weight yarn together to make it closer to the weight of your other yarns. Gauge isn’t important and it won’t matter if a couple of rows look a little fatter or thinner than the others (and it’s actually a cool effect when this happens).

You can also make it whatever size you like. I love this big version, which measures 95 inches (241 cm) across and 20 inches (50.8 cm) long, but you could make a little shawl, a kerchief, or a blanket-sized shawl, whatever strikes you and depending on how much yarn you have. And the scrappier it looks the better!

Grab the free pattern from Morale Fiber.

[Photo: Morale Fiber]

Have you read?

Knit a Log Cabin Blanket with All Your Scraps

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn.

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small.

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches.

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come.

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you.

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?).

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry.

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns.

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]