If you’ve been around here for much time at all, you probably know that I’m all about stash busting and projects that allow you to use little bits of yarn left over from other projects (or that random skein you bought with no idea what you wanted to make with it).
Of course you can add leftover yarn to lots of different projects in lots of different ways, from adding stripes and color blocking to just knitting with odd balls until you run out of yarn. But I thought it might be helpful to see some patterns that are made with odd balls and leftovers to inspire you to dig through your stash and make something great.
The Leftovers Slip Mittens by Sandra Mussons on Ravelry are a great way to use leftover sock yarn. These incorporate slip stitches to break up the colors even more. Divide all your yarn in half before you start if you want mitts that match or make them fraternal twins.
Speaking of sock yarn, the Funfetti socks by General Hugbuffer (free on Ravelry) use four different solid colors of sock yarn, but you could play with using more colors or non-solid yarns depending on what you have on hand. This pattern uses stranded colorwork (changing colors every stitch) to make it look more colorful than it is. The pattern has three sizes but you can adjust to the size you need.
This one was made with mini skeins, but even if you don’t have 45 yards of each color you can make a Lila Cowl that has more (or fewer) stripes. This free pattern on Ravelry from Lux Adorna Knits uses a chevron pattern, provisional cast on and grafting. It calls for sport weight yarn but you can use whatever you want.
Helix knitting is another great way to use little bits or bigger bits of yarn. This helix hat pattern from Rose-Kim Knits uses three colors at a time, though you’re only knitting with one at a time and you can change them as often as you want/need to. Once you understand the technique you can use this method on other projects, too.
The Knit Edit on Etsy is odd ball knitting goals, and you should really look through all their patterns because they’re amazing. But I wanted to point out in particular the Andromeda Dress, because I love it so much even though I don’t think my odd balls would ever look that good. This simple summer dress is sized from extra small to 5XL (UK sizes 6-24) and you can use DK or worsted weight yarn that gives you mostly consistent gauge.
Or make one of Suzy Rai’s Festival Cardigans, which are made out of squares so you can make each square from a different yarn (or a couple of yarns held together). This one is available on Etsy and is quite oversized but meant to fit UK sizes 8-16 with more or less ease. You can adjust it based on the size or number of your squares.
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