Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Little Knitting Projects to Slim Your Yarn Stash

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After talking about ways to organize your yarn the other day, it got me thinking about how to use some of that yarn. Nothing motivates me to start new projects like cleaning up my stash, LOL. 

In that spirit here are some small projects that use those odd balls or single skeins, a little color or a lot, to get you motivated to start using what you have in your yarn stash (hopefully not to make space for more yarn!). 

The Tidbits Mitts by Amy Gunderson use fingering weight yarn, so you can use all the leftovers from the socks you made last yearn to stitch them. The pattern is inspired by the flying geese quilt pattern, and you can use a couple or a lot of colors to knit it. Once that bit is knit, you work an edging along the side, knit the hand side back and forth in rows that are joined to the geese section as you go, with ribbing added last. The pattern is available on Ravelry.

Speaking of leftover sock yarn, you can of course use your sock leftovers to make more socks, like the A Beautiful Mess socks from Strangecat Design (Ravelry). These socks offer lots of options for stripes, color blocking and two cuffs to make them extra long. You can adjust the size, length, heel type (it calls for an afterthought heel), rate of color changes and more to suit your stash. 

Or go for shortie socks that use the smallest bits of yarn leftovers with the Celebrating Leftovers socks by Catherine Djimramadji on Ravelry. The triple-rolled cuff goes straight into the heel flap, and the foot is stitched with helical stripes to use the leftover bits. 

If you want to use little bitty bits of yarn and add some whimsy to your day, check out Midori House’s Scrap Yarn Hedgehog. This pattern is on Ravelry and you can use any yarn and any gauge to make a big or small hedgie. The one shown uses worsted weight yarn. 

Looking for a bigger project that still brings lots of color? The Empire Shawl by Megan Granger calls for 5 colors and uses 200-250 yards of each, so it’s a better choice for full skeins you aren’t sure what to do with, though you could certainly change colors more often if you wanted/needed to. It calls for DK weight yarn but you could use sport or worsted as well to make a shawl of a different size. Check this one out on Ravelry. 

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Classic Dishcloth Knitting Patterns

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use. 

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make. 

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!). 

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn. 

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart. 

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern. 

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.