Jazz Up Your Projects with Tassels

If you’ve been reading this page for very long, you probably know that one of my obsessions (or shall we say interests?) is using yarn stash as much as possible. I have an unreasonable stash, and I’m guessing I’m not the only one, so whatever we can do to use a little more yarn in each project seems like a good thing to me.

And one way to use more yarn on a project or as a totally different standalone thing is making tassels.

They add interest to clothes, purses or any item you add them to. In jewelry making, they’re a perfect addition to boho necklaces, fancy earrings, purses, clutches and scarves. If you knit a pillow, blanket or scarf, you can add tassels to the corners to emphasize a color used in the project or just to add another color that ties into your decor or your favorite coat.

They are super quick and easy to make and can have so many different uses. You can make tassels for pillows, blankets or bookmarks, add them to back packs, purses or zip pouches.

Hello Sewing has a tutorial for making tassels out of yarn that includes a video to show you how it’s done. They also have a suggestion to make smaller tassels just but cutting a skein of embroidery floss, which is a great option if you do cross stitch or embroidery and maybe have a little more thread than you need (also guilty).

While their examples show using the same kind of yarn throughout the tassel, it’s also a lot of fun to grab a bunch of leftovers in the same color or coordinating colors to make a boho, multi-textured tassel that uses even more leftovers. These are great to decorate gift bags or even make a fun holiday garland if you use the same colors that are on your tree.

Get the tutorials from Hello Sewing.

[Photo: Hello Sewing]

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.

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