More Stash Busting Projects to Pare Your Odd Balls

I am always game for more stash busting knitting projects, especially since I’ve come to realize I don’t have a project quantity of much of anything, so everything I’m making this year is going to include stripes or colorblocking regardless of the intent of the designer.

I shared some stash busting projects last month that were mostly smaller projects. This time around we’ve got some bigger/most colorful projects, sometimes paired with a solid color and sometimes not.

For example, the Book Club Vest by Amanda Lee. This one is a great way to use all your leftover DK weight yarn, and you can make the stripes as big or little as your yarn allows (and make the back and front match or not). It comes in 10 sizes and the sample uses 7 colors. You can find it on Ravelry.

While these are called Autumn Glow socks, using any leftovers would make these worsted weight socks colorful, cute and cozy. The design, by Ninni Enlund, is available on Ravelry and as shown is worked in four colors. They’re worked from the cuff down and available in six sizes.

Use all your rainbow colored DK minis (or any other leftover yarns of your choice) to make the sleeves and yoke of the Bright Axis DK top by Stephanie Lotven (Ravelry). This slightly cropped tee is worked from the bottom up in a single color for the body, with the yoke and sleeves worked flat as separate pieces joined like an edging. It’s available in 11 sizes.

Another colorful yoke that would be great to make with leftovers can be found on Marie Green’s French Picnic, a sport weight, circular yoke pattern worked from the top down with a solid colored body and a bit of lace on the sleeves and neckline. It’s available in nine sizes, and while the original only uses three colors, you could easily work the colorwork in more colors as you need. Grab this pattern on Ravelry.

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I guess the trend of little scarves and bandanas isn’t going away, and there’s a good reason for that. These little projects are fast, and they’re good for beginners because of the low commitment and they make something that doesn’t necessarily look like a beginner made it.

And when you can combine a simple pattern with some super luxurious yarn, it’s a little treat that even more experienced knitters can get behind.

The Little Dot Bandana from Purl Soho (designed by Gianna Mueller) is a project like that. It’s a simple eyelet triangle, worked from the long side down to the point, so there’s a lot of decreasing happening but it’s a really easy project.

It calls for a hank of silk yarn and one that’s silk mohair, which gives the project a fuzziness and a little bit of a silky glow.

Of course you can use different yarn to get a different look. A linen yarn would be fun for a summer kerchief, or combine wool and mohair for a warm and cozy kerchief for cold mornings.

The pattern comes in two sizes, so you can stitch up a kerchief or a simple triangle shawl. The stitch multiple is 8 plus 23 stitches, so you can use that to make a triangle of any size you like, or you can use a heavier weight of yarn to make a different size if you prefer. The two strands held together as called for in the pattern makes a sport weight gauge, so you could try DK or worsted for a bigger and warmer project if you want.

This pattern is available for free from Purl Soho, or check out the pattern notes on Ravelry to find how other people made this project.

And if you need more options for kerchiefs to knit, check out this collection of kerchief knitting patterns.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

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