Strategies for Using All Your Yarn

I make my interest in using your yarn stash pretty clear (I mean, I have actually written an ebook about it), and one great way to use your stash is to make sure that you use as much of the yarn you have in a particular project as you can so you won’t add leftover yarn to your stash.

Since I’m often making things up as I go along (whether that’s because I’m designing on the fly or working from a pattern without being sure I have enough yarn to make it) I’ve come up with a few tips that might help you if you’re trying to use all the yarn you have on a particular project.

The story behind this post was that I had some really great yarn I wanted to make into a tank top. I found a pattern (the tank top from KnitCroAddict) and I thought I had enough yarn based on what the pattern called for. But I also tend to like tops to be longer than a lot of patterns suggest, so I wanted to make sure I could make my top as long as possible without running out of yarn.

The main strategy that helps with this process is to do whatever finishing you can before the garment is actually finished. If you’re knitting a sweater, knit the sleeves first. In this case it was knitting the edgings on the neckline and the armholes.

Of course it’s also possible to work in a different yarn in a stripe or another way if you need your yarn to go farther, this was more about wanting to use all of a great yarn that I had and not really having anything that went with it to add in.

Check out my other strategies for using all the yarn and how my tank top turned out over at Our Daily Craft.

Knitting Patterns to Use Your Bulky Yarn Stash

Knit a Basket with Your Chunky Yarn Stash

Is There Such a Thing as a Perfect Yarn Stash?

Next Pattern:

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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