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:

The other day I saw a post from Pinterest about trends for summer and it said one of them was “cultivating whimsy.”

Well, I don’t know where Pinterest has been all this time, but we’ve been cultivating whimsy here at Craft Gossip for a long time. I love sharing projects that are a little different, things that make you smile when you see them, and will make you smile when you knit them and wear them or use them.

Such it is with the Tutti Frutti tee knitting pattern from Bea Creative Knits.

This cute little baby tee is worked top down in the round with contiguous shoulder construction to shape the sleeve caps. There are short rows for the neckline and folded hems with picot edging at the hemline, neckline and edges of the sleeves.

All of this would be great on its own, but then there’s the addition of a super cute fruit icon, which is added with duplicate stitch. There are a lot of options, including strawberry, banana, orange, cherries, watermelon, lemon, blueberries, kiwi, peach, dragon fruit, apple and pear, so it’s likely you can add on your favorite fruit.

It is offered in eight sizes, to fit a bust measurement ranging from 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 56-58 inches (142-147 cm). The design is meant to be worn with around 6.3 inches/16 cm of negative ease, but you can choose the fit you prefer. There’s also optional bust and waist shaping included in the pattern if you want to make it even curvier.

This is considered an advanced beginner or intermediate project because of all the skills involved, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun even if some of these techniques are new to you.

Grab a copy of the pattern for yourself form Bea Creative Knits on Etsy.

[Photo: Bea Creative Knits]

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