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Use Your Leftover Yarn and Old Projects in New Ways

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What to do with yarn scraps and leftoversWhenever you finish a knitting project, there’s almost always a little bit (or a lot) of yarn left over. Sometimes it can be hard to know what to do with those partial balls of yarn, but there are all sorts of fun things you can try.

When you have a whole lot of odd balls in similar weights, you can do something like my Garter Stitch strip afghan that I’ve been working on for more than a year now. It’s the project I come back to when I don’t have anything else pressing, and it’s going to be huge and fabulous when it’s done. As it is, it’s already keeping me warm while I knit it, which is lovely.

 

Specific to knitters, you can join our Knitting Patterns Only group to get, well, knitting patterns, ask questions and gain inspiration for what to knit next.

Last year I did a whole series on using your yarn stash, which has links to lots of great patterns for using little bits of yarn. Though it doesn’t have pictures, this collection of patterns for using leftover sock yarn from Knitting for Charity is a good one.

If you also happen to crochet or like to decorate with yarn, check out Donna’s Dozen Ways to Use Up Scrap Yarn. This collection of patterns from Red Heart has some cute stuff on it, including this really cute cell phone resting station.

And if you problem runs more toward shrunken sweaters and worn out hats, BuzzFeed has a nice collection of projects you can make with old sweaters. Some are felted, some are not, and you can certainly use thrift store or commercially purchased sweaters as well. But I know I always want to give new life to projects that are outgrown or long longer useful as what they were originally made for, and this list is a great place to start.

Do you have any tips or projects you love to make when using up bits of extra yarn? I’d love to hear about it!

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Comments

  1. i use my scraps, no matter how big, to make scarves for the homeless shelters. some of them look….a bit wild. i doubt those that get them mind if it helps, even in a small way, to keep them warm.

  3. We collect leftover half balls of yarn from other knitters in the health department and use them to make hats, scarves and mittens to give to the children who come to our clinics. There is a fairly large emigrant population here from west and southwest Africa, and they are not prepared for Midwest winters. A lot of our projects, naturally, are striped.

    A local knitting guild does the same — they are the Nighttime Knitters and we are the Noontime Knitters (we take over the conference room every Tuesday at lunchtime).

Have you read?

Bucket Hat Knitting Patterns

As I was starting to write this post I thought that it was true that I’d never done a roundup of bucket hat knitting patterns before. But then I looked, and I actually did one last year (which you can find here) but there are plenty of cute bucket hats to do another post about, right? 

The one that made me want to write about this (again) is the Red Heart Knit Fanfare Bucket Hat from Yarnspirations. This cute striped hat can be worked in team colors, and while I might prefer a non-acrylic yarn for a summer hat, it would be fine when it’s not too hot outside (or try a cotton yarn instead). 

Claire Slade’s Sunlit Bucket Hat has an angled brim to help keep the sun out of your eyes. It’s worked from the bottom up using worsted weight cotton yarn, and comes in three sizes. You can find the pattern on Ravelry. 

Get a little air flow in your bucket hat with the Shady Bucket Hat from Wool & Beyond. This one uses DK weight yarn and an eyelet pattern throughout the body to keep it cool. It comes in sizes ranging from newborn to adult large, and is worked in one piece from the top down. You can grab the pattern (in English or Swedish) on Ravelry. 

If you’re looking for a fun, floppy sun hat for kids or adults, this pattern from Muki Crafts is a little more slouchy than a traditional bucket hat but it’s super cute. It comes in baby, toddler and bigger kid sizes and adult. I uses worsted weight yarn and is worked from the bottom up. 

Another variation on the classic bucket is this one that’s more of a cloche style. Made by branda, it uses bulky yarn so it’s more of a winter bucket hat, but now’s a fine time to knit it if you live somewhere that’s warm right now (or even more so if you live somewhere that’s cold right now). 

Another one to get you ready for colder weather is Tirmety, a two-layer bucket hat from ViTalina Craft, which has a textured stitch pattern on one side and stockinette on the other. You can wear either side out or even make them different colors if you want. The pattern is sized for toddlers, kids and adults. 

And if you want to add some extra cuteness to your bucket hat, I love this (of course totally optional but also totally adorable) embroidered deatila on the New York Bucket Hat from Pauline Fanguin. It uses two strands of DK weight yarn held together for extra sturdiness, and uses changes in needle size to shape the hat. Of course you could also knit stripes or use different textures of yarn to change up the look. This pattern is made to fit your head and is available in French and English.