Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Ways to Get Rid of Extra Yarn

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stash bustingIf after a month of thinking about stash busting you’ve realized there’s some yarn in your stash that you don’t ever want to knit with, don’t worry. It happens to all of us! (I used to buy grab bags when I was in stash-building mode so even I have some unfortunate skeins in my stash.)

But one knitter’s trash is another’s treasure, of course, so you wouldn’t want to just throw those balls away (or, worse, keep them for lack of knowing what to do with them).

First off, you could just donate them to your favorite thrift store. Most of them have craft sections so they can find it a good home.

You could also donate it to a nursing home, preschool or other school or activity center where it can be used for craft projects. I gave a big bag of ends to my daughter’s preschool last year and loved seeing some of it come back to me as hair on projects.

If you or someone you know goes to a church with a prayer shawl ministry or that does other charitable knitting, I’m sure they’d love it as well.

You could also try to sell it on Ravelry, ebay, etsy or anywhere else you like. Or donate it via your local Freecycle group or swap group. Or just post on Facebook that you have some yarn that’s looking for a good home — if you’ve got crafty friends that ought to do it!

I have a longer article on this subject over at About if you need even more ideas for getting rid of yarn; I’d love to know what you’ve done in the past to pass yarn on to others as well!

Comments

  1. There is a small Sr. Citizen’s Thrift Shop in Sturgis, SD that I like to donate yarn no longer used or partial skeins along with other items. They use the profits from the store for many charities.

  2. My local Thrift Store (the Mission Store in London, Ontario) is one of my favorite places to purchase yarn, and also one of my favorite places to donate yarn…or the things I make with their yarn. Never overlook the treasures you can find in a Thrift Store: all different sizes of needles…cheap. Vintage yarn – an unbelievable resource of old, carefully stored yarn. Of course, the biggest benefit to buying, and donating, to the Thrift Store is the many Blessings that they pass on to others in our communities, through the money they make…

  4. I belong to a “Grannies” group who raise money for African Grandmothers who are raising their grandchildren because their children have died of Aids. We have fabric and yarn sales every year (except last year and this year-due to the Covid 19 pandemic) We are still collecting yarn and fabric and will eventually restart our sales. Grannies groups are in several cities in Canada but not sure about the USA. Many of us are knitting and crocheting blankets with this yarn now to give to the homeless. This is our 15th year Anniversary.

  5. My town “yarn bombs” the parks once or twice a year as a crochet/knit fun project so any unneeded yarn goes to City Hall and they hand it out to any “bombers” that want or need it. Barbara

Have you read?

Classic Dishcloth Knitting Patterns

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.