I love the idea of thinking of your leftover yarn not as remnants or something wasteful, but as memories of the projects that you made with it. Much like making a patchwork quilt reminds you of all the things you made with that fabric before, knitting a stash busting project with your yarn leftovers can bring to mind each project that came before.
That’s the idea behind Raina K’s Memory Loop Blanket.
It’s worked from the center out in a hexagon shape using brioche knitting. The pattern starts with Emily Ocker’s cast on and includes two color brioche as well as increases and decreases for shaping. It uses an I-cord bind off, which I’m sure takes forever but gives it a lovely finish.
The designer rates it as for an adventurous beginner or intermediate knitting, but having worked two color brioche before would be helpful.
The pattern sections are broken up by “airy interludes” worked in a fuzzier yarn and using the same color throughout.
The original pattern was worked in DK weight yarn with the airy interludes in fingering (which also makes them airy because the gauge is more open since it’s worked with the same needles as the rest of the shawl). You could use all fingering or sport weight if that’s what you have more leftovers of.
Of course in the original the same two colors are used for a full pattern section, but if this is truly a leftovers project you may end up using more colors in each section, which could also be fun. And of course because it’s worked from the center out you can just keep knitting to make it as big as you like and go until you run out of yarn. The designer suggests you might need multiple long circular needles to deal with the number of stitches you’ll end up with.
As shown the blanket is about 43 inches/110 cm in diameter from one corner across to another. It looks super cozy and would be a great use for all those memories you’ve been holding onto!
You can find the pattern on Ravelry.
[Photo: Raina K]
