I’m starting to get quite a stash of leftover sock yarn and worsted weight. None of it is enough to make much of a project in and of itself. So I’ve been toying with the idea of a leftover blanket. A nice mashup of my leftovers woven into a nice memory project.
For my sock scraps I’ve always eyed the The Beekeepers Quilt by tiny owl knits. This project has the awesome portability and quick gratification of socks. But the offset is a TON of seaming at the end. There are also a ton of mitered square blankets on Ravelry that would eliminate seaming but the project would be much less portable over time. I just can’t decide!
And the worsted scraps also present a unique challenge. They are mostly acrylic from my early knits. My inner wild child says to just cast on a bunch of stitches and work a crazy garter stitch blanket with random scraps. It might be ugly but it would be my memories keeping me warm!
What are your thoughts on scrap patterns and uses?
My Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventures 
There is a pretty leftovers cowl pattern on Ravelry. Koigu or something and other. I am working on something similar but using worsted weight yarn and doing my own thing.
I’ve heard that the Ten Stitch blanket is one that’s good for leftovers of you like crazy color mash-ups. I’m going to try it eventually with some of my scraps and see what happens.
I’m doing a log cabin type Afghan out of leftover worsted. One day it will be warm and snug!
This is what I was going to suggest. They look wonderful and you’ll know it’s full of memories.
I have a Groovy Afghan going with scraps of worsted acrylic yarns. The problem is that I don’t want to work with those yarns anymore. It’s in my Ravelry notes if you want to see it. I have been trying to figure out what to do with my fingering weight scraps too.
Knitting a project that has you holding a couple strands together while knitting will use the scraps up a lot faster than something tiny like a mitered square blanket. Something like Stephen West’s Garter Squish pattern?
As a blanket lover I’d say a memory blanket is such a cool idea x
I love the idea of scrap projects, but realistically all the weaving in and seaming would make me come unhinged. I’d probably have to go for a log cabin-style afghan.
Do you know the technique for fair isle where you catch your floats every couple of stitches? If you do this for every stitch with your old (and new) tail end, you’ll be weaving in stitches while you knit and won’t have to do it at the end. If you know how to knit with two strands at a time (one in each hand) this becomes extra easy. 🙂
I’ve made a simple sweater from sock yarn leftovers that is so easy to wear, and, being superwash I just throw it in the machine. At the moment I’m knitting Elizabeth Zimmerman’s nether garments from my sock wool leftovers – they may not get worn in public though!
Make a hat!
I love Frankie’s Ten-Stitch and have a worsted scrap in progress (she offers a spiral version too) also the modular hexagon scrap blanket is a nice alternative to the Bee Keeper. I have a sock and a worsted weight going in one called ‘Cerys’ (there are a few similar ones on Ravelry).
I’ve never completed a project using scrap yarn, even though I’ve started a few. I just don’t have enough yarn of the same weight AND fiber content AND softness – my blanket using Red Heart and Caron Simply Soft, for instance, was not a winner.
I like using leftover sock yarns for stripey socks. Worsted weight I usually use for charity hats or bears, usually with stripes. I’ve been tempted to make a Garter Squish (by Steven West) blanket with worsted weight leftovers, but slightly differently. I’d start with two similar yarns, and switch one out as it ends, going from, say…. reds to oranges to yellows, so the effect would be kind of gradiant. Or not, if you choose a different way of choosing the next colors! Hope that thought makes sense.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/garter-squish
I started a log cabin afghan with my worsted leftovers, but then I ran out of leftovers and had to order…more yarn!
I make Blankets for fur babies with my acrylic scraps
I’ve made Wendy Johnson’s Leftiver Sock Yarn Cowl and it was fun to use up my bits of yarn.