What To Do with Leftover Luxury Yarn?

I don’t play yarn chicken. Life is too short for that kind of teeth grinding, blood pressure elevating stress in my life. If I’m knitting a nice sweater out of all-wool, cashmere, alpaca, or some other luxury yarn, I make sure I have enough yarn to make the best sweater I can make. 

That leaves a happier problem than running out of yarn (i.e., losing at yarn chicken – frantically trying to finish your project before you run out of yarn). You’re left with a skein or two of really nice yarn you don’t want to just toss in your stash.

What do you make out of just a small amount of luxury yarn? I usually make a simple scarf to go with my newly handknit sweater. A scarf makes a nice accessory for any outfit, and it gives a matching sweater that “wow” factor. Store-bought sweaters almost certainly do not come with matching scarves – only we hand knitters get these lux perks. If this scarf turns out a little short, no problem. Just stitch the ends together, and voila, you have a matching cowl instead. 

Here’s some other items I sometimes make with leftover luxury yarn:

• Table runners
• Coasters
• Placemats or fabrics to place under plants or office items (pencil box, stapler, phone, etc.)
• Bathmats 
• For a larger amount of yarn, a shawl or throw blanket

I don’t overthink the design of these handknit extras. In fact, here’s my Go-To Pattern for scarves and any other rectangle-shaped small fabric:

The Five by Five – a Simple Checkerboard pattern, pictured in this blog post.

• Cast on 20 stitches (for larger items, cast on additional sets of 8 stitches)
• Row 1: (K4, P4) x 2, K4
• Row 2: (P4, K4) x 2, P4 
• Rows 3 & 4: Repeat rows 1 & 2.
• Row 5: (P4, K4) x 2, P4
• Row 6: (K4, P4) x 2, K4
• Rows 7 & 8: Repeat rows 5 & 6. 
• Continue these 8 rows until you run out of yarn, cast off. 

For more simple patterns, follow me for news of my upcoming book, A Prayer Shawl Handbook, to be published in early December! 

What do YOU do with leftover yarn? Feel free to join the discussion by commenting on this blog or on my Facebook page! Share your great ideas!

Blessings, Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, interrelated stories about knitters and those for whom they knit and love. The sequel to this book, The Knitting Guild of All Saints, has been released! Available in paperback and on Kindle, included in Kindle Unlimited. 

Copyright Cynthia Coe 2023. All Rights Reserved.