Weird uses for leftover yarn

Leftover yarn is a thing that happens, despite your best efforts to use up every last bit in your project. If you can't bear to throw away all those tiny bits, what's a knitter to do?

I personally used to keep them all, stuffed into various nooks and crannies of my storage tubs, in boxes, some bags, basically scattered throughout my stash. Then one day I decided to round them all up and donate them to a nearby senior center, where they have a knitting group that makes projects for charity. I thought I might have a bag or so. Turned out, when all was said and done, I had three enormous grocery store tote bags full, plus a few handfuls extra. Yikes!

There are a lot of projects that call for a large collection of small bits of yarn. The Beekeeper's Quilt springs to mind. I have seen several afghans that call for leftover bits of sock yarn. But I'll tell you something: people say "Just choose bits of yarn and use them at random and it will look awesome!" But either those people have much better taste in leftover yarn, or they are cheating. The one project where I did that, it turned out horrible, because my collection of leftover yarn is a lot of different (mostly clashing) colors, fibers, and weights.

That being said, if you can curate your leftover bits, or if you want to fudge the rules and use small bits from a lot of new skeins, there are tons of cute projects for small amounts of yarn. Personally, I am smitten with the pennants project. I also love the look of projects that call for pompoms, even though I suck at making pompoms. (Mine never look as nice, as plump, full, and round, as those!)

Or hey, donate them all to your local senior center. Those seniors are on a very limited budget, and they will be thrilled to get your leftover yarn!

Image courtesy Flickr/BevKnits