This easy knit blanket with leftover yarn is the perfect way to turn a few yarn balls from previous projects into something beautiful, cozy and completely unique.
Instead of letting half skeins pile up, you can create a stunning scrap yarn blanket full of color and relaxing to knit. If you enjoy making blankets, make sure to check out all of my knitting patterns for blankets and throws!
If you haven’t ever knit before, its not as difficult as you think and I have an full post that will walk you through the steps and help you learn to knit.
What You Will Need:
- Yarn from your stash in a color palette of your choice. (of any texture)
- Circular knitting needles Size 17 US (or 12.5mm)
For my knit blanket with leftover yarn, I looked into my stash and picked out the colors I wanted, not caring about matching the gauge or type of yarn. Some are thick, some are thin and some have texture while others don’t. They all will come together in the end.
knit blanket with leftover yarn Tutorial
For a baby blanket, you want a finished size of about 30 inches by 36 (or upto 40) inches and I cast on 56 stitches for mine. I came up with that number by creating a small swatch and measuring my gauge.
With the thinner yarn, I used knit with two strands held together as one, and for the thicker ones I used just one strand. Mix and match different yarns and make sure that your swatch holds it rectangular shape.
If your swatch looks wonky, that means those yarns wont work together, so choose different ones. Just make sure that your sample knit fabric looks and feels good- it should not be holey or too thich.
Once you have cast on, knit one row and then purl the next. Very similar to my easy stockinette stitch blanket pattern
Watch some Netflix or catch up Youtube videos and knit away! Change colors as you finish your partial skeins and create wide color blocked stripes. I made 5 total stripes- the lime green stripe is 6 inches tall, the pink is 10 inches tall, the white is 8 inches tall, the beige is 6 inches and the final mint green is also 6 inches for a total of 36 inches.
Depending on how much of each yarn you have, make some stripes wider than the others. This knit blanket with leftover yarn can be adjusted for the amount of yarn you have on hand. Once your blanket reaches 36 inches, cast off loosely.
Since the entire blanket was knit in stockinette stitch, the blanket curls a bit at the edges (as seen above). If you want to avoid a border, you can skip the purl rows and make this a garter stitch blanket instead.
To help the blanket stay flat, I crocheted a border around all four edges of the blanket with the beige colored yarn using a single crochet- you can easily learn how to make a single crochet stitch in a few steps. The border helps define the blanket nicely and adds a bit of contrast at places.
Here is my finished knit blanket with leftover yarn. It is super soft and cuddly. This would be perfect for a baby to play on, or to cover a baby’s stroller or as a prop for infant photography. The beauty of the blanket lies in the colors and textures.
Overall, I like the mix of fibers, as it creates a far more interesting look. Try choosing colors in a cohesive color palette and use a neutral colored yarn to tie everything together as a border.
I hope you enjoyed today’s knit blanket with leftover yarn pattern friends! Love Knitting and Crocheting? Follow me on Pinterest! Follow Smitha Katti’s board Knitting and Crochet on Pinterest.
Thanks for the pattern. Seems super easy and looks really nice too. I will have to give this a try.
Hope you enjoy it!
Very nice. The edging was a great touch to flatten it out per your comment. Thank you for the demo!
To keep sides from curling, always slip first stitch, without working it…
I am doing that for my current wip!
Thank you for this pattern! I’m new to knitting and I love that you can use different yarn weights!
I’m so glad you liked it! Hope your blanket turns out super comfy 🙂
Ok I’m kinda new to knitting and LOVE this blanket!! I was wondering how would you go about making this larger in size?? Thanks!!
Hi Amy! You could add a few extra stitches at cast on to make it wider. To make it longer just add an extra color or two for as many extra inches you need to add.
Just add a few more stitches and make it longer
Love it! Thank you! !
Boni
Great idea! I love to knit but don’t know how to crochet! 🙁
You can skip the crochet border, and instead knot the first stitch of each and every row!
I am new to knitting and have never heard “knot the first stitch of each and every row”. Could you explain please and give directions. Thanks!
Sorry, it’s not knot, but knit the first stitch of each row.
Thanks so much! That I can do.
I bought some yarn to crochet a baby blanket but would love to try this to practice my knitting. I don’t have circular needles, and the largest needle I have are 15 US 14″. I have 5 skeins of red heart cutie pie DK weight yarn. Would that be enough to complete this?
A smaller needle would work, but I am not sure how much yarn you would need. It would depend on your gauge and whether you are knitting one strand or double strand
What brand are your been knitting needles, they are different from the Lion Brand?
These are not Lion Brand, they are the Michaels craft store brand.
What size needle and crochet hook did you use?
I think it was a size N?
If you were to buy new yarn for this project, about how many skeins do you think you would need of bulky weight?
I would think 3 or 4 skeins would do. It’s a smaller blanket. But to be on the safer side maybe 5 skeins.
Doesn’t mixing wool with acrylic make it hard to wash? Is there a secret i don’t know about that?
No you are right! I did not realize it when I mixed the two yarns
Stash busting blanket is a swell idea! I will have enough stash in a bit as I’m doing several projects (scheduled) to prepare for holiday bazaar season. I’m trying to reduce volume of leftovers.
Thank you so much!
I’m a beginner. I ‘inherited’ a huge stash of unused & left over yarn…and I then continued to collect more thats been mounting in the corner of my craft room…with the intention of ‘one-day’ taking up knitting or crocheting. (I have done a little knitting – at 13 y/o under Mothers guidance, I knitted a scarf lol)
My daughter left home for Uni recently and she has asked I make her something. I’ve googled lots in search of some inspiration, ideas & help on where/how to start!
Finally, I found your articles & patterns…Most of the patterns/ideas I’d come across previously had scared me off in some way lol. Thankfully I can stop searching. After reading through the article, Im feeling confident & ready to have a crack at this. From now on, while I’m on this learning curve I will just stick to with your patterns/instruction 😉 Easy, straight forward instructions. Love that you have a bunch of other art & craft topics as well. I’ll definitely be checking those out too and following you for potential future projects!
Thanks again <3
Hi Laurita! So glad you found this and other patterns easy and useful! I personally like simple blankets that keep my hands busy and don’t need much attention while making. This one cleans up your stash as well and turns out super cute! I hope you enjoy your blanket knitting, have fun!
Love all your patterns ❣️I am looking for a simple and fast knit pattern for Preemie baby!
I will try to add one to the blog soon!
Thank you so much ❣️