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.
