If you purchase an item through links on this page, we may earn a commission. Our editorial content is not influenced by commissions. Read full disclosure.
Crocheting is a wonderful way to unwind after a long day, but all that leftover yarn from your projects can be boring. Instead of throwing away leftover pieces of yarn, we have some ideas for upcycling them into new designs.
To collect leftover yarn, start a box in your hobby room or closet and label it for recycling. Once you have enough, you can start your project.
Next time you throw away some yarn scraps, take a moment to browse through these ideas and try to upcycle them into something beautiful! Plus, you’re helping to save the environment.
1. Test your gauge
One of the easiest ways to use up leftover yarn is to explore new stitches. Before starting a new project, it’s helpful to do a few test stitches to get an idea of how wide and tight your stitches are.
Everyone has a different technique for crocheting, so it’s essential that you test your crochet size, tension and width before starting a new pattern. You can do this by crocheting one or two rows and measuring them.
The gauges will be a different size, depending on your technique, yarn and hooks, so always remember to test beforehand. Remember that you want to use a test lead weight similar to what you will be doing your project with.
2. Practice a new stitch
Another great idea for using up leftover yarn is when learning a new stitch.
Like many other hobbies, there are always new things to learn. You can create exciting new patterns by learning stitches you’ve never tried before. But you don’t want to buy expensive yarn to experiment with. Just use your leftover coins.
3. Make mini props
Not all crochet projects require multiple skeins to complete; some patterns are small-scale, so you can use leftover yarn to make them.
For example, you can make scrunchies for your family and loved ones. When working on a farm or planting seeds in a small urban garden, it’s a good idea to make sure your hair isn’t in your face. But it’s easy to misplace your scrunchies when you need them.
You can make them in different colors, textures and patterns so you can choose a new style for each day of the week.
Facial scouring pads are also great for using up your leftover yarn. You can create a few circular patterns and keep them in your bathroom to clean up or remove makeup at night. The good thing about recycled face scrubbers is that you can wash them and continue to use them in the future.
Before throwing them in the washing machine, check the label on the original thread and check which setting is suitable for the material.
Here are some other ideas for mini accessories:
- Christmas tree decorations
- Keychains
- Bunting
- Bookmarks
4. Use leftover yarn for teaching
Crocheting is a way to share gifts with the people in your life, but it’s also a great way to bond with friends and family. Whether you’ve recently started crocheting or you’ve been crocheting for years, why not use yarn scraps to teach someone this handy skill?
When you learn a new skill, you have to practice a lot and improve your basic knowledge. For crocheting, the best way to get better at creating is to nail the basic stitches. First you want to master the ones that are used in many models.
The next time you have a bundle of yarn scraps and want to share your hobby with friends or family, get together over coffee and learn how to crochet together.
There are great books out there to teach beginners how to get started with basic stitches.
But, if someone can watch you crochet, it helps the learning process. This is a fantastic project that you can do while hanging out with friends on vacation or after work!
5. Yarn Cuts for Upholstery
Yarn snips are the small bits of yarn that are cut when you sew your ends into the main piece of fabric or that are left over from the tail ends when you start a new skein. Unless you think of creative ways to use yarn snips, you’ll waste pieces.
You can add yarn clippings inside amigurumi projects or as a replacement for toy stuffing.
Save enough yarn to fill an entire toy. Otherwise, you might end up with an empty teddy bear or other design.
6. Children’s art supplies
Allow children to reuse yarn clippings in a collage and create a work of art. If you hang a large cork board, you can hang the wire clippings with pins. Or, tape or glue pieces of yarn to a piece of paper to create pictures.
This is a great project to start and continue throughout the year as you use more skeins and accumulate new yarn snips.
7. Water bottle holder
There are many ways to crochet decorations in your home, but crochet can also be used to make accessories. Did you know that you can crochet a bottle holder from yarn scraps?
Everyone knows that feeling of frustration when you have a pocket full of keys, your phone in one hand and your water bottle in the other. It’s pretty easy to accidentally drop and lose an item while you’re fumbling around.
A crochet water bottle holder is the perfect way to free up a hand and looks cute.
8. Tassels
When you finish a tote bag or a row of streamers, you may look at your work and think, “I want to add more details.” If so, crochet tassels are smart ideas for your yarn scraps.
Depending on the size of the item or the garments, you can create tassels with just a few strings of yarn. And they instantly make a difference in the design and add a nice texture. You can also make tassel keychains as gifts or make tassel jewelry for yourself as a treat.
9. Tea towels, coasters and trivets
If you love to spend your time making home-cooked meals, you know what it’s like to reach for a tea towel and realize they’re all dirty. To avoid this situation when cooking, you can use leftover yarn to make a supply of tea towels.
You can also make trivets to place your pots or coasters to place cups on.
This project is the perfect way to squeeze a few extra minutes into the day, giving you something handy to use around the house. If you want to find ways to earn extra income, you can also try selling your crochet dishcloths at a local farmer’s market.
You can also wash and reuse them as often as you like!
10. Napkin rings
When you receive guests for festive dinners or birthdays, it is nice to set your dining table with special plates and glasses. But often people forget the little things like napkin rings until the last minute, and they don’t have time to buy them.
Yarn scraps are a great material for quickly crocheting napkin rings and adding to your table. If you have time, you can embroider the initials of relatives or friends on the ring and place them on their seating area.
It’s a great way to decorate your kitchen without investing in new decorations.
11. Amigurumi
Amigurumi is a fun and creative Japanese tradition of making toy-like creatures from crocheted yarn. You can do more than animals, though. You can also make a cake or other food, or small people.
If it’s someone’s birthday, you can make amigurumi cupcakes and give them as a birthday present. Or make little stuffed birds for the bird lover in your life.
12. Headband
Use your leftover yarn to crochet a headband. These can be purely decorative or just practical to have around when you are in the garden.
Like the scrunchie, you can use your headband to pull your hair out of your face. Very useful when you have your wrist deep in the dirt.
Was this article helpful?
Yes No ×
We appreciate your helpful feedback!
Your response will be used to improve our content. The more feedback you give us, the better our pages will be.
Facebook pinterest