“Stash Yarn” is a common problem for many knitters. Stashes are those little bits of leftover yarn from finished projects that are too valuable to be thrown away, but too small to make anything substantial. What do we do with them? One ideal solution is a “Stash Afghan”.
It's easy to develop your own pattern or "recipe" for knitting using what you have in your collection of leftover yarns. So, let’s walk you through the steps to make one, using those lovely leftovers.
Choosing and Sorting Your Yarn
If you've been knitting for a long time you might have a large assortment of many weights of yarn. Worsted weight yarn is ideal for stash Afghans because it’s a satisfying warm weight, and knitting it is quick. While it is possible to knit a whole stash afghan out of sock yarn or bulky yarn, you'll find that the lighter weight yarn takes much longer to knit and the heavier yarn may be too warm for a blanket.
Collect the yarn you're planning to use. If you have different yarn weights, you will want to separate the yarn stashes into separate piles – one for each weight. Lighter-weight yarns can always be doubled up and knit as one strand. That way you can get a weight that is closer to worsted. If possible, make sure that the fiber content is the same (or similar) for all yarns. Hopefully, all your yarn will be used up.
Choosing the Size of Your Project
After you’ve collected the yarn oddments you need to plan the size of your project. We are not even suggesting trying and measuring the yardages of all your odds, but estimating them for the size or shape of Aghan. If you would want to knit a baby or child-sized, the 36″ square will need about 1,000 yards of yarn, while a 5x5″ Afghan will require approximately 2,000 yards. If you are running short, enlist the stashes of your knitting buddies.
Pick your Knitting Needles
Whether knitting a large or small stash Afghans, knitting flat on a circular needle is the best way. Go for needles with enough cable length to accommodate all the stitches and support the weight of the project. The size of the needle will depend on the weight of the yarn stash. We suggest using a needle that's a little bigger than traditionally called for with the type of yarn you're using. This helps even out the gauge when you're using yarns that vary in thickness.
Knit a Gauge Swatch
Pick up one of the yarns you wish to use. Cast on about 10 stitches and knit about 10 rows to make a gauge swatch. Since the gauge doesn't have to be exact on a stash afghan, you can just pull the swatch off the needles when you've knit a few inches and measure how many stitches you're getting per four inches. This step will help you calculate the yarn you will be needing for the project.
Designing your project
Knitting a stash afghan has just the minimal amount of math. Once you have the number of stitches per inch from the gauge swatch, you need to find the stitches you need to cast on by multiplying that inch's width by the size of the blanket. This is how many stitches you need to cast on.
Knitting
Cast on and begin knitting a few rows. You might also want to put aside enough of that yarn to use at the end of the work to knit a few rows and bind off. That way you have matching ends for the blanket.
Cast on the number of stitches you need and knit a few rows or knit until you run out of that color yarn. Then pick up another yarn and knit a few more rows. You can knit till you run out of that color or switch to a new color when you feel like it. This is your stash afghan so the decision is yours. Continue doing this until the blanket is the size you want.
The garter stitch blanket (knit stitch every row) is an easy pattern, but the same rules apply to using other knitting stitches. Just make sure you knit your gauge swatch in the pattern you want to use. Only then will you be able to cast on the proper number of stitches to make the pattern work. Please understand that many patterns use more yarn than plain old-fashioned (but pretty) garter stitch.
Finishing in Style
Once you've knit and bound off your stash afghan, you'll have multiple yarn ends to weave in. Using a tapestry needle, simply tackle one at a time and weave the ends in parallel to the neighbouring few stitches in the back. Many people find hiding yarn ends to be a meditative process. Just remember to leave long enough ends when you end and begin a new yarn color.
If you used the yarn you already had on hand, there was no extra money spent and you created something useful and pretty. Where once there were only raw materials, there is now something useful. Be proud of yourself!
