I have a big bin of tosh merino light leftovers. It is FULL. I've made a few things in the past to try to use some of them up, but it just seems to stay full to overflowing. Last May I decided to use one of my favorite stitch patterns and hold two strands together to make a throw, thinking that I might finally put a dent in the supply. I had a vague plan. I divided my leftovers into two groups - colors and non-colors. I would do a sort of rainbow progression through the colors and a shade progression through the neutrals. But still when it's time to add another color, I kind of randomly pick from the correct bunch, making sure the new goes with the old. I carried it around all summer on our trip and worked on it occasionally, but design work always took precedence so progress has been slow. It only measures about 16" long now.
Anyway, it's too simple to do a pattern for, but it looks really nice and I thought I would share what I'm doing and see if anyone else with a leftover problem wanted to join me. I'll start a thread in my Ravelry
group if anyone wants to play along. I'm calling it Copacetic because it is "completely satisfactory" :) The doubled tml makes such a lovely fabric and this stitch looks good on both sides. I actually found it first in a stitch dictionary as 'sand stitch' which is the reverse side. There was a note that the other side is also attractive and called it 'dot stitch'.
Here's the general plan -
COPACETIC
adjective, Slang.
1. fine; completely satisfactory; OK.
Divide your leftovers into two sets. I am using fingering weight but you could do it with any weight.Swatch in the dot stitch pattern to get your stitches per inch and then decided how wide you want your FO to be to determine the cast on. It can be odd or even, no special multiple needed. I am making a throw, so mine is going to be large and take LOTS of yarn (I hope!) but you could do a baby blanket, a wrap, a scarf, even a poncho with a couple of seams. I am knitting mine lengthwise because the rows would be dishearteningly long widthwise, but it can be done either way.
If, unlike me, you have a limited amount of yarn, you will need to figure out how large of an item you can make so you know how many stitches to cast on. The best way I know to do this is to knit a swatch (don't cut your yarn because you'll probably need it!), steam block it, measure it, weigh it to determine the yards you used. Calculate the yardage you used per square inch. Then you can determine the square inches you can get out of the yardage you have. This is something we can work on in the thread on Ravelry if anyone needs help.
Dot stitch: RS rows are knit, WS rows are k1, p1 across, offsetting the knits and purls from the previous WS row (another name for it is Broken Seed Stitch - you can see why!)
Using your border color(s) doubled, cast on using the long-tail cast on. (I cast on 240 for my throw using US7s/4.5mm). If you want to use the same color for all your borders, set it aside!
Knit the first border to the width you want in garter stitch, ending after a WS row. Note: my garter gauge and dot stitch gauge were the same. If yours are not, you may want to use different needle sizes!
Begin dot stitch -
Switch to the first color/s you want to use (doubled) and begin with a RS (all knit) row.
Work in dot stitch until your wrap/throw/scarf is the length you want, swapping out colors as needed/desired. I am usually only swapping out one color at a time since I'm uisng leftovers. When you get to the other end, knit a matching garter border, starting on a RS row. I like to use the stretchy lace bind-off with garter, but do not use larger needles or work it loosely! The stretch is built in! It can be worked on the RS or WS.
Stretchy lace bind-off:
Slip one stitch purl-wise with yarn in back, [k1, insert left needle into fronts of the two stitches you just worked and knit them together] repeat instructions in brackets until one stitch remains. Cut yarn and pull tail through last stitch.
I haven't gotten to this point yet, but for the side borders I plan to pick up stitches along each side in my border color and knit on garter edges. It looks like my pick up ratio is going to be 4 stitches in every 5 rows. This may vary with your individual gauge, but we can do the math in the thread if anyone needs help.
Naturally I am thinking of cool ways to handle the colors now that I am well into it! Some ideas -
1. Use a gradient for one group and a single color or similar colors for the other
2. Use lights for one group and darks for the other
3. Instead of using doubled yarn, use heavier yarn and stripe in your leftovers.
My throw may take years to complete, but it's nice to always have it around in case I need some pretty mindless knitting or am between other projects.
