The Left Overs Blanket (or leftover blankets – a play on Thanksgiving turkey leftovers) is a blanket that will allow you to use your leftovers in the most efficient way possible.
You'll need any amount of leftover fabric, coordinated or not. Different colors or not. Gradient or not... all to get a blanket of a specific size or weight (or not)!
The pattern is available on Ravelry and below.
Left Overs Blanket Recipe
1. The story of this cover tutorial
A little over a year ago, I decided to drastically sort through my leftover wool and stop letting it sit idle.
Given the astronomical amount of yarn, I couldn't just make a cowl... a blanket was a must. Then came the idea for a new pattern and then a KAL!
This pattern is designed to be knitted with any type of wool and any gauge.
To do this, you have two methods:
- Use a specific weight and use all the amount of wool you have decided to allocate to this blanket
Or
- Choose a size for your blanket and adjust the amount of wool needed
Below you will find the step-by-step instructions for both methods.
2. Method 1: Defined quantity of wool
Since the blanket is worked from one point to the other, you will need to calculate the amount of wool needed to complete each triangle of the blanket so that you do not run out of wool when you start the last part of it.
This cover is composed of three parts:
- two identical isosceles right triangles
- a parallelogram
Before you can calculate how much wool you'll need, you'll first need to decide what shape you want your blanket to be: narrow and long, or wider and lower.
Examples:
Area of rectangle: L (length) * W (width)
Area of the triangle: B (base) * h (height) / 2 (in this case, the triangle being isosceles, the base and the height are identical)
- If you want a cover with a ratio of 2 to 3 (so for example: 1m by 1m50, 2m by 3 etc:)
Area of the rectangle: 2 m * 3 m = 6 m²
Area of the triangle: 2 m * 2 m / 2 = 2 m²
The first triangle therefore represents 1/3 of the area of the rectangle, so you will need to use 1/3 of the amount of wool before starting to knit the central parallelogram.
In the case of 750 g of wool available, you will therefore use 250 g. - If you want a cover with a ratio of 4 to 5 (so for example: 2 m by 2.50 m, 1 m by 1.25 m etc:)
Area of the rectangle: 2 m * 2.5 m = 5 m²
Area of the triangle: 2 m * 2 m / 2 = 2 m²
The first triangle therefore represents 2/5 of the area of the rectangle, so you will need to use 2/5 of the quantity of wool before starting to knit the central parallelogram.
In the case of 750 g of wool available, you will therefore use 300 g. - If you want a cover with a ratio of 2 to 4 (so for example: 1 m to 2, 2 m to 4 etc.)
Area of the rectangle: 2 m * 4 m = 8 m²
Area of the triangle: 2 m * 2 m / 2 = 2 m²
The first triangle therefore represents 1/4 of the area of the rectangle, so you will need to use 1/4 of the amount of wool before starting to knit the central parallelogram.
In the case of 750 g of wool available, you will therefore use 187.5 g.
3. Method 2: Defined Dimensions
In this case, you will need to make a 10x10 cm sample and weigh it. Afterwards, you will need to refer to the first method to determine when to start knitting the central chart.
Example 1:
10 cm * 10 cm fingering sample: 3 g
Desired size: 2 m by 3 m
You will therefore need 600 squares of 10 cm * 10 cm to complete the cover
So 600 * 3 g = 1800 g of wool needed
Then by calculating the area of the triangle and the rectangle, you obtain the following quantities:
Area of the rectangle: 2 m * 3 m = 6 m²
Area of the triangle: 2 m * 2 m / 2 = 2 m²
The first triangle therefore represents 1/3 of the area of the rectangle, so you will need to use 1/3 of the amount of wool before starting to knit the central parallelogram.
In the case of 1800 g of wool available, you will therefore use 600 g for the first isosceles rectangle, 600 g for the parallelogram and 600 g for the second isosceles rectangle.
Example 2:
Sample of 10 cm * 10 cm in worsted: 6 g
Desired dimension: 2 m by 2.50 m
You will therefore need 500 squares of 10 cm * 10 cm to complete the cover
So 500 * 6 g = 3000 g of wool needed
Then by calculating the area of the triangle and the rectangle, you obtain the following quantities:
Area of the rectangle: 2 m * 2.50 m = 5 m²
Area of the triangle: 2 m * 2 m / 2 = 2 m²
The first triangle therefore represents 2/5 of the area of the rectangle, so you will need to use 2/5 of the quantity of wool before starting to knit the central parallelogram.
In the case of 3000 g of wool available, you will therefore use 1200 g for the first isosceles rectangle, 600 g for the parallelogram and 1200 g for the second isosceles rectangle
4. Where to find the pattern?
The pattern can be downloaded below or on the website Ravelry in French and English, and for free!
If you'd like a little more explanation, I made a video last year for the launch of the KAL on Facebook in my group This is not a podcast.
6. The wool and materials needed to knit this blanket
Any remainder of identical caliber.
In this version, I decided to use almost all of my leftover pink and blue fingering yarn. I used 917g of yarn and 3668 meters in total! It's 1.55m long by 2m long!
So no matter what yarn you use, you can make a blanket as big or as small as you want!
However, be sure to keep a certain density to your knitting and not to undercut too much to avoid the blanket being too soft (for example, I use 3.5 mm needles for fingering)
I hope this tutorial will inspire you to use up your leftovers that you may have been accumulating for several years.
If you feel like sharing any comments and feedback, please feel free to do so below.
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See you soon,
Christelle
