Left Overs Blanket

Left Over Blanket Recipe or how to use yarn left overs?

Christelle Knitting Leave a Comment

The Left Overs Blanket is a blanket that will allow you to use your leftovers in the most efficient way possible.

You’ll need any amount of leftovers, coordinating or not. Different colors or not. Gradient or not … all to get a blanket of a certain size or weight or not!

The pattern is available on Ravelry and below.

Left Overs Blanket Recipe

LeftOvers Blanket Recipe
1. The story behind The Left Overs Blanket Recipe

A little over a year ago, I decided to drastically sort through my yarn leftovers and stop letting them sleep.

Given the astronomical amount of yarn, I couldn’t just make a cowl… a blanket was in order. Next came the idea of a new pattern and then a KAL!

This pattern is designed to be knitted with any type and weight of yarn.

There are two ways to do this:

  • Use a specific weight and use all the yarn you have decided to allocate to this blanket

Or

  • Choose a size for your blanket and adjust the amount of yarn needed

Below you will find the step-by-step instructions for both methods.

2. Method 1: Defined amout of yarn

The blanket is worked from tip to tip, so you will need to calculate the amount of yarn needed to complete each triangle of the blanket so that you don’t run out of yarn when you get to the last part of the blanket.

This blanket consists of three parts:

  • two identical right-angled isosceles triangles
  • a parallelogram

Before calculating the amount of yarn needed, you will first need to decide on the shape of your blanket: a long and narrow blanket or a wider and shorter blanket.

Examples:

elegant sweaterArea of the 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 blanket that has a ratio of 2 to 3 (so for example: 1 meter x 1m50, 2 meter x 3 etc:)
    Area of the rectangle : 2 m * 3 m = 6 m² (6 sq ft)
    Area of the triangle: 2 m * 2 m / 2 = 2 m²
    The first triangle represents 1/3 of the area of the rectangle, so you will have to use 1/3 of the quantity of yarn before starting to knit the central parallelogram..
    In the case of 750 g of available wool, you will use 250 g.
  • If you want a blanket with a ratio of 4 to 5 (for example: 2 m x 2.5 m, 1 m x 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 1st triangle represents 2/5 of the area of the rectangle, so you will need to use 2/5 of the quantity of yarn before starting to knit the central parallelogram.
    In the case of 750 g of available yarn, you will use 300 g.
  • If you want a blanket with a ratio of 2 to 4 (for example: 1 m x 2 m, 2 m x 4 m, etc.)
    Area of the rectangle: 2 m * 4 m = 8 m²
    Area of the triangle: 2 m * 2 m / 2 = 2 m²
    The 1st triangle represents 1/4 of the area of the rectangle, so you will need to use 1/4 of the quantity of yarn before starting to knit the central parallelogram.
    In the case of 750 g of availableyarn, you will use 187.5 g.
3. Method 2: Defined dimensions

In this case, you have to knit a 10*10 cm swatch and weigh it. And then to be able to define when to start knitting the center chart, you will have to refer to the first method.

Examples:

Example 1:
10 cm * 10 cm swatch in fingering : 3 g
Desired size : 2 m * 3 m
You will need 600 squares of 10 cm * 10 cm to complete the blanket
So 600 * 3 g = 1800 g of yarn 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 1st triangle represents 1/3 of the area of the rectangle, so you will need to use 1/3 of the quantity of yarn before starting to knit the central parallelogram.
In the case of 1800 g of available yarn, you will use 600 g for the first isosceles rectangle, 600 g for the parallelogram and 600 g for the second isosceles rectangle.

Example 2:
10 cm * 10 cm swatch in worsted: 6 g
Desired dimension : 2 m * 2 m 50
You will need 500 squares of 10 cm * 10 cm to complete the blanket.
So 500 * 6 g = 3000 g of yarn needed

Then by calculating the area of the triangle and the rectangle, you obtain the following quantities:

Area of the rectangle: 2 m * 2 m 50 = 5 m²
Area of the triangle: 2 m * 2 m / 2 = 2 m²
The 1st triangle represents 2/5 of the area of the rectangle, so you will need to use 2/5 of the quantity of yarn before starting to knit the central parallelogram.
In the case of 3000 g of available yarn, you will use 1200 g for the first isosceles rectangle, 600 g for the parallelogram and 1200 g for the second isosceles rectangle.

4. Where to buy the pattern?

The pattern can be downloaded below or on the Ravelry website in French and English, for free!

5. Which sizes are available for this blanket?

Any leftover of the same weight.

In this version, I decided to use almost all of my fingering leftovers in pink and blue. I used a total of 917g of yarn and 3668 meters! It’s 5 feet long by 2 feet long!

So no matter what yarn you use, you can make a blanket as big or as small as you want!

Be sure to not get a too loose or a too dense gauge tog and not to prevent the blanket from being too loose or too dense (for example, I use 3.5 mm needles for fingering yarn).

I hope this tutorial will make you want to use your leftovers that you’ve been accumulating for maybe several years

I hope this sweater will make you fall for it and that this article will make you want to knit it.

If you would like to share comments and feedback, please feel free to do so below.

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See you soon,

Christelle

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