Scraptastic Stashbusting Blanket

Hi. This is Christa The Secret Yarnery. Today we are making this fabulous scraptastic stashbusitng blanket, any size you want, whatever scraps you have! This is a great project to bust your stash, get rid of that yarn that you’re not totally crazy about. You can make it look fabulous just by putting it in with another color. Grab all your bits, and let’s get started!

To make your scraptastic blanket, just gather up whatever yarn you have. I’m using all of my old acrylic. I have skeins or balls that I have started that haven’t finished, as well as bits and pieces. It doesn’t really matter how big they are, as long as it’s worth your while to use it.

How I’m going to do mine … I’ve divided my colors. I’m going to make two blankets. One is going to be my bright colors with my dark colors. And my other one is going to be light colors with pastels. I’m going to always have a dark and I’m always going to have a bright. And that’s how I am going to do my blanket.

To get started, grab a dark color and a bright color. And to start I always like to have enough of my color to do two rows without changing, approximately one and a half to two rows. I’m going to use black and a bright blue. To start, you’re going to need your 8.0mm … I’m using an 8 millimeter hook. And I’m going to be using two strands of the acrylic at once, so two strands of size 4 thickness chunky acrylic. You could use whatever scraps you have. And to start my chain, I’m going to use a 10 millimeter hook, just in case I chain tightly. I don’t want one part of my blanket to be curving in and not stretch. I want it to be just as relaxed as my half double crochets. So I’m going to use a hook that’s two millimeters bigger, just to be sure.

You’re going to start by making a slipknot. And leave enough of a tail that you can weave it in later, or sew it in later. There’s no way getting around that. You’re also welcome to do a foundation-less start. But I think it’s easier just to do a chain. You’re just going to chain as long as you want your blanket to be, keeping in mind that you’re using a bigger hook, so it might be a bit shorter. I’m not totally sure. So just estimate…. I chained 110 with a 10mm hook for my blanket.

With your 8 millimeter hook, or the one you’re going to be using for your blanket, chain one. Wrap your yarn, and into the second chain from your hook, you’re going to go in and make a half double crochet. Wrap your yarn and bring it back. Wrap your yarn and take off all those loops on your hook. And you’re going to do that, one half double crochet, into each stitch going all the way back down your row. I’m just going into one loop, all the way back, one half double into each stitch, or into each chain. I’ll meet you at the end of this row.

Now into that very last chain, I’m making my last half double crochet. Chain one. Turn your work. And I’m going to work back. Wrap your yarn and go into this very first stitch. Half double crochet. And now one into each stitch going back. You want to make sure you have both of those strands of yarn on your hook. But you’ll get the feeling of it. You’ll know if you have them both. Work your way back. And whenever you want to change yarn, or your scrap runs out, we will change our yarn. I’ll show you how to do that.

I’m going to keep my dark thread running through, or my dark yarn going through my whole blanket. I’m just going to change my color now. Just cut your yarn somewhere around there. One strand is my old yarn, and one strand is my new yarn that I want to be using. I’m going to take my old yarn, and I’m going to put it across. We’re making a magic knot. But I’m going to put it across my new yarn and loop it under and back a little, like that, and through to make a knot. You want to make one of those kinds, just a regular loop, just a regular knot. And you’re going to pull it really tight. You don’t want the yarn to break, but if it’s going to break, now is a perfect time.

Now wrap your new yarn around your old yarn and loop it under and through to make another knot, just a regular knot, like that. And pull that one also, really tight, as tight as you can. Now you have two knots. You’re just going to pull both those yarns. I want to call them threads, but they’re yarns. Pull that really, really tight. Put all three of these yarns down, just so you have one sticking up. Get your scissors and put your scissors against that knot and give it a clip. So you wasted that much yarn. And the same for your other tail. Boop. That is your wastage, which is pretty good. And pull it again to make sure it’s not going to come out. Okay.

Now we’re just going to keep crocheting. And I’ll show you how it just sneaks in there. See, it goes right up. And you can poke it if you want that knot hidden. You can work it in so it’s inside that stitch. And away you go. You’ve changed color. You have no tails to weave in. And you’re using just about all of your scraps. That’s how we’re doing it for the scraptastic. Of course, you’re welcome to change your yarns any which way you want. I’m just showing you how I do it, especially for these scraptastic blankets. Almost at the end of this row. There, we got there.

Now we’re just going to chain one to turn, because we always want to go into the first stitch, that guy in there. We just chain one and go into the first stitch. And then that’s easy to see your stitch at the end of the row. So your edges stay really nice and straight. End of the row, we went into the last stitch. Chain one. Turn your work. Wrap your yarn. And half double crochet into that first stitch. You’re going to do that all the way along. 

For my scraptastic blanket, I tried to do about two rows of each color, but not three. So I’m going to want to change this color before I get to this join. It doesn’t totally matter. There’s a couple spots in my blanket where I went a few stitches over because I was almost running out of my scrap. It’s up to you. You could also just go straight and use every color ’til it’s finished and not worry about the design of it. But I’m going to get to about here, maybe one more stitch. And I’m going to change my color.

I’ll go this nice mango color. Again, cut your green. I’m going to cut mine right before that big tangle anyway. And we’re going to to the same thing. Old color laying out there and new color going the opposite way, not that it matters. But it makes sense to me. Now I’m going to make a knot with my old yarn around my new yarn. Over the top, back under, and make a simple knot like that. Pull it crazy tight. And this one, so my new yarn, on top of my old yarn. And then back under and make a knot. Pull that nice and tight. And then pull your new yarn and your old yarn. And those knots slide together. Pull those ones super-tight. And now cut your tails. Hold all three yarns down and get your scissors. Put them right on top of that knot and give it a cut. And the same with your last tail. Hold that one up and pull everything else down. Put your scissors on your knot and give that a cut. Give that a pull just to make sure. 

Now keep going along with that one. And, again, you can figure out how you want to do it. You can hide that knot inside one of your stitches. Or even if it’s on top up here, it’s fine, ’cause you’re going to go over it with your next row of half doubles. And you’re just going to keep going like this all the way along until you run out of scraps, or your blanket is as big as you want it to be. That’s the scraptastic recipe, pattern. Into the last stitch, let me just show you that real quick before I switch over to the footage I have of my finished one.

At the end of your row, this is a stitch. And it’s always going to be a stitch. So when you get to the end of the row, you can see this last one. Let me undo that one. You can see that one. That one’s a stitch. And you know that that one’s a stitch, ’cause it looks like a stitch and you can see the hole and everything. This guy here is also a stitch. You always have to go into that one. You go into the one that you recognize. And then wrap your yarn and go into this guy. There is a stitch there. And you can see I have the four loops on my hook. But you gotta pull it up from the side and do your half double. But you’ll see that that give you a really great edge. You don’t have to put a border on your blanket. It’ll be really crisp. But remember to go into that last stitch on every row.

Chain one, turn your work, and go into the first stitch. Keep going and I’ll see you when you run out of yarn or you have a big blanket.

My scraptastic blanket is super-fabulous. It’s nice and long. I really like this edge here. I want to finish on a really nice color that I like. So I’m picking bougainvillea, classic. I’ve started. I joined over here. I’m going to go all the way back and I’ll show you how I fasten off when I get to this side.

At the end of the row, just get to the end of the row. And always remember your last stitch, a half double. Chain one. Cut your yarn. Pull your hook up and your yarn through. And snug that down to secure. Now we’re going to take our trusty darning needle, or yarn needle. I like these knitter’s pride ones with that loop on the end. They’re so easy to thread. And they don’t get … They don’t start snagging like the Susan Bates. They’re stronger. So I’m a fan.

Put those yarns down along. You are welcome to do them one at a time. I’m just going to weave them back a little bit. Pull that. Cut that. And stretch that. Those ends are nice and in there. And that’s finished.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! My blanket is so big and delicious,  I’d love to see yours. If you’re on Facebook, join our Facebook group. Stay hooked!