Usually you buy more yarn, as you finally use for your projects. After some years of crocheting and knitting I had nice volume of yarn rests. I put all yarn remains less than 100 g from my projects in a bag. In January I had already 3 full bags. I decided to sort them by colour. 5 piles of yarn rests were created – red-orange-pink, purple-old pink-violet, green-blue, neutral (brown, white, beige, grey, black) and variegated yarn. I put the variegated pile aside and sorted the rest by thickness. I put the thick yarns away and decided to put the thin ones double if possible.
3 crochet projects were created practically free of charge. I enjoyed combining colours and patterns, so the projects went quickly.
Before starting, I had to consider few questions:
What colours to use in one project?
I stick to the principle: combine max. 3 colours + neutral shades. If you want a very colourful project and you have a lot of yarn rests – I have a rule – put one colour away and use the others (e.g., remove all shades of purple, or all shades of green, etc.)
How to combine colours in a pattern?
I combine light and dark shades, bold and neutral shades one after another.
The third crochet square has a centres in a vivid colour, and the edge is alternately light neutral and dark colour. Such an approach is realized on all squares, so the blanket is beautiful and does not look too colourful or disparate, even though there are about 40 colours throughout the blanket. Every colour seems to belong in its place.
How to connect squares?
I decided to connect the squares with a contrasting colour by crocheting together through the back loop. It was a good choice; the squares were unified and look as if they are framed. I used the same colour on the 1st row of the edge.
How to frame a blanket with an edge?
A larger amount of yarn of one colour (at least 100 g) should be reserved for the edge. The edges of my blankets have similar patterns to individual squares. Keep in mind, the edge of a colourful blanket should be simple, without flowers, lace, and complicated patterns.
Block or not block the squares?
I did not block the squares with a green-blue blanket and the result is excellent, I blocked the red-orange-pink and purple blankets, and the result is also excellent. The squares for the last 2 mentioned blankets were not the same, and by blocking them the size was unified and the squares lay nice and flat.
I will publish 3 projects from the yarn rests
– Green-blue blanket: Window to the Mountains
– Red-orange-pink blanket: Energetic
– Purple-old pink-lila blanket: Lilac