What can I make with leftover yarn?
The honest answer is that it depends on one number: how many yards you actually have. Not what the yarn was originally bought for, not what colour it is — yards. A half-used skein of worsted is about 100 yards, and 100 yards is a wash cloth, a soap saver, an ear warmer or a mug rug. It is not a beanie, and no amount of hoping changes that. This finder does the boring part: it takes your yardage and returns the projects that fit, biggest first, so a leftover becomes a finished thing instead of going back in the basket.
How the matching works
Four steps, and you can check every one of them by hand.
- Only patterns with a printed yardage are considered. 31 of the 128 patterns state a yarn amount on the PDF. The finder uses those and ignores the rest, because a number that is not on the pattern is not a measurement of it. The yardage filter will include the other 97 if you want ideas rather than amounts.
- Your stash becomes worsted-equivalent yards. Every yardage here is quoted in worsted (#4). Thinner yarn covers less ground per yard, thicker yarn covers more, so the finder divides your yardage by a weight factor first — lace 2.12, sport 1.44, DK 1.16, worsted 1.00, bulky 0.76, super bulky 0.64.
- Colours set the budget. One colour, or several colours you plan to stripe together, means the whole total is available. Ask for one colour per project and the budget becomes your total divided by the number of colours, because that is what a single-colour object can actually draw on.
- Everything that fits gets scored on fit, then popularity. The score peaks at 85% of your budget — not 100%. A project that uses every last yard is how people run out three rows from the end, so the ranking deliberately prefers one that leaves a margin over one that lands on the nose. Proven small sellers (cup cozies, kindle sleeves, pouches, wash cloths, soap savers, pumpkins, coasters) get a modest nudge up, and so does anything that calls for the hook you already have out.
A worked example
Say you have 200 yards of worsted left in one colour, no time limit, any skill. Worsted needs no conversion, so the budget is 200 yards. The Meadow Cup Cozy uses the 40 yards printed on its pattern — it fits, but at 20% of the pile it scores low and ranks well down the list. The Meadow Cowl, at the 230 yards printed on its pattern, does not fit at all and is filtered out entirely rather than shown with a warning. The winner lands near 170 yards, which is 85% of your budget: it uses most of the pile and still leaves you about 30 yards of insurance. The "leftovers" section then offers ideas sized to exactly that remainder — a coaster, a granny square, a couple of appliques.
Yardage by object — worsted weight
| Object | Worsted yards | Rough time |
|---|---|---|
| Tassel, pom-pom, small applique | 10–25 | 10–25 min |
| Keychain, bookmark, scrunchie | 20–35 | 25–30 min |
| Coaster (5–6 in) | 30–60 | 30–45 min |
| Granny or blanket square (6 in) | 40–60 | 25–35 min |
| Cup cozy / mug cozy | 40–60 | 45–60 min |
| Soap saver, facial scrubby set | 15–45 | 15–45 min |
| Wash cloth (7–8 in) | 80–100 | 1 h |
| Ear warmer, small pouch | 60–90 | 1 h |
| Kindle or book sleeve | 120–180 | 2–3 h |
| Toddler purse | 150–250 | 2–3 h |
| Adult beanie | 150–250 | 3–4 h |
| Cowl | 200–250 | 2–3 h |
| Scarf | 300–450 | 5–7 h |
| Market tote | 400–600 | 5–8 h |
Where these numbers come from. 31 of the 128 LTK Cuties patterns print a yarn amount on the PDF itself. Those are used exactly as written, and they are the only ones this finder matches on unless you change the yardage filter. The other 97 patterns do not print a yardage anywhere, so there is no measured figure for them — the number shown is a typical amount for that kind of object, not for that pattern, and it can be well out. Three coasters that do print a yardage use 12, 30 and 50 yards; three beanies that do use 142, 213 and 219. Do not count out the last of a colour against an unmeasured number.
Questions people actually ask
How do I know how much yarn is left in a partial skein?
Weigh it and use the label: remaining yards = (remaining grams ÷ label grams) × label yards. A 100 g / 200 yd worsted skein that now weighs 34 g has about 68 yards left. No label? A quarter of a standard worsted skein is roughly 50 yards, half roughly 100, a full one roughly 200.
What can I crochet with 50 yards?
A coaster, a bookmark, a scrunchie, a granny square, a small applique, a soap saver, or most of a cup cozy. Fifty yards of worsted is about 90 square inches of single-crochet fabric — a 9 × 10 inch rectangle, no more.
Does yarn weight change the answer?
Yes, and the finder handles it. Yardages are quoted in worsted; 200 yards of DK converts to about 172 worsted-equivalent yards and 200 yards of bulky to about 263. Your hook and hand still move the number by 10–15% either way.
What is a stash buster project?
Anything sized to finish inside a partial skein. The point is to empty the leftover, which is why this tool ranks by how much of your yarn a project uses rather than showing you the smallest thing on the list — but it aims at 85% of your pile, not 100%, because running out three rows from the end is worse than picking something slightly smaller.
Can I mix several leftover colours in one project?
Usually yes — that is what stripes and colour blocks are for. Set the colour count and pick "stripe them together" and the finder pools every yard into one budget. Pick "one colour per project" and it divides instead, which is the honest number when you want a single-colour finished object.
Why does the list stop at what fits?
Because running out three rows from the end is worse than picking a smaller project. Nothing that needs more yarn than you have is shown. If nothing fits at all, the finder says so and offers the scrap-sized ideas instead.