I was sorting through my yarn stash the other day, when I came to a shocking conclusion: I have too much yarn. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Too much yarn? Is that even possible?" Well, in my dream world, definitely not. But in the tiny apartment world...yeah. It happens. I was most concerned with my growing pile of scrap yarn. You know those little balls of yarn that are too small for most projects but that you can't bear to part with? I've been collecting them for yeeaarrsss (seriously, some of this scrap yarn is from high school). So I decided to give those little yarn balls a new purpose and turn them into a cozy scrapghan!
In case you're not familiar with the term, "scrap" + "afghan" = "scrapghan" (so basically it's a blanket made from yarn scraps). There are SO many different scrapghan types out there. Stripes, squares, c2c, mitered squares...you get the idea. But out of all the options, hexagons just felt right. So why not?
Instead of reinventing the wheel, I found a simple hexagon pattern from Crochet in Color, which you can find here. I like this pattern because it's quick and easy, but not too "hole-y," and it's smaller than some of the other hexagon patterns out there so it's perfect for small bits of yarn. I ended up using an I (5.5 mm) crochet hook for mine so that my hexagons would be about 4" across and I did tweak round 3 slightly by using ch-2 spaces for the corners; I found it looked neater than the original ch 3 when I tested it out.
I left a long yarn tail after fastening off each one so that I could stitch the hexagons together later. After some trial and error, I found that a 12" yarn tail is just about perfect. It gives enough length to stitch the sides together while still leaving a few extra inches for weaving in the ends securely.
After making most of my hexagons, I sorted them by color and then started arranging them to figure out how many more I needed. My blanket ended up being alternating rows of 13 hexagons and 12 hexagons, with the color changing after 3 rows. I ended up making 225 full hexagons for my blanket (whew!)
After making most of my hexagons, I sorted them by color and then started arranging them to figure out how many more I needed. My blanket ended up being alternating rows of 13 hexagons and 12 hexagons, with the color changing after 3 rows. I ended up making 225 full hexagons for my blanket (whew!)
But that still left some pretty big gaps along the edge of the blanket. The hexagon pattern I used didn't have a half-hex option, so I improvised a half-hex variation. It's basically the original pattern cut in half, but is worked in turning rows rather than in the round. In case it's helpful for anyone else, here's how I made them:
ch 4, ss to the first ch to join into a ring
Row 1: ch 3 (counts as the first dc here and throughout), dc 5 times into the ring, turn
ch 4, ss to the first ch to join into a ring
Row 1: ch 3 (counts as the first dc here and throughout), dc 5 times into the ring, turn
Row 2: ch 3, dc in the same st, ch 1, [dc twice in the next st, ch 1] 4 times, dc twice into the last st, turn
Row 3: ch 4 (counts as a tr), dc in the same st, *dc twice in the next ch-1 space, [dc twice, ch 2, dc twice] in the next ch-1 space,* repeat from * to * twice, dc twice in the next ch-1 space, [dc, tr] in the last st
If you want a cleaner edge, you can ss across the flat end (I knew I was planning to add a border, so I skipped that step). Fasten off, leaving a 12" tail for sewing.
If you want a cleaner edge, you can ss across the flat end (I knew I was planning to add a border, so I skipped that step). Fasten off, leaving a 12" tail for sewing.
I ended up making 18 half-hexagons to fill in the gaps along the length of my scrapghan.
Once I had all my pieces, I started stitching them together. I sewed the pieces together with a tapestry through the back loops only of each hexagon or half-hexagon. I used the mattress stitch, since I'm rather partial to it and it's never failed me yet.
Once I had all my pieces, I started stitching them together. I sewed the pieces together with a tapestry through the back loops only of each hexagon or half-hexagon. I used the mattress stitch, since I'm rather partial to it and it's never failed me yet.
After weaving in all the ends (still slightly traumatized from that, if I'm honest...), I decided that a border would be the perfect finishing touch for a more polished look. I went through several different options, including squaring off the short ends, before finally deciding that the simplest approach was best. So I just joined the border color yarn to one end and started working sc evenly down the side. Whenever it was an option, I worked only in the back loops of a hexagon to help preserve the clean edge.
Then I added a second row of sc. The only tricky element was working across the "rippled" short edge. To help keep everything neat, I worked 2 sc at the top of each point and worked a decrease at each valley. Then I simply fastened off and wove in the last end.
It was a lot of work and certainly not a quick 1 hour project, but I'm really glad that I did it. I might be permanently scarred from attaching all those pieces together (*Twitches* no more ends to weave...*twitches*), but I think the end result speaks for itself.
And just look at all of that scrap yarn that's been put to good use! To think, it was just sitting there doing nothing for all this time and now it's a cozy new blanket. Crocheting really is magical.
I hope that this inspires you to do something fun with your yarn scraps! They might not be as flashy as the full skeins, but they have tons of character. If you have any questions or comments about my hexagon scrapghan, you can reach me in the comments section below or on social media. And if you've made something cool with yarn scraps, I'd love to see it! Happy Hooking!
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