Until I find a knitting pattern that specifically calls for a bunch of those 30-percents-of-a-skein of Malabrigo or Madelinetosh that are always leftover from knitting hats, this free scarf pattern will remain my go-to pattern for trying to keep a lid on my ever-expanding giant bag of leftover yarn. The Snippet Scarf by Becky Herrick is not only available for free, it’s also a pretty much fool-proof way of combining all the varied weights and colours of your leftover yarn. And you only need about 6 yards for each row, so you can use up even the tiniest bits of leftovers.

For all these versions, I used 6mm/US size 10 needles. Gauge isn’t really an issue. I REPEAT: GAUGE ISN’T AN ISSUE. Knitter peeps who hate gauge swatching know what I’m talkin’bout.

The scarf is worked sideways, knitting each row…each of your bits of leftover yarn create a horizontal stripe. Instead of turning around and going back with the same piece of yarn for the next row, you cut the yarn off at the end, leaving enough dangling for the fringe, and start the next row with another piece of yarn. Piece. O’. Cake. You just have to make sure you have needles long enough to hold all the stitches…a long circular needle is best.

For the version below, I used some single skeins of yarn my parents-in-law had given me for my birthday a few years ago. They bought the yarn, made by Dyeguy, from an amazing little yarn shop called The Fibre Garden in the village of Jordan, Ontario, right in the middle of Niagara wine country.

The Dyeguy yarn is coloured with natural dyes. The skeins my parents-in-law gave me are dyed with black walnut and osage orange wood.

A visit to the Fibre Garden shop is not to be missed if you’re anywhere in the Niagara region. Best part: right across the street is another great yarn and quilting shop called Stitch. I couldn’t find out the official population count of Jordan village, but I’m pretty sure that makes about one yarn store for every 72.5 people there. 😉