When I knit a pair of socks, I rarely use the entire skein. I almost always have 20 to 30 grams (80 to 120 yards) of yarn leftover. In the past, I’ve just stuffed these too-large-to-discard leftovers into a drawer, but lately, this drawer has been making me feel overwhelmed. Maybe it’s the chaos? The unknown? Not having a plan? The tangles don’t bother me too much.

There’s definitely a hesitancy to throw the leftovers away because what if I need them one day? What if I need to darn some socks? Let’s be real, I’ve never darned a pair of socks. I’m sure that I am capable and can figure it out, but I’d just rather knit a new pair of socks and enjoy some different yarn for a while. So the holey socks go into a drawer of their own. I’m sensing a pattern here.

One of my goals for this year is to leave no scraps behind, so I’ve got a plan for my leftovers! I’ve got two different types of sock yarns that I typically work with: two-ply yarns that are 400 yards/100 g and 80% superwash merino/20% nylon and four-ply yarns that are 463 yards/100 g and 75% superwash merino and 25% nylon. I’ll typically use the two-ply yarns for socks for my children and the four-ply yarns for myself, but once upon a time, I only bought two-ply sock yarns, so I’ve got tons of them around.

My most recent FO is a pair of Dragon Fairy Socks using Kim Dyes Yarn Sourdough Sock in the colorway Leaves.Drizzle.Fiber.Friends. The yarn was an exclusive colorway for Eat.Sleep.Knit back in October 2020, so this skein of yarn has been hanging out in my stash for quite a long time. The Dragon Fairy Socks pattern is one of my upcoming designs, so you’ll see a bit more about it over the next few weeks (check out the sneak peek in the photo below!). The design looks fantastic in any dye style. These socks are for my grandmother, who will be celebrating her 81st birthday next week. She wears a US Women’s 9, so I had about 72 yards of yarn leftover after finishing these socks.

To use up the rest of my yarn, I’ve got three projects going on. The first is a crochet Hygge Burst Hexie Blanket by Mallory Krall. I’m holding leftover two-ply sock yarn double for this, and I’ll make a starburst hexagon for each pair of socks that I make this year. As I’m feeling up for it, I’ll also fish a leftover skein out of the Chaos Drawer to turn into hexagons as well. Each of my hexagons uses just under 12 g or 48 yards of yarn. I think this will be a fun way to use up some leftovers and create a memory blanket using yarns that will primarily go into gift socks.

The second use of the yarn is to make crochet granny squares for my Battenburg Blanket by Sandra Paul. I’ve been making four squares for each color that I use, and I’ve got about 100 colorful squares done so far. I’ll need about 500 colorful squares total for this blanket. I started it in September 2020, so it’s been in progress for quite a while, and I’ve used mini skeins from past advent calendars and other leftovers for this project. Each square uses 6 to 7 yards of yarn, and I’m only using leftover two-ply sock yarns for this blanket.

Finally, if I have enough leftover after this, I’ll wind up about 4 g of yarn into a tiny ball to save for December this year. Instead of purchasing an advent calendar of yarn minis, my plan is to save tiny balls of yarn leftover from socks that I make this year to craft tiny socks as holiday ornaments. This will be a great way to remember and revisit all of the socks that I’ve made throughout the year, even if they’ve been gifted away or so well loved that they end up in the Darning Drawer of Doom.

What do you think? Do you have a Chaos Drawer like the one I shared? What do you do to manage leftovers? Let me know in the comments!