Stashtober CAL – Autumn stashbusting crochet patterns
October feels like the time where crochet really comes into its own.
In the northern hemisphere, the weather is turning distinctly cooler, the back to school business of September is done with, routines are established and finally that little extra time to crochet opens up…
Some will use that time to get stuck into their Christmas crafting, some will use it to crochet for themselves and others will look at their stash and decide it’s time for a good autumn clean out!
The latter is what I’m here to help you with today!
About Stashtober
I have always been a lover of creating crochet projects form my leftover stash. I wrote a whole post last spring all about how to get organised for stash busting and what to crochet. This includes shopping from your stash and making the most of what you have.
It really is a great way to invigorate your creativity and open your eyes to all the yarn you do have, as opposed to focusing on all the yarn you want!
To me, stash busting should be a fun and relaxed activity which offers a great opportunity to try something new
So when Claudia from Crochet Luna asked if I wanted to get involved with the Stashtober CAL she is running, I was totally up for it!
Head over to her Instagram and or Youtube channel to find out more about the CAL. It’s a super relaxed format so you can go at your own pace and just stash bust along with others throughout the month. She will be hosting a zoom get together too so we can all share our makes!
There are 7 other designers involved too – their instagrams linked below if you want to check them out;
- Zeens and Roger
- Fay DH Designs
- The Cozy Cottage Crochet
- HG Designs Crochet
- Crochetcakes
- Caleisha Ryan- Nadiratani
- Crochet Luna – your host!
Below I have collated a bunch of patterns suitable for stahshbusting from these designers as well as my own portfolio. Depending on how much yarn you have to work with, there is something for everyone.
For ease, I have broken the pattern listings down to Accessories (Hats, scarves and cowls), Shawls (a bit more of a yarn investment than most hats), Garments (my favourites!), and blankets.
Oh and not forgetting the final amigurumi category… I’ve gone a bit seasonal here… because it’s the month of Halloween and it’s becoming harder to ignore that the festive season is coming… keep reading right to the end to check these out!
I’ve also indicated whether each pattern is free or paid – there are a good mixture of both available so everyone can get involved.
PLUS… after the patterns I also share some exclusive Stashtober discounts from some of the participating designers, so keep reading!
If Ravelry is your thing, The Cosy cottage crochet is hosting a ‘Stashbuster21 Chatter and FO’ thread in her group (here) so you can join in and see what everyone is getting up to!
Stashbusting crochet accessory patterns (hats, scarves, cowls)
The mixed signals scarf is a fun, free scarf pattern which uses moss stitch in asymmetric chevrons.
Although the scarf you see below uses mainly black and white, you can get creative with your colour choices, making long or short stripes and keeping it creative. Just keep crocheting until you run out of yarn or your scarf reaches it’s desired length.
The fringe is optional, but click here to see how I trim my tassels and yarn fringes, it’s a great tip if I say so myself!
Companion is a lovely cowl and wrist warmer set from Zeens and Roger. The pair come as a paid pattern and area a great way to use up lots of small scraps.
You will see that stripes are a theme with stashbusting!
If granny squares, which are great for stash busting, are your thing, then check out Rosina’s Granny cowl, or some of Heather’s HG designs crochet granny and scrap yarn designs
Hats are great for stashbusting as generally they don’t use up huge amounts of yarn. The Positivity Spiral Hat from Fay DH Designs uses one skein of 4ply/light fingering or sportweight yarn will make a 54cm, 57cm, 60cm or 63cm head circumference hat. But you can have some fun with mixing up the colours if you only have smaller amounts left.
This paid pattern comes as either a beanie or slouchy tam, and there is a cowl pattern to match!
The Scandi Stash Buster Beanie is another of my designs made specifically to use up some left over yarns. This looks great with mixed asymmetric stripes and is a fabulous way to use mini skeins – stripe them every other row for a great effect!
This one is a free pattern in the adult size and there is a paid premium PDF version which is written for 7 different sizes.
I love a matching hat and scarf set, and the Granny dot free scarf and hat pattern is a super fun way to get colourful. You can pick a neutral (whatever colour you have most of) and mix it with flashes of colour – great for using up part balls and left overs!
The pattern combines the crochet granny stripe and puff stitches with a joyful result!
Once again, the adult size hat pattern is free and the ad-free PDF version of the pattern includes multiple sizes so you can make for the small ones and use even less yarn!
Hannah from the Cozy Cottage Crochet has a couple of lovely crochet cowl patterns perfect for stashbusting, including the You are not alone cowl.
This was designed specifically to share with others – especially those who are going through a difficult time in their lives – to remind us all that we are not alone; we’re in this together.
Worked in worsted weight yarn for ultimate squish and texture, this pattern is quick to make, and even easier to gift! Make a You’re Not Alone Cowl for yourself, friends, family, and any special person who needs to know that they are loved. A beautiful sentiment – check it out!
Hannah also designed her Nihilus cowl especially to use up the one special hank of fingering weight yarn.
Stashbusting crochet shawl patterns
Nothing says autumn like a cosy shawl. Wear them draped openly round the neck, wrap them around your shoulder or wind them round and round scarf style depending on what the weather demands.
The Loft Shawl from Fay DH (below) takes three skeins of DK weight yarn. These might bethose three ‘special’ skeins that have been hanging around in your stash saying “choose me, choose me” but you never know what to use your single skeins in.
Because this pattern works with stripes you can also use a total mix of colours and even fibres to get creative! This one is available as either a fingering weight or DK pattern too.
Fay has another great shawl pattern which can be made from stash. The Omni Shawl is a stash-busting shawl that uses 100g (or more if you like) of yarn in either heavy laceweight, 4ply/ light fingering, DK or Aran weight.
There is a hidden crocheted loop to feed the narrow end of your shawl through and keep it secured around your neck. I love this feature!
The other great thing about Fay’s designs is that she offers them on a ‘pay what you can basis’ in either digital or (typically) print format, so these are definitely worth checking out!
Lastly for those who love a bit of texture, my strings of life shawl is a free crochet shawl pattern where you can really go to town with colour, making every row from a different yarn if you like. This is one of those patterns where you just keep going until the shawl reaches your desired size.
The version you see below uses cotton aran weight yarn, but it can be made in any yarn weight or fibre, with a suitable hook, depending on what your seasonal preference is!
Stashbusting crochet garment patterns
I think that garments are my favourite things to make from my stash. There is just something so satisfying about creating a piece of clothing from a pile of leftovers.
My first stashbusting sweater design was the Stash to treasure batwing sweater, a paid pattern, made just for this purpose.
More recently, I created the Waste not want not sweater, a free pattern written to allow you to make in any size to suit. This crochet pattern uses multiple strands of yarn in lengths ranging from from 50cm to 50m held together – a true buster of scraps!
It’s a super chunky v-neck sweater and I just know that I’m going to wearing this allllll winter this year!
Before the month is up, there will be a hat and scarf pattern to match, for those of you who love the vibe but maybe don’t have quite that much yarn to use up or want to experiment multi-stranding with something smaller!
Patchwork patterns are great for stashbusting too.
If you haven’t seen the furore over the JW Anderson Cardigan this past year, you may well have been hiding under a rock!
Rosina from Zeens and Rogers made this amazing version for herself using random aran / worsted weight yarn and shares exactly how she did it for free on her blog. This is a free guide and a recipe to help you make your own crochet version.
In her words, it’s “a cardigan that has created a storm in the world of handmade (the Harry Styles version, not mine!)”.
I think your version is pretty damn cool Rosina!
(Check out her YouTube episode about it).
The Eat Cake Sweater from crochetcakes is an ode to crochet cakes. It can be made with long or short sleeves, perfect for those who live in warmer climates or those heading to spring not autumn!
The eat cake sweater is a fingering weight sweater. Because of its construction each section can be a different coluor or you can divide the sweater in half and make it two toned. The two tone version for summer is shown below.
This pattern is available free on the crochetcakes blog with the option to purchase an ad-free PDF.
If you love texture, mixing up yarn and stitches, you might also want to check out Crochetcakes Vintage Echo free crochet cardigan pattern which looks like it’s a lot of fun!
Stahsbusting crochet blanket patterns
Blankets are great stash busters. They can be long term projects which you add to bit by bit over months and even years, or can be something you make up all at once.
The Bushel Blanket, a ‘pay what you can’ pattern from Fay DH, is a lovely rhythmic make that can use up lots of DK scraps in either a lap blanket or a throw size.
The lap blanket needs 20 x 25g of DK plus 100g of a border colour, OR 19 x 25g and 125g of a main colour (as shown in the below photo).
The throw size crochet blanket needs 40 x 25g of DK plus 100g of a border, OR 38 x 25g and 150g of a main colour.
Making blankets using motifs is another great way to use up scraps. Simply make as many motifs as your yarn allows, with whatever colours you have going. Then, when you have enough, join them all together – either with a single colour yarn or a multitude of colours.
The bobble pop crochet blanket was designed with this in mind. I used up all my blues and bluey green yarn in this version and threw in a couple of orange motifs to make it really pop!
The bobble pop crochet blanket is a free pattern, with a premium ad-free PDF available to purchase. It also has a video tutorial demonstrating the bobble pop motif and a second one showing how to square the circles and join them all up.
Stahsbusting seasonal crochet amigurumi
Spiders are everywhere right now… I was woken up in the middle of the night this week by my cat tearing around the bedroom… when I put on the light, there she was sitting next to an ex-spider which she had been chasing around (and finally caught). I confess, I loved her even more for being my protector.
So in seasonal tribute… why not create one of these spooky spiders, free from Zeens and Roger… perfect for a quick Halloween make.
These cute little spiders can be made with literally any small amount of leftover yarn. Try a dinky 4 ply spider, or use super bulky to make a cuddly toy! (depending on your definition of toy obvs!)
If you’re ready to get stuck into those festive makes, I have a couple of ornaments that make great stash busters and gifts… win win!
First off are my festive friends – characterful crochet Christmas tree ornaments which only take up a small amount of yarn (you can even use your very short ends for the stuffing!).
I use double knit but they work with any weight (though the finished size will change), and you can easily replace the safety eyes with stitches too.
The elf pattern is free, with all the colourway changes for the different characters being included in the ad-free paid PDF.
I have so much affection for these decorations!
Secondly, and lastly for this round up, is my twinkle star decoration. This is another stashbusting crochet pattern I made by holding multiple strands of the sparkliest yarns I had together.
This is a super versatile, quick free and fun festive crochet pattern to hang on your tree or add to a festive holiday crochet garland!
So there we have it – a ton of patterns for you to get cracking with this Stashtober!
Stashtober Discount codes
Now you’ve seen some of the patterns you might want to try how about a cheeky discount?
Some of the designers involved are offering discounts – you can find a summary below
- Clarisa from crochetcakes is offering 15% off everything in her etsy shop for the first 2 weeks of october to get you started using code STASHBUST15
- Zeens and roger is offering a massive 25% off her patterns using her code STASH21 – check out her thoughts on stashbusting here along with the details of her offer.
- And lastly, I’ll be offering 20% off all accessory patterns (hats, scarves, cowls, bits etc.), socks, ponchos, blankets and my stash to treasure sweater pattern (all good for stashbusting!) through to October 10th using code STASH20 – valid on my ravelry and Etsy stores
Make sure you share your progress on insta using the hashtag #stashtober21 so we can all follow along together!
Happy stashbusting!
Dx
