Walking out of the yarn shop with a bag full of wool or opening a parcel of beautiful skeins - that makes me happy. But it's also worth taking a look in the leftover basket for inspiration for new knitting ideas: there are numerous small and medium-sized colourful balls of yarn. True treasures waiting to be knitted. Even the smallest mini remnant has plenty of potential.

For example, there was a lot of Lovely Merino Treat in the colour Amethyst left over from my son's tractor jumper, and I loved it together with the blackberry sorbet leftover from my daughter's Dahlia top. The perfect combination to decorate the Festival Sweater from Petiteknit, which I had been wanting to knit for my little girl for some time. And as I was planning the colour cream as the main shade - just like for the tractor jumper - I was able to use up the broken skein of cream directly for the next children's jumper.

But admittedly, even though I am using a lot of leftovers with this jumper, it is not a leftover knit in the true sense of the word. Because I have cheated. In other words, I bought something extra. And above all, there are bound to be scraps left over in the end. But that doesn't matter. Because while I was knitting, I thought a few things about real leftover knitwear.

Bigger scraps - accessories and baby knits

Larger scraps - i.e. when there is almost a whole skein left over - are great for accessories. For the Contact shawl, for example, you need about 80 g of one colour of Cheeky Merino Joy and 60 g of the other. And my dear colleague Claudia has knitted the Nola hand warmers from Susanne Müller several times. She only used 54 g of Cheeky Merino Joy for a pair in size S. A nice little knitting experience for in between, and also suitable as a gift.

Baby knitwear is also perfect for using up used skeins. Cute little hats or rompers - like the one I knitted for my nephew for his birth - can be made with significantly less than 100 g of wool. Specifically, I only needed 74 g of Big Merino Hug for the Little Sister's Romper from Petiteknit. The Zuckerschnute hat even managed with 33 g Lovely Merino Treat.

Small scraps - play of colours and doll knitting

I rarely use up leftover yarn down to the last gram. And so larger leftovers become smaller again - and consequently the knitted pieces have to be smaller. Or simply more colourful. Or both. That's why I also like to knit cuddly toys and dolls. I look at the little mini skeins from my stash and think about which garment the few grams could be enough for. I then knit away without instructions or a plan - and try the little pieces on my favourite stuffed animal or doll in between. My son's monkey now wears a romper similar to the one he wore as a baby. And my daughter's doll has a customised outfit that makes us very happy. The miniature socks from the Big Merino Hug weigh just nine grams - and make my little one so happy!

Mini scraps - crafting with woollen threads

Even longer yarns deserve to be kept. Because whenever I need to put stitches aside, I always have a leftover thread to hand. Above all, however, even the tiniest scraps are suitable for beautiful handicrafts with wool. Be it with the children or on your own to make a greetings card or decoration.

There are beautiful, almost endless possibilities - just like the leftovers!