The Scrap Scrunchie
Anyone with a yarn stash knows, there’s sometimes a small bit left of a color (usually one that you really love) and you’re not sure what to do with it. You don’t want it to go to waste, but it’s not enough yarn to make a larger garment like a top or even a hat. I found myself holding all these teeny tiny beautiful colors of yarn and thinking “what can I create with you that I can actually use often?”.
I’ve found the answer, folks: it’s a scrunchie! I am always wearing one, either in my hair or on my wrist just in case I need it (my hair is super long at the moment so it is quite necessary). We’ve created a pattern for a simple scrunchie to utilize those lovely yarn scraps, in a way that’s totally functional and beautiful, too. You can even combine different scraps together if you’d prefer a more varied look, or you have smaller amounts of yarn scraps that you’d like to combine together. This pattern is super beginner friendly, and the whole piece will come together in about 2 hours depending on how fast you knit.
So here’s the pattern:
Materials:
Approximately 100 yards of worsted or dk yarn
Knitting Needles Size 5mm - 7mm (you’ll want a relatively snug weave, but your needle size will depend on the yarn you use)
Embroidery Needle for final sewing
1 Regular Elastic Hair Tie (find one in your couch cushions or buy a pack to utilize all your scraps from henceforth)
Skills You’ll Need to Know:
Cast On
Stockinette Stitch (meaning that you will knit one row, turn your work, and then purl the next row, then repeat)
Cast Off
Basic Sewing with an embroidery needle to seal the scrunchie around the hair tie
Make Your Scrunchie: Cast on 120 stitches (you may use whichever cast on method you prefer)
Knit in Stockinette Stitch until your piece measures 2” tall. You can also customize this height based on how “fluffy” or large you’d like your scrunchie. Half the height of your piece is about how wide the scrunchie will be. If you’d prefer a super floppy and large scrunchie, knit until your piece measures 3” or 4”. You can test this by folding your piece in half like a hot dog, to test how tall the scrunchie will be.
Cast off, and leave a long tail of yarn after you cast off. You’ll use this to seam your scrunchie around the elastic hair tie. You should now have a long skinny rectangle of knitted fabric that looks something like this:
Now, grab your elastic hair tie and your embroidery needle to finish your scrunchie, you’re almost done! Using the long tail you left after casting off, thread your embroidery needle on. Fold your piece in half around the elastic hair tie, and begin to seam your two edges together lengthwise. Your wrong sides should be facing each other, meaning that the knit side of the piece should be on the outside and wrapped around your elastic hair tie. Continue seaming until your piece is fully wrapped around the elastic. Then, seam around the short edge of your work, fusing the ends together to seal the fabric around the hair tie. YOU DID IT!
The color combinations and sizing options are truly endless! Play around with combining different yarn within the same scrunchie, or even hold two strands of yarn double while creating to make an even bulkier and larger scrunchie for those with lots of hair.
