15 knit and crochet patterns for spring
From top left to right: Ziggy shawl, Sailor swift vest, Hemispheres, Plumentis, Circo bag, Curious top.
Spring is finally here, which means lighter layers, fresh colours, and the perfect excuse to dive into some new knitting and crochet projects! 🌸 But what if I told you that you don’t need to buy new yarn? In this post, I’m sharing beautiful spring-friendly patterns that are also perfect for stashbusting! Whether you’ve got leftover skeins, partial balls, or special 1 skeins in your collection, these projects will help you put them to good use. So grab your yarn, get comfy, and let’s jump in! If you prefer to watch, I have published a video showcasing all these pattern ideas, which you can watch just below.
All the patterns I’m sharing in this blog post, I have also saved into a Ravelry Spring patterns bundle and a Pinterest board. I’ll continue to add to them as I find spring patterns.
If you’re looking for more leftover yarn inspiration, including ideas for leftover yarn, that aren’t knitting or crochet, you might be interested in my scrap yarn series.
I grouped the patterns into four very broad categories. This post contains both knitting and crochet patterns - so something for everyone!
Long sleeve sweaters and cardigans
Ship shape - Heidi Kirrmaier - Knitted - $13 CAD
Stripes are an obvious go to for using up leftover yarn! The sample by the designer is monochrome, but you could do any colours. What I really like about this design is the shoulder construction. I believe the whole design starts with a knitted triangle at the shoulders and then you construct the rest of the sweater from there.
It’s knit with a DK weight yarn, using a cotton blended yarn would make it could for spring through to summer
The pattern is graded to 13 sizes from XXS to 6X
Good vibes blouse - Katerina - Crochet - $11.50 CAD
Great for layering in spring and as a beach cover up in the summer. I love the simplistic style of this top. Fingering weight. Designers encourages you to use up your stash 9 sizes. Really really tempted to start this one.
Plumentis - Julie Knits in Paris - Knitted - $10 CAD
Similar in style to the good vibes blouse, I love the airy look design, especially with the added collar. It’s knit with a lace weight yarn, so it’s a good layering piece for spring with a cardigan over the top.
I would be quite tempted to knit it in black, even though I know knitting with black is a bit of a challenge!
Sea glass cardigan - Wool and Pine - Knitted - $13 CAD
I love a Wool and Pine, although i have yet to knit one of their patterns, I appreciate their dedication to designing patterns that incorporate scrap/leftover yarn!
This cardigan is a DK weight, raglan, top down construction. Reading the description, they even have a technique to incorporate ends as you go with an i-cord solution - the dream!
It looks very cozy too, I picture wearing this on cooler evens at the beach, or around a campfire.
Nine Patch - Julie Weisenberger of Coco knits - Knitted - $18 CAD
cardigan/vest mash up. Found the square patch work, quilt style look a little different.
Fingering weight, intarsia colourwork method
I will say though, just looking at the pattern description before recording, it does use the ‘coco technique’ for part of this design, which it seems you have to buy a cocoknits book to read about the techniques….very smart! Methods is a top down method that allows the knitter to try on as they knit and customize along the way. Seems like it would be well worth the investment, I’m intrigued now.
Shawls
I am into shawls now ….i get it. For so long I didn't quite understand the obsession with shawls…or more specifically why anyone would want to knit so many. But now I do!
So i’ve only made a few, but they’re very satisfying, especially if you pick one that’s fairly straightforward, i find them a nice mind break, when you just want to make something and not think too much about it.
Third street shawl - TL Yarn Crafts - Tunisian crochet - $10 CAD
Made with a DK weight yarn and stripey (aka lots of stash-busting opportunities!) It looks like there’s a variety of stitch patterns to keep the pattern interesting. I particularly like the look of the stitch design in the blue section on the designer’s sample.
Ziggy Triangle - Leila Raven - Knitted - $10.50 CAD
Knit with sport weight yarn, this pattern uses the infamous colourchanging Spin Cycle Yarn, paired with a solid yarn to create this multicolour, chevron stripe effect. This shawl pattern would be great if you have one skein of colour changing yarn in your stash, but I’m sure you could easily switch up to change colour each chevron instead.
Star girl shawl - Gavriella Tremino - Crochet - $3 CAD
This shawl is crocheted using fingering weight yarn and used “granny” style stitches. It would be great for a set of minis or leftover sock projects. I particularly like the ruffle trim, making it very unique and funky shawl!
Keep scrolling for Tops and Accessories…..
All the patterns mentioned in this blog, are also linked to on my Ravelry ‘Spring patterns’ board, and Pinterest (where availabe)
From top left to right: Star girl shawl, Good vibes blouse, Third street shawl, VIBES tee, Morning star cowl, Nine patch.
Tops
Curious Crop - What lydia Made - Knitted - $20 CAD
I think Lydia is a very cool designer, I have followed her on Instagram for a while. What initially drew me in to this design was the contrast colour used for the neck, arm and chest hole. I feel it would be great for minis and tiny bits of leftover yarn. Then i saw the colourwork wording she has implemented on one sample - how cool! I’m not sure if that is included in the pattern, but it shows what could be done!
Reading the description, there’s a lot of customization options to help the knitter make this a good fit, accommodating for a lot of different body types, at a level I personally haven’t seen before. For example, there are bust darts and the option to include short rows at the front if you have an issue with garments being shorter on front than the back, which I sometimes do, so I’m really quite keen to try this.
Sailor swift top - Kutovakika - knitted - $10 CAD
Veronica Lindberg is one of my favourite content creators. Her videos are one of the big inspirations for me starting my own Youtube channel! So it only felt right to include one of her patterns in this list.
This vest is knit with fingering weight yarn and has a racerback. I selected this one for the stripes (as you can probably guess!)
VIBES tee - Tiff Neilan - Knitted - $13 CAD
Fingering weight, t shirt style. Like to eyelet rows that break up these stripes, 4 different stripe colours could be more (you get the idea at this point for my opinion on stripey projects and leftover yarn! Don’t worry, i wont repeat myself anymore….or at least, I’ll try not to. Circular yoke, worked top down.body length customizable.
4. Accessories
Morning star cowl - Candice English (Farmer’s Daughters Fibres) - Knitted - $9 CAD
Fingering weight yarn, this colourwork cowl was designed for the use of a set of Farmer’s Daughters Fibres mini yarn kits.
There’s lots of pattern work going on with this one, definitely a good one if you would like a project to engage with. I do think cowls are could for the transitional seasons, often quite light and airy, compared to wrap around scarfs that can be double layered extra.
Hemispheres - KC knitting- knitting - $12 CAD
Sport weight, geometric design, intarsia knitting
I like the shape of it, obviously it incorporates different colours, which meets the leftover yarn mark. Intarsia colourwork method, knit flat and then seamed. It’s been graded to three adult sizes.
Circo bag - Gingko B - knitted - $7.50 CAD
A cute, drawstring pouch style, I think it looks like a little dumpling and I love it!
It’s knit with stranded colourwork, using fingering weight yarn, but the description says up to a DK weight can be used. There are. 2 different sizes for mini and large. This is now high on my list.
My final accessory, and as I’m a pattern designer myself, it sometimes feels a miss to not discuss my own patterns, so sticking with bags, but crochet bags - Salt spring bags .- Crochet - $10 CAD. This is a set of three crochet bags, a tote bag, bottle holder and phone holder.
Another video you might be interested in for leftover yarn inspiration.
I hope that helps you and sparks some inspiration to dive into your yarn stash and get making. If you’re also aiming to work through your stash this year, you might be keen to subscribe to my newsletter to see how Im getting on and for more leftover yarn project content!
What’s on your project list this year? Share any ideas you have in the comments!