Let’s face it, we all have yarn in our stash that was purchased for the “perfect” sweater, but before we could get that design knit, we fell out of love with the design and haven’t taken the time to look for a project befitting the yarn. What better way to use the yarn than to make a lap throw? It can take about a sweater’s worth of yarn, and the size is easy to adjust depending on the amount of yarn on hand (or just dip further into your stash to add more interest) for the size you need.

If you don’t have a bulky yarn, consider using a couple of different lighter weight yarns and doubling or tripling them to get the project gauge. This is the perfect time to play with color and get all sorts of gradient and shading effects in your throw.

Although I don’t quilt, I am inspired by the patterns. Patchwork patterns using different yarns, colors, and stitch patterns can easily be combined to make amazing crazy quilt-looking throws. But I’m particularly fascinated by log cabin and nine patch patterns worked in stockinette and garter combinations. While working entirely in garter would drive me bonkers, I like to add something garter-based for variety, such as mitered squares. Better yet, when you have a gradient colorway to play with, you can achieve some amazingly complex-looking color shifts too. Because one ball of Brushed Fleece will make almost two large squares, it’s fairly easy to play with the gradient without getting too many ends to weave in by laying out the balls to see where the color sequence of each begins and ends.