Knit Scrap Yarn Changeover Project Bag: Free Knitting Pattern

If you’ve been knitting for any length of time, you’ve almost certainly accumulated a collection of yarn scraps — those small but precious leftovers from finished projects that feel too good to throw away but too small to justify a project on their own. This free knitting pattern solves that problem in the most satisfying way possible: by turning your scraps into a beautiful, functional project bag that you’ll reach for every single time you sit down to knit.

The Scrap Yarn Changeover Project Bag is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a roomy, structured knitting bag worked in stripes of various yarn weights and colors, celebrating the beauty of imperfect, mismatched yarn. The “changeover” in the name refers to the technique at the heart of this pattern — a simple method for switching yarns mid-row or between rows without creating a tangled mess or a fabric riddled with unsightly ends. By the time you bind off, you’ll have mastered a skill that will improve every striped or colorwork project you knit from here on out.

This pattern is beginner-friendly with a few intermediate touches. If you can knit, purl, and work a basic decrease, you have everything you need. The bag is knitted flat in one large rectangle, then seamed and finished with a simple I-cord drawstring. It’s a wonderful weekend project, or something to work on slowly over a few weeks as you collect more scraps to add to the mix.

What You’ll Need

Yarn: This is the beauty of this project — you don’t need to buy anything. Dig out your scrap bin and pull out everything you have. Ideally, you’ll want scraps of worsted weight yarn, but this pattern is incredibly forgiving. You can mix DK, worsted, and even bulky yarns together, adjusting your needle size as needed. Aim to gather at least 200–300 yards in total, spread across as many colors as you like. The more varied, the better.

Needles: US size 7 (4.5mm) straight or circular needles for the main body. If you’re mixing heavier yarns into your scrap pile, go up to a US size 8 (5mm). You’ll also need a set of double-pointed needles (DPNs) in the same size for the I-cord drawstring.

Notions: A tapestry needle for weaving in ends (yes, there will be some, but far fewer than you might expect), two locking stitch markers, a crochet hook in a compatible size for picking up stitches along the top edge, and a small piece of stiff interfacing or plastic canvas if you want to add a structured bottom panel.

Gauge: 18 stitches × 24 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch. Because this is a bag, gauge is not critical, but keeping to a similar gauge will ensure your finished bag measures approximately 14 inches wide by 12 inches tall before finishing.

A Word About the Changeover Technique

Before diving into the pattern, it’s worth spending a few minutes understanding what makes this project different from a standard striped pattern. Traditional striped knitting often involves either cutting your yarn at every color change (leaving you with dozens of ends to weave in) or carrying multiple yarns up the side of your work (which creates loops that need to be managed carefully and can distort the edge of your fabric).

The changeover technique used in this pattern does something different. It’s a method that blends both approaches strategically depending on how long each color section is and how many yards you have of each scrap.

For short sections of one to four rows, you’ll carry the unused yarn loosely up the side of the work, catching it every two rows so the floats never get longer than an inch. For longer sections of five rows or more, or when you’re switching to a dramatically different yarn weight, you’ll join the new yarn at the beginning of a right-side row and simply leave the old yarn hanging. Rather than cutting and weaving in immediately, you’ll leave a tail of about six inches and continue knitting. When the work is complete, all those tails get woven in at once during the finishing phase.

The key insight of the changeover technique is this: you always join a new color at the beginning of a right-side row, and you always work two rows (one right side, one wrong side) before introducing another new color. This keeps the color transitions clean and predictable, which means the side edges of your knitting stay tidy enough to seam without any extra tidying up.

This might sound strict, but in practice it gives you enormous creative freedom. Once you understand the rhythm — join on the right side, work two rows, join again — you can stripe your bag in any sequence of colors you like. You might do two rows of rusty orange, followed by six rows of oatmeal, followed by four rows of deep teal. Or you might commit to exactly two rows of every single color you have, creating a narrow-striped fabric that looks almost woven. The choice is entirely yours, and both approaches produce a bag worth being proud of.

The Pattern

Abbreviations

CO = cast on, K = knit, P = purl, K2tog = knit two together, YO = yarn over, BO = bind off, RS = right side, WS = wrong side, st(s) = stitch(es), rep = repeat.

Cast On and Foundation

Using your first scrap yarn and your US size 7 needles, CO 63 stitches using a long-tail cast on. If you’re not comfortable with the long-tail method, a simple backwards loop cast on works fine, though the long-tail will give you a neater bottom edge.

The number 63 is not arbitrary. It’s a multiple of 3 plus 3, which sets you up for the eyelet row that forms the drawstring channel at the top of the bag. If you want a wider or narrower bag, adjust your stitch count to any multiple of 3, plus 3.

Rows 1–4: Work in garter stitch (knit every row) for a firm bottom edge. This four-row garter border prevents the bottom of the bag from rolling up and gives the fabric enough body to sit flat on a table.

Main Body

From Row 5 onward, you’ll work the main body of the bag in a combination of stockinette and periodic garter accents, changing yarns according to the changeover technique described above.

Row 5 (RS): Join your second color if desired (or continue with your first). Knit across.

Row 6 (WS): Purl across.

These two rows form one stripe unit. Repeat this two-row stockinette unit, changing colors as often as you like and following the changeover rules above, until the main body measures approximately 10.5 inches from the cast-on edge, ending with a wrong-side row.

Throughout the main body, you’ll occasionally introduce garter accents. Every time you begin a new color and want to add visual texture or define a section, work both the right-side and wrong-side rows in knit rather than knit-then-purl. A two-row garter accent in the middle of stockinette stripes creates a subtle ridge that adds dimension to the fabric and helps disguise any slight variations in gauge that come with mixing different yarn weights.

As a general guideline, try to add a garter accent roughly every 2 to 3 inches. But don’t stress about precision here. This is a scrap bag. The beauty comes from its organic, slightly unpredictable character.

Eyelet Row for Drawstring Channel

Once your main body reaches 10.5 inches, it’s time to create the drawstring channel.

Cut or leave any current yarn and join a relatively sturdy yarn in a neutral or contrasting color — this section needs a bit of durability since the drawstring will run through it repeatedly.

Row 1 (RS): K3, YO, K2tog, K1; rep from to end.

Row 2 (WS): Purl across (working into the YO from the previous row as a normal stitch).

Rows 3–4: Knit across (garter stitch to frame the eyelets).

These four rows create a clean, visible eyelet row flanked by small garter ridges that keep the channel defined when the bag is in use. The eyelets are spaced every three stitches, which gives the drawstring plenty of exit points and keeps the gather even when you pull it closed.

Top Edge

Rows 1–4: Knit across in garter stitch. This mirrors your bottom edge and gives the bag a cohesive, finished look.

Bind Off: Using a stretchy bind off method, BO all stitches. A good stretchy bind off for this project is the standard BO but working each stitch through the back loop, which prevents the top edge from pulling in. Alternatively, use Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off if you’re familiar with it — it’s beautiful here.

Finishing the Body

Block your rectangle lightly by misting it with water and patting it flat. You don’t need to soak it. Let it dry completely before seaming.

Fold the rectangle in half lengthwise so the cast-on edge meets the bind-off edge, wrong sides together. You now have a rectangle approximately 14 inches wide and 12 inches tall (folded). The cast-on and bind-off edges form the top opening of the bag; the fold forms the bottom.

Wait — reread that. The fold is the bottom. You’re not seaming the bottom; the fold creates it automatically, which means you have one less seam to worry about and a seamless, firm bottom edge. Nice.

Using your tapestry needle and a length of sturdy yarn (either one of the colors you used most, or a strand of the same weight in a neutral), seam both side edges using mattress stitch. Work carefully through the garter stitch edge bumps on each side, drawing the seam in just enough to be invisible from the right side. Do not pull too tight — you want the bag to have a little give.

Turn the bag right side out. The seamed sides are now the side edges of the bag, and the fold runs across the bottom.

Optional Structured Bottom

If you want your bag to stand up on its own and hold its shape, cut a piece of stiff plastic canvas to fit snugly inside the bottom of the bag. A piece approximately 13 inches wide and 3 inches tall slides in through the top opening and rests flat at the fold. Some knitters prefer to stitch their plastic canvas inside a small sleeve of coordinating fabric before inserting it, but this is entirely optional. The canvas is not visible from the outside and makes the bag feel noticeably more polished and professional.

I-Cord Drawstring

Using your DPNs and a relatively sturdy, smooth yarn (worsted weight works best here — something that won’t catch on the eyelets), cast on 4 stitches.

Work I-cord as follows: Knit 4 stitches. Without turning, slide stitches to the right end of the needle. Pull working yarn across the back. Knit 4 stitches again. Repeat until the I-cord measures approximately 50 inches. This length gives you enough to thread through all the eyelets and still have a comfortable amount to grab when pulling the bag closed.

Bind off and weave in both ends of the I-cord. Thread the I-cord through every eyelet around the top of the bag, entering and exiting from the same eyelet at the center front. This means both ends of the cord emerge at the front of the bag, which is the classic drawstring configuration — pull both ends to close, push them in to open.

If you prefer a tidier look, thread the I-cord through a small wooden bead or button and knot each end below it. The bead acts as a toggle and keeps the drawstring from slipping back through the eyelets when the bag is open.

Tips for Scrap Knitting Success

One of the most common concerns with scrap knitting is the worry that the finished object will look chaotic or muddy. Here are a few principles that experienced scrap knitters rely on to keep their projects looking intentional rather than accidental.

Consider your values, not just your colors. In visual art, “value” refers to the lightness or darkness of a color, independent of its hue. A collection of scraps that includes both very light and very dark yarns — even if the colors are varied — will have strong visual contrast and look dynamic. A collection made up entirely of medium-toned colors, regardless of how different the hues are, can end up looking flat. When pulling scraps for this bag, reach for at least one or two very light colors (cream, pale yellow, blush) and one or two very dark ones (navy, charcoal, deep burgundy).

Vary your stripe widths intentionally. Rather than making every stripe the same height, mix narrow two-row stripes with broader six- or eight-row sections. This variation creates rhythm and movement in the fabric and also makes it easier to use very small scraps — a yarn you only have 15 yards of can become a satisfying narrow stripe.

Use high-contrast colors at the seams. Because you’ll be seaming both side edges, ending a section with a high-contrast color right at the edge creates a clean, visible definition point that makes the seam easier to work and the finished edge easier to admire.

Don’t match — coordinate. Scrap knitting is not about finding colors that match each other. It’s about finding colors that can coexist. Nearly any colors can coexist if you include a neutral (cream, grey, tan) somewhere in the sequence to give the eye a moment of rest.

Caring for Your Finished Bag

Because this bag is made from a mix of different fibers, care instructions will vary depending on what yarns ended up in your scrap pile. As a safe general rule, hand wash the bag in cool water with a gentle wool wash or dish soap, press out excess water without wringing, and lay flat to dry. Avoid machine washing unless you’re confident that every single yarn in the bag is machine washable.

If your bag contains any wool that might felt, be especially careful with hot water and agitation. A little bit of accidental felting in one stripe can cause puckering and distortion that’s very difficult to undo.

One Last Thought

There’s something genuinely moving about a project bag made from scraps. Every stripe is a record of something you made — a sweater for a friend, a hat for winter, a pair of socks you started on a plane. The bag holds those memories in its fabric, and it goes on to hold future projects in its belly. It’s a small object, but it carries a lot.

We hope you love making this bag as much as we loved designing it. When you’re finished, we’d love to see it — tag your photos and share your stripe sequences. The combination of yarns you choose will be completely unlike anyone else’s, and that’s precisely the point.

Happy knitting.