This is the project I mentioned yesterday, the one that will probably never be finished.

When you knit socks, you have leftover bits and ends of sock yarn. This isn’t a new problem – in fact, there are lots of ideas on Ravelry of what to do with those bits. (And it’s better than the alternative, of running out of yarn and needing to finish the toes in a different colour.) I make lots of socks, thus have lots of bits.

Many people make medallions or squares from these scraps, then create an afghan. My mom knit argyle socks like crazy in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and when I was a kid, she made a lap afghan out of little hexagons. I always loved that afghan and remember helping her knit more hexagons to make it a bit bigger. Scrap quilts and knitted afghans are fun, because you often remember the origin of each little bit. I like that nostalgia. I’m not sure where my mom found the original pattern (she doesn’t remember) but it was a good way to use up those leftover bits.

It only made sense that when my own stash of leftover sock yarn started to grow, I thought of that afghan of hexagons again. I couldn’t find her pattern, so I reverse engineered one myself. I knit these on 2.75mm needles, and each is about 2.75″ across.

These four are knit in Fleece Artist Trail Socks:

Here are four in Noro Kureyon Sock:Here are four in another self-striping sock yarn:My Hexagon Block

Cast on 73 stitches. (I use the long tail cast on.)
Row 1 and all odd-number rows: Purl.
Row 2: *K2tog, K8, Slip 1, K1, PSSO. Repeat from * to last stitch. K1.
Row 4: *K2tog, K6, Slip 1, K1, PSSO. Repeat from * to last stitch. K1.
Row 6: *K2tog, K4, Slip 1, K1, PSSO. Repeat from * to last stitch. K1.
Row 8: *K2tog, K2, Slip 1, K1, PSSO. Repeat from * to last stitch. K1.
Row 10: *K2tog, Slip 1, K1, PSSO. Repeat from * to last stitch. K1.
Row 12: *Slip 1, K1, PSSO. Repeat from * to last stitch. K1.
Cut end, draw wool through remaining stitches and sew up seam.
Block the hexagons – individually or once they’re sewn in groups – on the ironing board. Put them flat, put a damp pressing cloth over them, and steam with a hot iron.

These are pretty quick to make and can be addictive – like so many projects – when knit in self-striping yarn. You can knit the centre in a different colour, if you run out, or could even stripe them if you’re more compulsive than me.

Then there’s the fun of arranging them. You can use a random arrangement, or assemble the hexagons into diamonds the way I have. You can assemble them into bigger diamonds, or into six-petalled daisies. You can make zigzag lines, or straight lines, alternate light and dark in a sunshine-and-shadow pattern. The possibilities are almost endless. I assembled mine into small diamonds of hexagons made of the same yarn (or yarn that looks the same), as you see in the samples above. Then I’m arranging the diamonds into bigger diamonds, like this:The red is Lang Jawoll sock yarn. It’s surrounded by hexagons in various colourways of Regia Colori Fortissima. I’m stitching the small diamonds into big diamonds using black sock yarn as contrast. I can’t decide whether it looks funky or Frankenstein.

The only thing was that my hexagons looked a bit smaller to me than my mom’s had been. I finally found her pattern, which is slightly different, buried in my yarn stash. I think she may have used 3.0mm needles which would account for the size difference. Naturally my mom, who is so much more organized than I will ever be, has noted that each hexagon takes 12 yards of yarn.

Original Hexagon Block

Cast on 79 stitches.
First row and every odd row – Purl.
Row 2 – K2tog, K10, *Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, K10. Repeat from *4 times. Slip 1, K1, PSSO.
Row 4 – K2tog, K8, *Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, K8. Repeat from *4 times. Slip 1, K1, PSSO.
Row 6 – K2tog, K6, *Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, K6. Repeat from *4 times. Slip 1, K1, PSSO.
Row 8 – K2tog, K4, *Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, K4. Repeat from *4 times. Slip 1, K1, PSSO.
Row 10 – K2tog, K2, *Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, K2. Repeat from *4 times. Slip 1, K1, PSSO.
Row 12 – K2tog, *Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO. Repeat from *4 times. Slip 1, K1, PSSO.
Row 14 – Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, K1.
Break wool, leaving a 12″ end. Run end through remaining 3 stitches. Draw closed and seam two edges together. Leave end for joining to next hexagon.
Make 238 hexagons for afghan.
To make up – Sew 17 hexagons together in one long strip. Make 14 strips. Join strips and blog flat.

There’s a note here about making half-hexagons to square up the edges. It says to cast on 40 stitches, purl the odd rows, then work as above. Obviously there will be fewer repeats – I’ll guess that you repeat from the * only once on each even row.

The blocks aren’t that different, but are probably different enough that you should choose one and go with it.

What do you do with leftover sock yarn?