Ordered way too much yarn for my blanket so I kept going

I did almost the same thing last winter with a cardigan. Ordered six skeins of Caron Simply Soft thinking the pattern called for worsted, turns out it was DK, so I ended up with nearly double what I needed. Instead of letting it sit I made two pairs of mittens, a cowl, and a chunky basket for the bathroom, and the basket actualy ate up the most yarn, which surprised me.

The matching color thing is real though. I kept a note on my phone of which round each color started on so I wouldn't drift, and it made the leftover projects look intentional instead of scrap-bin chaos. My daughter got the cowl and mittens as a set and now she asks if every project comes with accessories. One thing I'd add for anyone with a big leftover pile: granny stitch is great for eating yarn, but corner-to-corner and simple shell rows go even faster if you've got bulky leftovers. I cleared out three partial skeins of Lion Brand Hometown in one weekend just doing a big cushion cover.

Also the couch joke landed because my family has the same rule about matching knitwear. My son calls my green phase 'the moss period' and honestly the blanket was the start of it too.

I buy extra on purpose these days because of a disaster a few years back. I was making a throw for my sister with some Lion Brand Hometown, ran out two rows from the end, and the store had restocked with a diffrent dye lot. The last corner is visibly a shade off and she still brings it up every time she visits. So now any project bigger than a hat gets one spare skein bought up front, and if it goes unused it joins the scrap bin instead of haunting me mid-row.

The turning point for me with leftovers was a cheap ball winder. I had a bag of partial skeins I kept ignoring because I could never tell how much was actually on each one, so they just sat there for a year. Spent an afternoon winding everythign into cakes, stacked them by weight on the shelf, and suddenly planning a scrap project was easy instead of guesswork. Knocked out a whole pillow set from cakes I'd forgotten I had.

Did you wind your six leftover skeins before starting the sweater, or did you just eyeball it as you went? I always wonder how people plan colors off loose skeins.

I'm new to all this and still working on my first scarf, so the jump from blanket to sweater in one go is blowing my mind a bit. Also I had to google what a balaclava was, I thought you meant a face mask for washing your face and was very confused about the yarn choice. Did you follow an actual written pattern for the sweater or just kind of wing it from the blanket?

For the sweater, I've had decent luck just winging it off an existing garment. Lay a hoodie you allready like flat, measure across the chest, and crochet two rectangles to match, then sleeves untill they look right. Granny stitch hides a lot of sins so you can skip the formal fitting stuff. Only thing I'd actually check is armhole depth, mine came out too deep on my first attempt and the whole thing slid off my shoulders every time I reached for a coffee. Pulled the sleeves back and redid them one row shorter and it was fine. Also toss a small swatch in the wash before you commit, acrylic can surprise you.