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Are you looking for a project to use up all of your leftover yarn? Today I’ve rounded up a list of what I call “yarn eating crochet stitches” – these are crochet stitches that use a considerable amount of yarn to reach the desired result.

Many times when I am planning a crochet project, I find myself buying more yarn than I will probably need. This is because if you’ve ever run out of yarn halfway through something it can be very frustrating – especially if you don’t know if you’ll be able to get the same yarn or the same dye lot.

As a result, I often have a lot of leftover yarn that doesn’t really go together with anything. Yarn Eating crochet stitches are a great way to use up that extra yarn.

1. Single Crochet

Are you surprised that single crochet uses the most yarn? While it is one of the most basic crochet stitches out there, it is also a very dense stitch, which is why we so frequently see it used for bags and Amigurumi.

If you want to use up a lot of yarn quick, single crochet is an easy way even for a beginner to do it. Keep in mind however the fabric will be very stiff and won’t easily drape so it’s not an ideal stitch for blankets or clothing.

2. Puff Stitch

Puff stitch is a really fun stitch that definitely eats up the yarn because to do the puff stitch you have to yarn over and go through the same loop several times.

If you have a lot of yarn that is the same weight but many different colors, puff stitch is great to use for hats and scarves. You can also combine it with double crochet for a number of different textured designs.

3. Bobble Stitch

Bobble stitch is similar to the puff stitch but it has a bit more texture.

With bobble stitch, you yarn over, pull through two loops, yarn over again, insert through the same stitch and pull through two loops, yarn over again, insert through the same stitch and pull through two loops and continue doing this until you have 5 or 6 loops on the hook. The more loops on the hook, the wider and bigger your bobbles will be.

Like the puff stitch, bobble stitch can also be combined with other crochet stitches for a wide variety of textured patterns.

4. Popcorn Stitch

Popcorn stitch has a similar appearance as bobble stitch but it is worked differently. With popcorn stitch, you do a series of 5 double crochets in the same stitch, then remove the hook from the working yarn and reinsert it into the first stitch of the series. You then pull through the yarn from the last loop and the first stitch to create the popcorn stitch.

It’s a more complicated stitch, but it is a great stitch to learn if you love chunky textures. It can also be combined with other stitches to create different patterns and designs.

5. Bullion Stitch

Bullion stitch has a similar concept to the puff stitch, except the yarn is wrapped around the hook several times {typically six times or more} and then inserted into the stitch and you pull the yarn through all of the loops on the hook.

Bullion stitch gives you a lot of great texture and it’s also a good stitch to use when height matters because you can make it as tall as you can comfortably hold all the loops on your hook!

6. Box Stitch

Box stitch is a slightly more advanced crochet stitch that results in a very dense fabric. It’s a great choice if you have a lot of different colored yarn scraps of the same weight because it is easy to change the colors between rows.

It may be challenging to learn box stitch at first, but the results are beautiful.

7. Tunisian Crochet

Tunisian crochet is one of my favorite types of crochet because it mimics the look of knitting – but is all worked with a long crochet needle.

The resulting fabric is very thick whether you make knit or purl stitches so it is not surprising that this method uses considerably more yarn than traditional crochet.

8. Jasmine Stitch

Jasmine stitch uses several small puff stitches to create an elegant star-shaped design.

9. Loop Stitch

Loop stitch looks a lot different from most crochet stitches – in some ways it almost looks like nothing is stitched together!

With loop stitch, you hold the yarn with your fingers so that when you complete the stitch it leaves large loops dangling. It’s a great stitch to use for textured Amigurumi to make things like a Lion’s mane, the wool of a sheep, or even hair for dolls.

Loop stitch can also be used to make rugs and you can even snip the loops just as you would with a pom pom to create a shag carpet look.

10. Seed Stitch

Seed stitch is a great yarn-eating crochet stitch to explore if you are newer to crochet because it is actually just a repetition of single and double crochets, alternating the order of stitches between each row.

As we mentioned earlier, single crochet is one of the greediest yarn eaters out there, so it’s not surprising that seed stitch, which is made of single crochet stitches would also eat up a good bit of yarn.


I hope this list of yarn-eating crochet stitches inspires you to create something wonderful with all of your leftover yarn! Do you have a favorite crochet stitch that uses up a lot of yarn we may have missed? Tell us about it in the comments section below!

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