August 14th, 2012

Tuesday’s Knitting Tip – Hiding Your Ends

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Instead of weaving in your ends at the start of a project or when joining a new ball, try knitting the tail of the yarn right into your project.

  • Hold the tail and the working yarn together and knit 3-4 stitches.
  • Knit these stitches a little tighter than you normally would to cut down on the bulk knitting with two strands.
  • Then, when you knit the next row, just make sure you knit into both strands for these stitches.

This works best with wools that will block well and hide the areas with slightly more bulk.

Weaving in ends is my least favorite part of knitting. Do you have any other suggestions on how to avoid weaving in ends?

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Grace

Customer Service Liaison at WEBS - America's Yarn Store
I started working at WEBS in September 2010. I learned how to knit 5 years ago and have been crocheting since childhood. When I'm not knitting, I love to be outside with my Black Lab, Ellie.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 14th, 2012 at 2:38 pm and is filed under Tips & Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

  • Stitchknit

    I was glad to know someone else knits ends in as they go. I’ve been doing it for years, whenever the yarn & project allowed. The other thing I try to do, is to join the new yarn at an edge, where there will be a seam. However, each project really has to be looked at individually….. I don’t think there is a rule that works all the time with ends! My favorite rule is No More Striped items! :)

  • Chris

    I started doing this recently as well. I hate hate hate weaving in ends! I’ve been knitting hats on circular needles and it means I don’t have to limit myself to yarns with lots of yardage.

  • Knitterdeb

    With wool, I’ve been using the Russian join. It depends on the yarn though.

  • Egozko

    I am pleased to hear that I am not the only one who uses this technique. I thought of it one day and wondered if it would be too unorthodox of a procedure. Thank you for sharing!

  • Jocelyn

    I’ve seen (but sadly don’t remember to do) a technique where you weave it the end as you would carry the second color in a fair isle project. That’s not a very good explanation, but hopefully that makes sense.

  • Mary Frances

    I always done this on my my top down socks. First low is a little thicker but it looks great.

  • Meadow Campbell

    I did this on my own when I started knitting, and like Egozko mentions, I figured it was a cop out and that eventually I’d learn the ‘real’ way to weave in ends as I go. I personally don’t care for the results, though. I prefer to carry the tail for several stitches, and sometimes again on the next round for good measure, as Jocelyn suggests. I’ve never had a problem with unraveling and I don’t have the bulk on the first few stitches…just my preference though ;)

  • Sunshine Knitter

    I always join at the edge of my work too. I can usually determine by looking at the length of yarn left if there is enough to complete another row. If not, I go ahead and join then. The left over length can be used to stitch the garment together.

  • Nancy

    Hi, I have been carrying the tail for several stitches for a long time now. I really find that for the majority of my work it really doesn’t show unless one really looks for it. I agree that each yarn/project needs to be treated individually. The other option is to weave the yarn in as one goes, so that at the end of the project you are already done.

  • ritainalaska

    i carry the ends as i go, across the row, on the diagonal or straight up. still have to weave the cast on end in, darn it!

  • denise

    I hate sewing up and weaving in ends. Consequently, I also join in ends this way, and knit from the top down on circular needles or dpns so no seams either!

  • Julie Aiken Littlejohns

    Yes, thats exactly what I do, I weave it in behind on the back of the knitting, just twisting it around the working yarn once to make sure the tail end is caught in the back of the stitch as it is knitted. This is the same technique as carrying the second colour. It is so much easier than weaving in the ends afterwards. :-)

  • Kateweavesknitsandsews

    I learned to weave many years before I learned how to knit. In weaving, starting a new color or bobbin/shuttle of yarn is the standard. When I learned to knit, I instinctively did this…didn’t know I was being innovative! Yay me!

  • BearyAnn Pawter

    I do this with my crochet projects. I have never done it with my knitting. Time to start.

  • http://www.chilledstitches.com/ Emmylou Sagusay Henderson

    I’ve been doing this technique for only some month. I wish I learned about it much earlier so I didn’t have to “suffer” painstakingly weaving ends of my projects.

    Still, thanks for pointing this out!:D

  • NoLibLiz

    Actually, weaving the ends by knitting the new and old strands together is effectively the same thing as weaving them in with the duplicate stitch (the ‘recommended” method). It really depends if you want the two strands of yarn in that place in your work or in another place.

  • Yvette Wilson

    If I can I use the Russian Join, but if I need to add yarn at the end of a row, like in changing colors, I use the FairIsle Technique with 1 end and then when I am going back in the same direction 2 rows up I do the same with the other yarn end. I also do it when knitting Intarsia and then clip the ends. I tried doing the double yarn after seeing it on a You Tube, but I don’t care for how it looks and feels. It’s pretty obvious you’ve doubled the yarn no matter how much tension you put on it!

  • Krissy

    I have been doing this for the past 15 years. Nothing new about this. It’s the only way to knit ends