Beginnerland
Skill Builder: Joining Yarns
Ann and Kay’s Skill Set: Beginning Knitting is a tidy little book—a perfect set of nine lessons to get a new knitter started with confidence.
And there’s the Skill Set Box of Joy, a complete kit designed to provide all the materials that are referenced in Skill Set.
Now it’s time to add something else to your knitting toolkit—pun intended! The Skill Set lessons show the first and simplest and most obvious way of joining a new ball of yarn: just knit with it.
But there are times where you need another solution.
The first question about joining yarns is about predicting when you might need to. To knit across a row, you need about three times of the row in yarn. If you’ve got less than that, you’re going to run out partway through.
The next question is about where you should join a new ball of yarn. The absolutely easiest place to join a new ball of yarn is at the start of a row.
Just knot the new yarn around the old one; pull the knot snug but not so tight you can’t undo it.
Tie the new ball of yarn around the tail of the old one. This allows you to easily pull the new yarn up into position to work with for the next row. Having the yarn anchored like this means that the stitches are stable and tidy, there’s no need to worry about anything coming undone or stitches stretching out.
I know! You’ve always been told that knots are bad in knitting. They’re only a problem if you cut the ends short, because the darn things can wiggle their way undone. But if you leave the ends long (about 3 inches (8 cm)) I promise it’s forever secure. I PROMISE.
I don’t pull the knot super-tight, which means that I can always undo it when it’s time to weave in the ends in. Honestly, though? Most of the time I just leave it.
But—there’s always a but, yeah?—the edge, sadly, is not always the best place to add in new yarn. Joining at the start of a row is brilliant if you’re going to be sewing up, or picking up stitches for an edging. If there is a seam, it’s the best place in the world to weave your ends into.
If those edges are going to be left visible—on a scarf or a shawl, for example—then it’s harder to weave in the ends neatly. If there’s no edge, like when you’re working in the round, then you need to join your yarn in the middle of the fabric.
My favorite way for doing it is this: work three stitches with both ends of the yarn held together.
Using two different colors for the demo here! In real life, this works only when joining a second ball of the same yarn. Hold the new one so that it’s a continuation of the old one …
… and start knitting with both ends.
After you’ve worked three stitches, drop the short end and continue only with the new ball.
This works brilliantly because the join is stable. There are no loose or sloppy stitches, and the yarns can’t wiggle their way out.
This also means that there’s less pressure to weave the ends in. Don’t cut the ends short—but it’s not the end of the world if you’re in such a rush to wear the thing that you “forget” to weave the ends in, and just leave ’em hanging. Only for that first wear, of course. <grin>
Nice and secure already!
It is true that you’ve got three stitches worked with doubled yarn, which means that you’ve got three stitches that are slightly thicker than their neighbors. But—perhaps surprisingly—it really isn’t visible.
Don’t do more than three stitches, but when it’s only three, it’s really the sort of difference that might come about if the yarn is a little inconsistent in its thickness.
Barely visible
On a related note, having lovely stable joins here means that you can go ahead and do your washing/blocking before you weave in the ends, too.
Now go out there and add to your knitting!
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Thanks for permission! Every time I do this I wonder if I’m cheating.
Great suggestion! I recently learned a simple variation: alternate stitches between old and new yarn for 5 stitches or so. It is just as secure with no doubled yarn. (And in both cases, so much tidier than splicing.)
How would you do this alternating?
To avoid doubling the strands.
That’s how I’ve done it for years – my mom taught me. This method is great if you have a wrong side, but not so good if you do not (e.g., a shawl) since you are carrying your yarn. In hose cases, I do a Russian join.
This sounds brilliant.
I do this too. Thanks for the confirmation that it’s perfectly fine!!!! LOL!
This is the way my Mom taught me 60 years ago. Thanks for the smile and the memory.
Thank you!!
I’ve been joining my yarn this way for years. Yay! I feel validated!
I like this method. I’ve always knitted only one stitch together and then wove in the ends, but this would be much better!
Also, when you do weave the ends in (if ever!) you will be much more able to see which direction to go with each end.
Great article I always hate when I run out of yarn in the middle I like this idea! Could you then show us from here how you would weave in those ends in the middle of your work, weaving in ends is my nemesis, thanks!
One excellent method is to weave each tail into a couple, few, nearby purl sts. Works awfully well.
Really like this idea for cotton and other non-wool yarns.
Thanks for the tip!