• Knit Wise

Knit Wise

If you are a knitter who likes to avoid extra work like me, you'd rather be done with the project at hand when the knitting part is completed. I have had too many projects left as unfinished objects (UFOs) with only the final details of weaving in the ends, sewing on the buttons and blocking the finished items to make them ready-to-wear.

I also know knitters who avoid knitting with more than one color because of the plethora of ends which will require their attention. There is a common solution to both of these issues, which may alleviate your frustration in one fell swoop. It's a bit of a challenge to tell you how to do it, so I'll include photos to illustrate.

First, this works well for any weight or type of yarn, and works best when working a knitted, right-side row. Hold the tail to be attached in your left hand and the knitting yarn in your right. After working one stitch, insert your needle into the next stitch in the usual manner. Before wrapping the yarn, however, place the tip of the needle under the yarn you'll be weaving in (blue).

Continue making the stitch as usual (wrap the ecru yarn around the needle) but do not bring the carried yarn through to the front with the knitting yarn. Only your knitting yarn will be on the needle.

On your next stitch, knit as usual, ignoring the carried yarn, as it will be temporarily above the line of work.

With the fourth stitch, insert the needle into the stitch and bring the carried yarn down under the stitch being made.

Continue alternating the tail yarn up and down as before. You'll see that you are making loose waves with the carried yarn as it rises and falls behind the knit stitches.

Be sure to allow the carried yarn to be at loose tension and not pull the work on the right or public side.

At the end of the row, I wove in the tail of the ecru yarn as I was knitting the last nine stitches. First, I caught the tail end, and then progressed toward the joining point, weaving every other stitch as I went.

I find that making three or four such "waves" is all it takes to anchor the tail end, so I cut any remaining yarn and forget about it! No further attention needs to be paid to it, and our work here is done.