Tips for Joining a New Ball of Yarn to Your Work

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Tips for Joining a New Ball of Yarn to Your Work

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Unless you are making a one-ball scarf or hat, there is going to come a point in your knitting (probably several, actually) when you will need to join a new ball of yarn. The absolute best way to do this is to join the new ball at the edge, as this avoids messy or gapped stitches. When you do this, you simply stop working with the old yarn at the end of one row and begin working with the new yarn as you begin working the next row.

However, there are sometimes that this just isn’t possible. For instance, if you’re working in the round you obviously have no edge to join at. You also might be working on a project where you’re really concerned about running short of yarn and you want to use every inch possible. There are a couple of options for those times when you can’t join at an edge:

The best thing to do, unless you are working with a very thick yarn, is work a couple of stitches while holding the old yarn and the new yarn together. Make sure to work these double-stranded stitches as single stitches on the next row–the double stranding won’t show in the finished project. This particular method gives a nice stable join with no loosening of the stitches or possible gapping between them.

If you’re working with a particularly thick yarn (category 5 or higher), you’ll need to join as usual, meaning you’ll just stop working with the old yarn and start working with the new yarn, leaving a tail of 4-6” of each. You’ll probably need to snug up these stitches as you work the first couple of rows past the join, and may even want to temporarily tie a half hitch just to stabilize the area. Then when you’re weaving in your ends, weave them across the join. In other words, weave the tail from the left over to the right and the tail from the right over to the left. This should keep that gap closed and give it the appearance of a normal stitch.

Editor’s note: When joining yarn, you also have several options to splice your old yarn’s end and new yarn’s end together before continuing to knit or crochet. Use Google (Bing, Yahoo, etc.) to search for “Russian join,” or for feltable yarns, search “felted join”. You’ll be able to find many written, illustrated, and video tutorials on these two popular yarn-splicing methods.

Are there other skills that you need tips on? Let us know in the comments!

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8 Comments

  • Can you please tell me how to join a second ball of wool to a self patterning yarn so that the pattern continues?

    • Hi Sharon, you’ll want to pull the yarn from the new ball until the point where it matches up the sequence of colors that you’re up to. Then cut the yarn a few inches before that point (so that you can use weave in those few inches to secure that end) and join at that point. It creates some waste, but will allow you to match up the colors.

  • […] June 1st, 2011 § Leave a Comment Well, not make so much as encourage…and really only if you’re a new/inexperienced knitter or crocheter who has questions about how to join a new ball of yarn. Check it out over on the Lion Brand Blog. […]

  • When working on a knit necklace that uses many different yarns after each other (novelty type yarns), how can I join the yarns so the ends don’t stick out even when I have sewed them back in the necklace (about only 7-14 stitches wide on #10s. I have a hard time joining the yarns so I can change them every couple of rows.

  • When working on a knit necklace that uses many different yarns after each other (novelty type yarns), how can I join the yarns so the ends don’t stick out even when I have sewed them back in the necklace (about only 7-14 stitches wide on #10s. I have a hard time joining the yarns so I can change them every couple of rows.

  • Please let us know where we can find the pattern for that beautiful sweater pictured with this post!!

    • It’s a free pattern, L0580, top down pullover.

  • I have been working with some slippery yarns. Do you have a way to keep them joined? I find the usual methods, even knots! just slip apart after awhile. Also, the ends fray so they won’t stay woven in.
    Thanks in advance, Nancy

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