At Loose Ends

WARNING: This post has a lot of pictures.

I really love working with silk, linen, cotton, and their many blends. The problem with these yarns is that, unlike wool, you can’t just splice them when you need to add a new ball. So here are a few of the techniques I use in order to not waste yarn, and avoid having to weave in all those loose ends. For all of these techniques you will have to become friends with your sewing or darning needle.

Method #1: For any unplied (singles, chenille, boucle,…) or unusually plied (chained, ribbon, …) yarns

I’m going to used Noro Matsuri since I just finished a tank top pattern in this yarn. This yarn is constructed like a long i-cord.

1- Unravel 2-3 inches on the new ball. You can use your needle to tease out the strand.



For Matsuri you might want to remove some of the wool fizz.

2- Thread your needle with this strand.


3- Slightly overlap the two ends and sew the ends together, securely.


4- Run the remaining thread through the yarn to bury it.

I've left the thread here but you should bury it or cut off the excess.

For yarns like chenille or singles, you can use sewing thread or embroidery floss in the same colour as the yarn.

Method #2: For plied yarns that are fingering (4ply) weight or finer

This method creates an area of double thickness but with finer yarns it is not obvious and will not be detected in the finished item. I’m using a very fine silk/bamboo yarn.


1- Thread your needle with yarn from ball A. Taking small stitches and starting about 2 inches from the end of the ball B, stitch through the yarn of ball B for about 1-1.5 inches (longer for slippery yarns like silk).


2- Pull your needle out and smooth out the stitched section.


3- Thread your needle with the tail yarn of ball B. Starting at the initial stitching point, stitch through the yarn of ball A for about 1-1.5 inches (longer for slippery yarns like silk).


4- Pull your needle out and smooth out the stitched section.


Hold the yarn at opposite ends and give it a gentle tug to make sure that everything is smooth. Cut off any excess thread.

This method produces a very strong join. I used it all the time, even for wool. Because the join is so strong, we use it at my weaving guild to join warp threads

Here, I’ve joined two colours of Sea Silk.



Method #3: For plied yarns that are thicker than fingering (4ply) weight

Separate the plies and group them equally. Use Method #2 on the individual groups of plies. It helps if you stagger your joining to balance everything out.

Here I’ve joined some worsted weight mercerized cotton.


I hope my explanations are clear. Try them and see how they work for you.

Happy knitting!

Natsumi

Thanks everyone for the kind words. You’re all correct. No blogger should feel pressured to post. This is supposed to be fun so we should all just try to post as often as we can; no pressure.

Natsumi, Summer Beauty in Japanese, is my latest design. Early in the spring I was given some Noro Matsuri and asked to do something with it. Boy am I slow at designing garments; especially when they are not for me. Well the pattern is finally available at Mouline and the PDF version is available for sale on Ravelry.



Here is a close up of the stitch pattens.




I loved the yarn but as with all Noro yarns you have to deal with knots. The colours are just so beautiful and this is such a comfortable yarn to wear that knots are a small price to pay. It did get me thinking about all of the different techniques there are for joining yarns. Being a self taught knitter I have my own ways of doing things. So I've decided to do my first "how-to", all about joining non-wool yarns or any yarn that will not splice easily. I just have to take a few pictures since written explanations are not always that clear.

Happy knitting.

The Return of Lace

Yes I know it has been a very long time since I last posted. I guess I’m just not a very good blogger. I hope to change that. I’m planning to blog at least once a week. I figure between knitting, designing, teaching and weaving; I should have something to blog about.

Even though I haven’t been blogging, I have been knitting a lot. Mostly socks, but I’ll blog about that next time. This post is about lace; specifically knitted lace. I’ve picked up the WRS again. I had finished the center last December and then nothing. Now I’ve picked up all the stitches for the border and have set myself a modest goal to knit at least two rows of the border chart per day. I think it’s do-able. At that rate I should finish the border by early September.



I'm slowly working my way through the Frost Flowers and Leaves shawl from A Gathering of Lace. I've stalled at the third repeat of chart #2. I just can't face the idea of knitting another repeat of this chart. The only reason I started this project was because I was teaching an intermediate lace class and everyone picked this pattern. I don't think it will be finished any time in the near future.



I’ve also decided to publish my Merilyn’s Stole pattern. When I first designed this stole I was reluctant to publish it because so much of the design was improvised. I’ve since, done some redesigning, primarily to make it easier to knit. Because it is a framed stole done in the Orenburg technique, the charting was a major challenge. It’s being test knitted right now and I’m also working away at it so hopefully the pattern will be ready soon.

That’s it for now. I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and their knitting.