For all the posts in this series, you can go HERE!
I’ve been making good progress on my blanket, I’d say it’s about 45% finished, but the ends have started driving me up the wall. They’re getting a little tangled and in the way when I work, so I’ve started weaving them in. I tried weaving them in from the bottom up, but it was too excruciatingly boring, and instead employed a childhood game. Like most kids, my brother and I weren’t into tidying or putting our toys away, so my mom came up with a game. Depending on the quality of our mess, sometimes she would have us put the toys away by brand, other times it would be by colour, or size. So I started weaving in my ends by colour – all the reds first, then the orange, then the pink … really whatever tickled my fancy. It worked, I was distracted from the tedious exercise and the ends thinned out.
KNIT HACK Weaving In The Ends
Weaving in the ends on a granny stripe blanket isn’t especially hard, but to make it look nice you’ll have to do it with a darning needle. Because of the granny stripe technique, the ends do not look nice worked in as you crochet, they will not be visible on the back of the work. As a reference, I leave a generous tail at the beginning and end of each row, at least 12″/30cm. Having a good amount of yarn makes weaving in the ends much easier and more secure.
1. With a darning needle weave the end you want to work (here GREEN) up in through the stitch or the same yarn above (so Green goes through Green). On rows where there is only one post or stitch at the start of the row you may want to go right through this post to conceal the yarn. On rows where there are two posts or stitches, you don’t need to do this.
2. Thread needle through the tops of the stitches of the colour you are weaving in (the Green end goes into the tops of the Greens) for THREE or FOUR full clusters or the colour of the row above (here you can see the needle going through two).
3. Turn your needle and work back across in the opposite direction.
4. At the end of the row evaluate your work, give it a small tug to make sure the yarn is settled, and you can trim your end.
This lovely blanket looks like a perfect opportunity to use a magic knot join, which means there are no ends to weave in.
Hello – This is 2020…sorry I’m late! I just wanted to let you know that I stumbled across your blog while searching for “color combinations that work…alternate…dark, etc…” (and I’m so glad I did!) as the bright rainbow combo for my novel attempt at a granny stripe blanket feels – just as you alluded – well, I just can’t stomach it. Anyway, as I read, you zinged with the Kandinsky that is now tucked away in my brain as one of my favorite works of art, purely because of the message (“Chaos, control….chaos, control…chaos, control!”) and owed to Six Degrees of Separation (also tucked away as one of my favorite movies….Stockard Channing was robbed of the Oscar! :). I work in total chaos and my ends are never pretty, but thank you for reminding me of SDoS! During this pandemic, I just purchased it on Amazon and am about to watch my old favorite for the 100th time. So, thank you, I hope you’re still active on your blog, and I’ll be following!