I am working on my dd’s sweater. In doing the stripes, I am just breaking the yarn when I go to the new color. Then I was planning on going back and weaving in the ends. It seems there should be a better way to do it, but I haven’t seen it yet. How should I be doing this? Do I need to redo it, or will it be ok as is?
Also, I am kniting this in garter (uh, I think… straight knit stictch LOL). Will it be ok that way?
Thanks!
If you have wide stripes then it’s preferable to cut the yarn and weave in the ends later, as you’re doing. There’s also the option to ‘carry the yarn’ up the sides. In other words, not cutting it every time and when you are at a color change you just bring the new colour up under the old colour so the two strands twist once together, and then keep knitting.
It is just fine the way you’re doing it, just a lot of weaving in later. I’ve got one like that going on right now too so I know how you’re feeling!!
I have felt the need to cut the strands, b/c if I don’t, they get all tangled. Is there a way around them getting tangled when not in use?
May I recommend this method, called “double knit-in-join” on this website!
http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/misc.php
(Great video!)
Unless you are using very bulky yarn, I think this is the best! Imagine if you made a sweater with 10 stripes (conservative), that’s a total of 30-odd colour changes (for body & 2 sleeves) or SIXTY ends to weave in. It makes my eyes well up with tears just thinking about it.
But using this method you can cut the yarn ends short, and don’t even need to think about weaving.
You could weave in as you go. Knit some, weave some. Might break up the monotony, and you’ll have fewer strands to get in the way.
That’s what I was going to say, too. Weave them in periodically so you’re not overwhelmed at the end, and they’ll be out of your way.