Making a knot that wont come undone?!

How-to Questions
1

Hello I am new and I have a question that has been bugging me for several months.

For the last year I have been knitting a huge blanket for my husband made out of squares 100 st by 100 with size 10 needles. There will be 25 squares total so this is a king size heavy blanket. A couple of months ago I sewed together the squares that I had already finished (I am still working on it!) I have 3 rows of five done. My hubby loved it so much that he started using it immediately even though I wasn’t done. Shortly after he started using it I noticed that there is a lot of stress put on the corners and then knots come undone and the blocks start separating. I have been finishing as all my books tell me, by tying a simple knot and working the ends back into the blanket. But even if I tie multiple knots they manage to work themselves out. So now I am quite frustrated as to a knot, or method of finishing that wont come undone with heavy use.

I just recently noticed also that the ends where I tied two skeins of yarn together (it takes two skeins per block, sometimes more) are coming apart, and so now I have several blocks that I will have to completely unravel and redo. That is VERY frustrating! Any help for those too!

Can someone help me!?
Thanks for your time,
Laura

Add: I posted this at another knitting forum and someone there recommended that I come here and look around and find the mattress stitch, I looked but couldn’t find any info.

2

Is this a knit project? What sort of stitch did you use for the blocks? How have you been sewing the blocks together?

I’m thinking of a few things but this information would be good. Also what type of yarn are you using?

3

I rarely use knots at all. Are you weaving in the ends? What kind of yarn are you using?

4

No matter what yarn I’m using, I always triple knot to finish, and then weave in the stitch going (at least) 5 sts up on my work, then 5 sts down on my work. This way, the weave does not come undone, and so the knots cannot come undone either.

Good luck with the remainder of your project. :wink:

5

Is this a knit project?

I am not sure what you mean by this, I started out wanting to knit a baby blanket pattern, just making it bigger, but I soon realized that I would have to make squares and sew them together. I start out with 3 st, knit 2, yo, knit to end of the row, and repeat until I have 100 st. Then I knit 2 st decrease 1 and knit to the end of the row continuing until I have only 3 stitches left.

What sort of stitch did you use for the blocks?

Just knit, I’m not sure what the stitch is called, just your regular beginner stitch. :slight_smile:

How have you been sewing the blocks together?

I have just been stitching them together, as the beginner books say, its very simple, looks nice but doesn’t do well under lots of stress.

The yarn I am using is 80% wool and 20% something else I am not sure what possibly rayon. Cheap yarn. :slight_smile:

I am weaving in the ends as best as I know how but they usually come out right away I will have to try the method lynn893 mentioned.

6

Here is a link to mattress stitching:
http://www.yarn-store.com/technique-seaming-row-to-row.html

That would work for vertical rows- for the tops and bottoms you would use a different stitch (someone gave me a link once to a bunch of finishing stitches- trying to find it.)

For the knot- this Girl Scout leader recommends a SQUARE KNOT.

7

Quote:
Is this a knit project?
I am not sure what you mean by this, I started out wanting to knit a baby blanket pattern, just making it bigger, but I soon realized that I would have to make squares and sew them together. I start out with 3 st, knit 2, yo, knit to end of the row, and repeat until I have 100 st. Then I knit 2 st decrease 1 and knit to the end of the row continuing until I have only 3 stitches left.

Quote:
What sort of stitch did you use for the blocks?
Just knit, I’m not sure what the stitch is called, just your regular beginner stitch.
Quote:
How have you been sewing the blocks together?
I have just been stitching them together, as the beginner books say, its very simple, looks nice but doesn’t do well under lots of stress.

The yarn I am using is 80% wool and 20% something else I am not sure what possibly rayon. Cheap yarn.

I am weaving in the ends as best as I know how but they usually come out right away I will have to try the method lynn893 mentioned.

I’ve been away for about a week, I went to visit my oldest DD and have been pretty busy since I got back.

The reason I asked if it was a knit project is that although this is a knitting forum we do get questions that regard crocheted projects as well. So now I know it is knit. That helps me.

Then I wondered about the stitch, because I recently learned a really good technique for hiding in ends (BTW I never use knots myself), and it is really good for stockinette, but works for garter as well, but is a little more complicated. If your project was stockinette I thought it would be great. I think it is great on garter as well, but like I said it is a little harder. Here is a link to a site that explains this duplicate stitch technique for working in ends. I like this because it looks good on both sides and that helps with a blanket project. (It wouldn’t work with crochet, that’s why I asked.) Take a look at it and try it out. You may already be finished with this project by now, but maybe for next time. :slight_smile:

If you use this duplicate stitch technique you can use a fairly long tail and work it in for a couple of inches, and I don’t think it will get out of that. Your yarn sounds like it shouldn’t be particularly slippery with all that wool in it.

One thing with tails to keep them from coming out is to make them long enough. Real short ones are not a good idea. I hope your project has turned out well. :thumbsup:

8

Coupla things. . .
One is, here is how I knot things-- and I know there are people who don’t and just weave in ends, but it makes me crazy to do that, I’m so afraid it will come undone!-- I knot 3 times. Then I weave the ends in a few of my knitted stitches, keeping both ends parallel and fairly close to each other. Then I knot 3 times, again. Then I weave in another inch or so, and then do the 3-times-knot thing once more. I’ve never had something come undone.
The other thing is that when you have to join yarn in your actual knitting, and your yarn is wool or mostly wool, you can open up the yarn a couple of inches,that is, untwist it to expose the plys, and then twist the 2 plys back together, and then wet those couple of inches with hot water, and rub that section with your hands or a towel. Wool has sort of spikes to it (only seen with a microscope) and they will grab each other and hold.