So, as you might guess from the question, this is my first time knitting mittens. I’ve gotten the hand part done, and the pattern called for me to slip stitches onto a holder. Now I’ve finished off the hand part, gone back and picked up the stitches, dug some stiches out of the other side as the pattern asks, but then when I picked up another needle ready to knit, I realized - (imagine my surprise :shock: ) hey, there’s no working yarn around here!
I suppose it needs to be joined…but where should I join it and how? Just run it through something, let the end dangle inside the mitten…???
Yeah, that’s pretty much it. You need to use a new strand for the thumb, but when you’re done you can weave in the ends to the inside of the mitten.
<whines a bit> But Ma, how do I do it? <end of whining>
Do I just hold the end, or let it dangle, or tie it on something else – some loop that’s there? Or what? I can’t picture how to have tension on the working yarn if it’s not fixed to something. I looked under “joins” on the site but all of the joins seem to involve actually joining a new piece of yarn to another piece of yarn that’s already there. So I guess what I’m asking is, to what do I actually join the new working yarn?
Some people just start knitting and weave in the ends later. What I usually do, is tie a slip knot and pull the loop of that through as my first stitch. I doubt this is considered a ‘correct’ way, since it involves a [size=9knot[/size], but I feel more secure. You weave in the ends later, so though it sounds as if it would pull out, it really doesn’t.
I had no idea how to do this either when I made my first mitten so I winged it-I had a long tail and used a loop (not slip knot, just loop and it is okay if it is big when you first pull it through, after it is on the needle you can readjust your hands and pull it taut) through the first stitch then knit the tail and working yarn together through the next few stitches-voila! no weaving in ends (I HATE weaving in ends).
Thanks, guys, that makes sense, especially when you said specifically to knit the tail and the working yarn together…duh! just like when you start, right??? makes sense to me.
Okay, now I just have to finish up the thumb part (and try to get another mitten to match this one…) :XX: