Yarn changes for the Ballband Dishreg

#1

Which joining method works best for the famous Ballband Dishrag? Will http://scrapdash.blogspot.com/2007/10/weave-in-ends-while-knitting.html this technique of weaving in ends while knitting work? (I started out trying it, but I’m not sure how it’s going to interact with the slipped stitches. I’m not convinced it’s actually going to hold together.)

#2

You mean joining a new yarn right? I don’t think I wouldn’t use it to join the yarn, just to weave in ends. To join I just start knitting with the new color. You can use that method on the next row to weave in the end although I usually this method when I’m weaving in the ends on cotton because it seems more secure.
http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall04/FEATfall04TT.html

#3

The “just” part is where I seem to have trouble! Maybe it will be more obvious if I try it again tonight.

#4

With the ballband, the rows are short enough that you don’t have to cut the yarn every time you change the colours, you can simply start knitting with the new colour and carry the other colour up the side. Is that what you mean?

#5

Yeah, it seemed VERY complicated and unclear to me the first time, trying to figure out how “just” joining a new yarn was really going to work.

Here’s my little tips:
1 bring the new yarn up UNDER the previous working yarn
2 wrap the tail end of the new yarn around the pinky of the opposite hand you hold the working yarn in (I knit conti, so working yarn in left, new tail in right, with it under the old yarn I just let go of) After 2 or 3 stitches I drop it, but holding it at first just makes it all feel more secure somehow

#6

I think the carrying is what I want for this… though I was a bit fuzzy on that too. You just wrap the “extra” yarn inside the stitch when you turn & start a new row, right? I gave it a try… I think it looks OK even if it’s not the 100% exact recommended technique.

#7

Looks good! Yeah, “carrying” the yarn up the side is just practice I think. Just bring the new colour to the front and the previous colour to the back. It looks like you’ve done a good job so far. Don’t you love this pattern?