JOINING ON THE HOP

QI know that it’s not best practice to join in yarn in the middle of a row but mine snapped when I was halfway through one. I have a lot of stitches on my needles and I’d rather not have to take them all back. Is there a safe way that I can re-join my yarn mid-row?

Kyla Briggs, Helensburgh

There are a few different ways, but the easiest is the twinned knitting join, where you alternate knitting with the old and new ends for a few stitches to help secure them during the weaving-in stage. By using this technique, the yarns will be held neatly in place on the wrong side of the fabric. When you reach the place you would like to join the yarn, with at least 30cm of the old yarn remaining (so you may have to take your work back a few stitches but not many), insert the right needle into the next stitch, and instead of wrapping the old yarn around, take the new yarn with about 30cm folded over at the end, using the loop on the end as your new stitch, and bring this through to the right needle. Bring the old yarn up from underneath the new yarn (and yarn end) and knit the next stitch. Continue in this manner, always bringing the next yarn up from underneath the yarn previously used, to create a twist on the WS. After five to ten stitches, continue in the new yarn only until you reach the end of the row. On the next row, alternate stitches again in this section as before.

After two rows like this, continue in the new yarn only, weaving in the ends as you go by knitting underneath them in every other stitch to further secure them and reduce your weaving in! Rachael