There’s something about ending or finishing a knitted/crocheted piece.  It’s a bit like leaving church on Sunday morning…you think you’re ready to go, you’ve gathered all the kids, you’ve chatted with everyone (it seems), and you head out the door, only to be stopped once more to talk for a bit, or you remember you left your purse under the seat in the sanctuary.  It. takes. forever. to. be. done.

It’s the same with ending your yarn project.  Perhaps you’ve made a sweater.  You completed the front, the back, the two sleeves, you’ve even sewn all the pieces together.  AND you’ve sewn on the buttons too!  But look at all those ENDS!!!!!!   Arrrgggghhhh!!!

Weaving in ends is a necessary evil.   I HAVE been known to leave all those unsightly ends dangling on a huge afghan I crocheted.  They remind  me of my laziness every time we use this living room blanket!

But on everything else, you really do need to weave in all the ends.  And, if you’re smart, you’ll do so AS YOU GO.  That way the task won’t seem so monumental in the end.

Here’s how:

FOR KNITTERS

You need a Yarn Needle.  “What’s that?”, you say.  It’s a chunky needle with a big “eye”…big enough for yarn to slide through.  You can find these at any craft/yarn shop.

With your Yarn Needle threaded with one of those ends, weave the needle in and out of stitches (on the WRONG side of the knitted fabric, or whatever you deem to be the “wrong” side).  Pull your yarn through these stitches, but not too tightly! You want your “end” to allow the knitting to “breathe”.  In other words, the stretchy nature of the knitting needs to STILL BE stretchy after you’ve pulled the end through.

Then weave your threaded needle BACK through some stitches very close to where the first weaving took place.  This secures the end even more.

Trim any remaining yarn from the end.  Voilà!  One end down, however many yet to go!

Here’s what mine looks like after I’ve woven in BOTH the blue end and the white end.  You can barely see where they were woven in.

The same process can be done for “end”s at the beginning and end of your knitted piece.

FOR CROCHETERS  (I’ll be adding this soon! Hang in there, crocheters…we will get to the goodies for you!)

The process is basically the same for crochet, but it will help to see photos of weaving into crochet stitches.  I promise…they’ll be here soon!