An Easy Way to Weave in Yarn Tails as You Knit

Weaving in ends may be the most dreaded chore a knitter faces, except perhaps swatching, and at least swatching you can sometimes skip, but most of the time weaving in a few ends is a must. Even more so when you are working colorwork or a large project that uses multiple skeins of yarn.

One of the easiest ways to deal with yarn ends is to hide them as you knit. The tutorial from 10 Rows a Day explains how to do it, but basically you are just twisting the tail along the new yarn to hide it along the back of the work.

This isn’t a trick you can use all the time; I’d think with really bulky yarns it would stick out a lot and be more obvious than it is with thinner yarns. But it’s definitely worth the effort if you have a lot of yarn ends to work through on a project.

Have you ever tried this technique for weaving in ends? I’d love to know what you think of it!

[Photo: 10 Rows a Day.]

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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