Transcript
So one of the secrets of finishing your garments really well is to weave in your ends so beautifully and secretly that not even the best knitter could tell where they are if they were to turn your garment inside out. And the reason we leave long ends in the first place is because in knitting, there are no knots. It’s just a series of loops coming up through loops. And anywhere where you were to tie a knot and trim would therefore be the weakest point in your knitting, and if it’s going to unravel anywhere over years of use, it will be there at that knot.
So we’re not going to tie a knot. Instead, we’re going to take that long tail that you’ve left either from your cast-on or bind-off edge or from a color change and we’re going to put it on to a tapestry needle or a blunt-tipped giant sewing needle. And the first thing we’re going to do is we’re going to take that yarn to the inside of the garment. So now I’m going to flip this mitten inside out. This mitten doesn’t have a really discernible inside or outside, but for this sake, let’s say this is now the inside.
And what I’m going to do, I’ve knit this in garter stitch. So I’ve got all these wonderful little garter ridges in which to hide an end. So I’m going to take the needle under this pearl bump here, and then down the next one, up the following. And see how when I do it this way, it’s just sort of mirroring this garter ridge? And if I don’t pull too tight, which would be weird, because I worked to keep this knitting loosely, and I don’t leave it too loose so that there are little loops sticking up, I’m just replicating the fabric that I made.
And I’m getting this end far away from where it actually is coming from. Two inches will usually suffice. With a more slippery yarn like a cotton or a silk, you might want to be a little trickier, like go up this ridge and then down this ridge. But as long as you’re alternating, going up one stitch and down the other and you’re making sure not to let the tails show on the surface of the knitting, you’re doing great.
So once you’ve gotten pretty far away from your original site, you can take your scissors and trim really close to the surface of the work, flip it back right side up, and now hopefully no one will ever, ever, ever be able to see where that’s coming from or unravel it. So then I would do the same thing with the tail sticking out here. I would thread it on to a tapestry needle, push it to the inside of the work, flip it inside out, and weave my end in.
When you’re doing a Fair Isle garment that has lots and lots and lots of color changes, you’re going to have lots and lots of ends to weave in. So put on a good TV show or movie or sit down with the telephone, turn your work inside out, and weave in all your ends before you trim them.
Good luck.
