Yarn ends: the inevitable ending to any yarn project. Whether it's just two or two-thousand ends, you need to make sure they're fastened properly and don't get undone. But as with any craft, there are so many ways to 'fasten off' that you might get confused by all the different methods. Let me tell you what does (and doesn't) work for me.
No knots!
Like my 85-year-old grandma says: 'real crafters don't knot.' Granted, my grandma has probably never tried macramé, but she was on to something. Knots are a tricky thing when it comes to crochet or knitting. Because when they come undone, you have approximately 2 millimetres of yarn left to knot again. And why would they come undone? Well, laundry softener and smooth yarns will loosen your knot over time, creating slack in your knot. Imagine your finished blanket coming out of the delicate laundry, with as many yarn ends poking out as you started with. If your stitches haven't unravelled first, that is. So take my grandma's advice: don't knot.
Russian join
Okay, so why not use Russian joins and get rid of those yarn ends altogether? The Russain join is a method of splicing the yarns and winding the ends into one another, thereby fastening them to each other without visible ends to fasten off. I'm not a big fan of this type of join. For one, it's challenging to predict where the colour change will exactly occur in your work (halfway through a stitch, possibly). When they get undone you again have little yarn left to fix it with. Some people swear by this method, just not me.
Fastening yarn ends the proper way
So what is the correct way? It's weaving them in. Preferably with a sharp needle, weaving the strands into the stitches and back into itself ensures they stay put. Even if the yarn end gets undone, you still have a proper amount of yarn left to work with. And to top it off, you have full control over where your yarn changes colour. Is there a downside to his method? Well, it's more time-consuming than knotting, and you might poke yourself with a sharp needle once or twice. Other than that it creates the prettiest and neatest end results.
Video tutorial to securely weave in yarn ends
I've created a video tutorial to show you how to weave in those ends, including little tricks I picked up through the years. All you need is a needle (preferably sharp) and a pair of scissors.
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