ends

Those of you participating in our Tonnach knitalong will probably, by now, have chosen your colours and, if you have been knitting steadily, may have completed your ribbed hem (I am sorry about all those p1tbls, but I do love 1×1 twisted rib). As you move on to the body, and its multiple, fairly rapid shade changes, you are going to have to confront the topic that many knitters seem to love to hate . . . (cue dah dah dah reveal music) . . . ENDS!

How you manage your ends is really up to you (there is no right way and we are all different), but here are a few options you might like to mull over.

1. Carrying up the back of the work

Because of the rows on which shade changes occur in the Tonnach pattern (the 5 colour rhythm necessitates changes on both odd and even rows) this option is not possible while knitting the body, but is something you might want to consider for the sleeves (which are worked in the round). I am not a particularly neat knitter (or person generally) and tend to dislike the general faff of carrying multiple shades up the back of the work (for me, the prospect of managing 6 separate skeins of yarn in this way is a kind of horror). That said, there are points on the sleeves where – speaking personally – I would carry a non-working yarn – around the central zig zag pop of rows 3 and 16 for example. You may be someone who is much more adapt at multiple-skein management, and have other ideas about the up-the-back-of-work shade carrying. It’s completely up to you.

2. Knitting-in

When dealing with ends, many knitters love knit-in-as-you go methods, illustrated here in two excellent tutorials by Carol Feller and Stephen West. These methods are brilliant at getting ends out of the way, but inevitably create a bit of bulk at the selvedge, where you’ll be picking up stitches for your button bands later. Do you like these methods? Tell me!

3. Sewing in

This is my preferred way of dealing with ends in any project. Take a look at this great tutorial from Purl Soho for a few different methods on several different knitted fabric types. When sewing in, I like to criss-cross the old and new shades on the diagonal (one up, one down) for a firm edge that minimises gaps. You might like to give this a try. Or not!

4. As you go? Or leave till last

Again, there’s no “right” or “wrong” here and your answer will depend on your knitterly personality, as well as the project in hand. The majority of knitters that I speak to seem to prefer handling ends as they go, and I’m perhaps unusual in being completely indifferent to the unholy mess that ends create while you are knitting a garment. I also don’t dread the prospect of leaving them until last. Dealing with ends right at the end, I can treat them as a distinct task that’s separate from the knitting and, once I’m in the right frame of mind, I actually enjoy all that sewing in (regarding it as just another stage of the making process) – but I am definitely not here to tell you that you have to feel this way. I would say, though, that if you are, constitutionally, a leave-it-all-till-last knitter like me, that you should – definitely – weave in the body ends before picking up your button bands, because it will make that step neater and more straightforward. That’s the only “should” in this whole post.

How do you handle your ends? Tell me in the comments!