How to add new yarn in knitting or crochet
Do you know how to add a new ball of yarn in knitting or crochet? Getting to the point of your project where your first ball of yarn is completely used up is a lovely milestone. It always makes me feel like I’m really making progress. However, whether you’re a beginner or more experienced, you may sometimes struggle to know the best technique to join in the second ball of yarn and how to do that easily.
The good news is that there are many ways to join a new ball of yarn into a knitting or crochet project. The most basic way for either knitting or crochet is unique to that craft, but these aren’t the only ways. There are many other alternative techniques that can be used equally in either knitting or crochet. So, the simple techniques first. Knitting and crochet both have their own basic method. After that, we will talk about a range of techniques which can be used in either knitting or crochet equally.
The Basic Knitting Technique for joining yarn
When you reach the point where you have only 4 to 6 inches of yarn left, you need to introduce your new ball. Here’s how this is done in a simple way:
1. Insert the needle into the next stitch as if to knit (or purl) the stitch.
2. Loop the new yarn over the needle, leaving a 6-inch tail hanging loose.
3. Pick up the old yarn tail and loop that around the needle as well. Then pull through so you have just made a stitch with two yarn loops over the needle, making one double-thickness stitch.
4. Insert the needle into the next stitch to knit or purl. taking the new ball of yarn, use both ends of the yarn that are coming from the old stitch, and loop them both together over the needle, then pull through.
5. You have now made a second stitch which is of double thickness with two loops of yarn over the needle but only forming one stitch.
6. Drop the tail and continue knitting with the new ball of yarn.
The first thing to pay attention to when you are working back around the next round or back across the next row is to make sure that you remember that each of those doubled-up stitches is still only one stitch. Work the two loops of yarn together as one stitch. These doubled-up stitches will hold your yarn nice and secure so that it won’t unravel until your project is finished. At that point, you can weave in your ends securely.
Pros and cons of this technique.
Using this technique is an easy way of joining a new ball of yarn to your knitting project. It avoids the hole that forms if you just drop one strand without working it in. It also holds the yarn secure until you can go back and weave in ends.
The disadvantages are that it can get slightly bulky. The thicker the yarn, the more the point where 2 stitches have been worked with 2 strands will show. And finally, this is a technique that leaves ends to be woven in at the end.
The Basic Technique for Joining Yarn in Crochet
Work your crochet until you have 10 to 20 inches of yarn left, depending on the stitch. (You will need more for taller stitches such as treble crochet, less for smaller stitches). Take the new ball of yarn and hold the strand of yarn behind your stitches. Make sure to hold it at the back of the work. For the next 3 to 4 stitches, continue crocheting using the old yarn as normal, but as you put your hook through each stitch, make sure it goes under the new strand of yarn as well so that the new strand of yarn is getting caught securely behind the stitches that you are making and is held in place.
Securing the old strand
When your new strand of yarn is held in place under 3 to 4 stitches, you can now switch over which strand of yarn you are using. On the next stitch, start the stitch using the old strand of yarn, yarn over, and pull through once, then drop the old strand of yarn and pick up the new strand of yarn before working the final yarn over and pull through. Take the old strand of yarn and hold it behind the next three or four stitches. Now continue crocheting as you were before, this time making sure that you are using the new strand of yarn but catching the old strand of yarn behind the stitches.
You can now drop the old strand of yarn once it is caught behind three or four stitches. Continue crocheting using the new ball, leaving the remaining tails hanging out a couple of inches apart on the back of your work. When you are finished crocheting the piece, you will want to go back and weave in the ends that you left hanging out. They will be moderately secure, but weaving them in back in the other direction will ensure that they stay 100% secure and can survive many trips through the washing machine.
Alternative Methods for Joining Yarn for Knitting or Crochet
The above two methods both work very well—one for knitting and one for crochet. However, there will be times that you may want to use a different method, and there are several alternatives. In fact, most of these alternatives work just as well for both knitting and crochet.
The Magic Knot
The next method of joining yarn for knitting or crochet is known as the magic knot. Personally, this is a method that I would never use; it is somewhat controversial. Many people swear by it, so you may like to try it out just to see.
This method is very simple. As you reach the end of your first ball of yarn, you simply tie the two balls of yarn together using a double slipknot. When your double slipknot is tied, you cut off the tails very close to the knot. You now have your two balls of yarn tied together, and you simply continue crocheting or knitting.
Pros and cons of this method
The advantages of this technique are that it is very simple and easy and leaves no tail to be woven in afterward.
The disadvantages—the reasons I would never use this method myself—are twofold. First, it is one of the least secure methods of joining ends together. Many people swear by this method and say it always stays secure, while others face the devastation of a crochet or knitting project coming apart in the washing machine because the knots came undone.
The second disadvantage of this method is quite simply that it leaves knots in the work. To my mind, if you’re going to spend three or four times the cost of a finished item buying the yarn and then spend days, weeks, or even months knitting or crocheting yourself a blanket or a cardigan or something, you want it to be perfect, not knotty. These knots can be visible in the work and can be uncomfortable on the skin; you can feel them.
These are the reasons that I would not myself ever use a magic knot to join yarn, but there are no rights or wrongs in knitting or crochet, and if you find that this technique works for you, then there’s no reason not to use it.
The Russian Join
Another popular technique that works equally well for both knitting and crochet is known as the Russian join.
At a point where you have about 6 inches of yarn left of the old ball, you take a darning needle, thread the old yarn onto a darning needle, cross the old yarn over the new yarn, and use the darning needle to weave in and out between the plies of the old yarn so that you are folding the yarn over on top of itself.
When you have woven the darning needle through the yarn as far as it will go, pull taut. You now have a double-thickness strand of yarn with the new yarn caught in the top of it.
We now thread the end of the new yarn onto the needle and repeat the same procedure on the other side, taking the darning needle and weaving in and out between the plies of the new yarn above the joint. When you have woven it through as far as it will go, pull firmly, and you now have your two ends of yarn neatly joined together and a length of 6 inches of yarn that changes from the old ball to the new ball right in the middle, which is double the thickness of the rest of the strand of yarn. But once that is worked into the work, you are unlikely to notice this double thickness.
Continue to knit or crochet as normal.
Pros and cons of this technique
What I love about this method is that it leaves no tails to be woven in and makes finishing the project quicker and more enjoyable for that reason. The disadvantages of the method are that the slightly thicker couple of inches of yarn that are created might just be visible as a slight thickening over a couple of stitches; the thicker the yarn that you are using, the more obvious this will be. This is a fantastic technique with finer yarns such as 4-ply or double knitting, and it’s very unlikely that you will ever be able to find where that joint is hidden. Using a bulky or super bulky yarn and using this joining technique may create a visible bump within the work.
The Spit Joint
Another method is to felt the ends of the two balls of yarn together with a darning needle. But this time, instead of threading the yarn onto the darning needle, we simply use the darning needle to gently pull the plies apart for about half or even a third of an inch, just a very short distance at the top of the end of the old ball of yarn and the beginning of the new ball of yarn. With the ply pulled apart, we then moisten or dampen the two ends. This is often done by experienced busy knitters by simply sucking on it slightly, and that’s why this is known as the spit joint because we dampen the ends of each strand of yarn with a little bit of spit.
If that grosses you out, don’t worry; you can use water instead. With the end slightly damp, we hold them together and rub them briskly between our fingers. This causes them to felt together and makes a much shorter double thickness which is just as secure as with the Russian join.
Pros and cons of this method
The advantages of this technique are that it gives a really invisible yet extremely secure join which is quick and easy to do. Because the length of yarn that is doubled up is much shorter, it’s much less likely to be visible within a project than with the Russian join, but again, it leaves no ends to be woven in. The disadvantage of this method is that it will only work on certain types of yarn.
This method is absolutely perfect for wool which felts, so most wool can be joined in this way. However, cotton or acrylic will generally not felt together well, and therefore I recommend one of the alternative methods. But this is a great quick and easy way for joining balls of yarn together for knitting or crocheting with wool.
This is one of the quickest and easiest methods after only a bit of practice. It leaves no ends to be woven in, which is a big bonus. But, it only works with animal fibres. Not all yarns are equal, and plant based or synthetic fibres won’t felt, so won’t work with this technique.
All 5 methods described here work when you have used up a ball of yarn and ned to join a new one. They are not the same as techniques for changing colour. Why not follow along and hear when further posts are published for other knitting or crochet skills. Pop your email address in the box below to be notified of new posts. And get a free pattern at the same time.
How do you like to join your new balls of yarn? Comment below with your favourite technique.