Do you love colourwork knitting, but dread all the ends you have weave in? This month’s Boost Your Knitting technique is focused on two different ways to join in yarns in your projects … and as an added bonus, these methods eliminate the need to weave in ends! While this month’s featured pattern is the stunning colourwork Marangoni Hat, these techniques can be used any time you need to add in a new yarn, whether it’s a colour change or just time to add the next ball in a single colour project.
The Marangoni Hat by Tori Seierstad. Photo © Jesse Wild.
Today, Jen shows us the first of two methods for joining in a new yarn — splicing! This is a great technique to use when you don’t have too many colour changes close together, or when in you’re joining in a new ball in a single colour project. It’s also a really handy method to have in your back pocket for projects where woven in ends would be particularly visible — for instance in a shawl of scarf where you don’t want an obvious wrong side.
Splicing might seem fairly intuitive, but I think there’s a real art to it. There’s nothing more devastating than thinking you’ve spliced a new yarn in securely and knitting several inches on only to find your join hasn’t held (ask me how I know!) And especially if you’re splicing one colour to another, care must be taken to ensure that your colour change occurs at the right place. But don’t worry, Jen has you covered with a great trick for marking your yarn! There’s something pure magic about splicing in a new colour, knitting along, and watching the new yarn emerge JUST where it should in your pattern. Watch on and you’ll be splicing in no time!
And just remember, this method is only suitable when working with yarns that can felt — your chosen yarn’s fibres need to be able to grab each other in a nice woolly embrace. If you’ve never spliced, Jamieson & Smith’s 2ply Jumperweight is a great yarn to try the technique out on as it’s plenty woolly enough for the job! But stay tuned for our next post, where Jen will show off a different method for joining in yarns that you can use no matter the fibre content!
And you can, of course, find print + eBook bundles and eBook only copies of Boost Your Knitting in the online shop, along with all the yarn you need to make a Marangoni Hat of your very own!