How to Smoothly Change a Color of Yarn in Knitting
Switching from one yarn color to another while working on a knitting project takes a little maneuvering to avoid messy-looking edges or gaps between stitches. If you want to create the smoothest possible join, learn how to work the Russian join for any yarn with two or more plies, or the felted join for wool yarns.
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Instructions
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Russian Join
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Cut the working yarn, leaving an 8-inch tail, at the point where you want to change colors. Thread the yarn end through the eye of a sharp sewing needle.
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Insert the tip of the needle between the untwisted plies; sew into the yarn 2 inches away from the back of the last stitch you knit and bring the needle back out where the yarn emerges from the back of the last knit stitch. Pull the yarn through until you have a small loop at the end of the yarn.
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Slide the end of the new yarn through the small loop, remove the needle from the working yarn and thread it onto the end of the new yarn.
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Sew through the new yarn in the same manner as the working yarn, but sew in 3 inches from the yarn end and exit 2 inches farther down the length of yarn. When you've finished, the working yarn and new yarn should create two interlocking loops.
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Pull the short ends of the working yarn and the new yarn to draw the loops closed, stopping as soon as the loops disappear. If you pull further, you will undo the Russian join. Trim the yarn ends flush with the point where they exit from between the plies.
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Continue knitting. The only evidence of the join will be one or two stitches that are a little thicker than the others.
Felted Join
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Break your working yarn four or five stitches before you reach the point where you want to change colors. Leave a tail that measures at least 8 inches.
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Untwist the last 1/4 inch of the working yarn so the individual fibers fan out. Untwist the fibers at the end of the new yarn in the same manner.
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Dampen both sections of fanned-out fibers with a little saliva and place them one on top of the other in the palm of your left hand.
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Place your right palm on top of the overlapped yarn and rub your palms back and forth. The friction from rubbing will cause the yarn fibers to tangle together and felt into a sturdy, almost unnoticeable join.
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Pull gently on either strand of yarn to check the strength of the join. If the two strands begin to slip apart as you pull, dampen the join with a little more saliva and rub it between your palms a little longer. When the yarn no longer slips apart, you've created a sufficiently strong join and you can continue knitting.
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Tips & Warnings
Felted joins will work on all wool yarns except for super-wash varieties. Also use it for yarns made from other animal fibers, such as alpaca and llama. Use a Russian join for plied yarn if you're unsure of the fiber content.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit handcrafted yarn image by mrslevite from Fotolia.com
