Hi and welcome to Knit With Hannah. We're going to
add a new ball of yarn today in the middle of your knitting
Hi and welcome to Knit With Hannah. I'm Hannah, I'm here with knitting natter to
help you learn to knit the easy way. Yes, if you're knitting something that is quite long,
like a scarf, it might be a jumper, it might be a baby blanket, the likelihood
is if it's all in one plain color then you are going to have to change the ball
at some point. So you finished the end of a ball and you need to start a new one,
but what do you do? Do you tie them together at the end, how do you do it? Now, I have got three
methods for you to do today and I do use all three of them at some point when I'm knitting,
it would depend what I'm knitting, and I'll talk about that while I'm showing you exactly
which methods I used, but it is really useful to experiment for yourself, use these methods
for yourself and see what works for you. While I do love showing you how I knit, it really is
important to work out what works for you when you are knitting. So let's do this then: we're going
to add a new ball of yarn in the middle of your knitting, and I've got three methods for you.
What we're going to do is imagine I have just knitted this piece up and I've come to the end
of a ball of yarn. That is the end of the ball of yarn, so I need to start a new ball and I'm only
using a new color simply to show you how you do that. Just imagine that it's pink as well but it
would be a lot easier for you to see as I'm doing it in a different color. So you want to hold on
to this and take hold of the short end in your left hand, and this is the easiest way to do it,
and it is very simply to make sure like I said that this end is going to the ball,
and you just start knitting at this point. So, do four or five stitches, and then just stop, and
what we have here now are the two ends of yarn. We can just take those two ends, they'll be the
same color if you're just starting a new ball of yarn in the same color, and that's all you have to
do is just very gently do a loose knot at the end there. If you do it tighter then it will tighten
up the stitches at the side and it will be uneven, but, what you will see, I will just show you, is,
you get to the end of the row you'll knit back the other way as well. I will show you that now.
Okay we are at the end of the row just on that last stitch, and these can now be just tightened
off. I'm going to pull this pink one so it's a little bit tighter, and there you go. That is the
end of the row, and let me just show you, this is exactly the technique that I've used here in this
big long scarf. This was two big balls of blue, and I cannot tell where one ball of yarn started
and another one stopped, because it's just exactly what I just showed you there, that I started the
new ball of yarn without really any fuss and then tied them together with a single knot and then I
used the weaving tutorial, weaving in your ends tutorial, to finish off one. You could do that in
a few rows time, or you could do that at the end of the whole project which is usually what I do.
Unless I'm changing color or I've got very small balls of yarn, I would generally speaking do that
right at the end of the project. So that is the technique that I use for that. I actually use this
same technique for this stripe to changing it to a different color, so it doesn't show and there's no
need to worry about that. So that's one technique. So what you can also do, and this is the technique
that I used for this, this is a blanket and you can see all the squares on it there. I've got
quite a few baby blankets that I've knitted up with borders around the edges. That's what I'm
replicating here and I'll show you that now, just imagine you're knitting a whole blanket in
this blue color and you need to change the ball of yarn. So this is what we're going to do. We don't
want in any way to disrupt the side of this. Like I showed you before it doesn't really matter, what
is even neater and actually even more secure is to do this, and we're going to change color again.
Let's shift to a pink this time, and, we are going to knit that border piece with the old yarn
So that's from the previous ball. So at any point if you're knitting something like this,
you can realize that we're getting to a border and you've not got much left,
you can even do this at the joint of the squares, so that is an option for you as well, but,
what I'm going to do here is very simply, just like I did with the edge option,
with the option of changing at the edge, is I'm going to start knitting with the pink,
making sure that this yarn is coming directly to the ball. So, I'm changing color just so you
can see what's happening, but this is generally speaking done when you're using the same color
and yarn all the way through the piece, and I will knit all the way along here and back again,
and if you want to see the stitches, I'm not focusing on the stitches, I'm focusing
on changing the yarn here, then I will link the knitting stitches for beginners tutorial up here.
And here, you will notice that that is just one stitch in one ball and one stitch in the
next ball - this is where I would just do a very loose knot again, just joining those together.
That's a simple, really simple slipknot. Knit past that. You can do a second knot there if you like,
it's not absolutely necessary, but you can do if you feel you just want a bit more security, but,
these lengths here at the end are long enough to make sure that it's not going to unravel.
You may think "Oh but I'll feel the knot in it, it won't feel right" that will be fine,
it really will. You won't notice, and especially if you just do the single
knot rather than the double, then it definitely won't be noticed at all,
you just weave in the ends and that will be fine. So that's the second option, if you
have a border on what you're knitting, change the ball of yarn there rather than at the end.
Now, this option a lot of people use because you're weaving in as you knit,
so that is knitting like this. So, what you want to do, is, leave the end at the end of the row,
or just knit a couple of stitches and start again, and start with a new ball,
but I'm going to start at the end here so I'm going to start knitting with the new yarn here.
What I'm going to do is hold on to this old yarn in my left hand as if I'm knitting with my right
and my left hand at the same time. So we're going to knit one stitch to stitch. We haven't knotted them,
we haven't done anything at the end there, and then into the third stitch I'm just going to pass that
blue color over the side there so that's the old yarn and then I'm going to knit the stitch but I'm
not gonna let this previous yarn come it come with it, it's just going to drop over the back
again, and then you knit knit two more stitches then we do the same thing, so the needle goes into
the stitch the yarn goes over it from the previous yarn, that's from the previous ball. The yarn goes
around from the new ball, we drop the yarn from the previous ball and then we make that stitch.
Two more stitches: same thing again. Needle goes in, yarn goes over from the previous ball, that new
ball makes the stitch, drop that previous ball's yarn across again, and then you can carry on. You
can do this all the way along the row, or what I started doing sometimes if I choose this method
I'm going to go all the way along the row with just the new ball now, and then I will come back
and approach it again, because you can see what I'm doing there. That yarn end is now up at this side
and it's not visible at all. So I'm going to knit all the way along here, and then I do the
same thing with the yarn at the front, so I'm going to do one, two stitches and then the yarn goes, the
needle goes into the next stitch as if to purl the yarn from the previous ball goes over that
needle I make the stitch, pull that yarn back again and then I make that stitch. So, two more
stitches: needle goes in, yarn from the previous ball goes over, yarn goes around to make the stitch
and drop that one. It doesn't make the stitch; this previous ball's yarn has got nothing to do with the stitch, other
than just getting caught as you're making it. So, that is enough now. We've caught it a few times
it's woven in as we've knitted, we don't need to be concerned about where it's going, what's
happening with it and, as you do the next couple of rows you can do the same thing with this end
here if you like, so over the next couple of rows you can weave in this end from the new ball of
yarn. So that has meant that we've got that yarn woven in. The only thing I'm not that keen about
with this is that the yarn feels a bit, the fabric that you've just knitted feels a bit thicker when
you do that, more so than when you weave it in diagonally like I show you in the weaving in
tutorials so, go and have a look at the weaving in tutorials, experiment with all of these if you
like and see which one you prefer. So we have the one which starts right at the end of the yarn, of
the row, and this is perfect, especially if you are knitting up pieces that you're going to sew
together because nobody's going see that. These ends are right in place to sew into the seam,
there's nothing to worry about. So that is a great option if you're knitting pieces to sew together.
This one, use if you're knitting a border because then you're not going to see any ends at this side
when you weave them in, and it just will start at the border, and then you weave in the edges there,
and this one you're weaving in as you go. Okay, see which one you prefer, have an experiment and see
what you like. Alright then you now know how to change the ball of yarn in the middle of your
knitting and in the in the comments below do let me know which method you use and whether you're
going to change and use one of the methods that I showed you today. There was a baby blanket that
I showed you in the tutorial just to demonstrate part of it, and if you'd like to find that pattern
then I'll put the link below, it's it in my pattern shop and you can find that. OK I will see you again
next week. If you're not subscribed do hit the subscribe button and click on the little bell that
will mean that YouTube will notify you whenever I release a new video. You're going to find a new video
from me every Tuesday every week. I do hope I'll see you next week. Bye for now. Happy knitting