Those Pesky Yarn Tails

Yarn ends are the bane of knitters and crocheters. At the end of your project, you wave your magic wand to make all those yarn tails disappear into the stitches and nothing happens! Those pesky tails just sit there. That is exactly what happened when I finally finished knitting my knee socks that I've had on the needles since February. So I had to hide the tails the old-fashioned way with a yarn needle and manual labor.

A finished project with no yarn tails in sight is a wonderful thing. But weaving the tails in is not so wonderful. I have 4 hats piled up waiting for the tails to be woven in. All 4 hats are crocheted and it is much easier to weave yarn tails into crochet. You hide the tail between the front and back legs of the crochet stitches.

To weave yarn tails into knitting, it's best to hide the tails in an edge that is in a seam. Socks don't have seams. Next best is weaving the tail through a nice long row of purl bumps on the wrong side. These socks didn't have long rows of purl bumps near the yarn tails. So it takes more time and creativity to finish off those tails.

This foot closeup shows the stitch detail on these knee socks. I used maroon Fortissima darning yarn to reinforce the heels and toes. My February post, Yarn Jumps off Shelf, details the stitch pattern. The yarn is a variegated Sockotta yarn I bought I couple of years ago.

Everyone loves these knee socks. My mom. My stepsister's mother-in-law. My mom's cat. Donna, the library staff angel for the knitting club, petted and stroked them while a library patron admired them. Now all I need is some weather cool enough to wear knee socks.