THE third STEP IN LEARNING HOW TO KNIT IS LEARNING HOW TO Join a new ball of yarn. THIS POST SHARES TEXT AND VIDEO TO EXPLAIN HOW TO DO IT.

Balls of yarn are not limitless, and so it is necessary in most projects to join a new ball when the old one runs out. Some projects are what we call “One Skein Projects,” but most require you to add a new ball at some point. We are going to learn the most basic way of joining yarn today,  and it’s perfect when knitting a straight fabric like the Scarf Pattern we’re work on.

If you don’t have your copy of My Magic Scarf Pattern, then please visit this post to get yours! I have written a beautiful beginner pattern with big ,full-color pictures, and instructions. There is also a shopping list so you will know exactly what to pick up at the store when you go to get your supplies.

This post is the fourth in a series of eight that is written to get you knitting. I’m sharing a couple of free patterns, shopping lists and video tutorials to get you going.

Let’s get down to the Brass Tacks. 

You need to know four basic techniques to get started in knitting. All beginners need to know these four things to get going, and they are things you will need to know how to do no matter what project you’re working on.

IF YOU CAN’T DO THESE FOUR THINGS, HANG UP YOUR NEEDLES. YOU SIMPLY CANNOT KNIT UNTIL YOU LEARN HOW TO DO THESE FOUR STEPS.

But don’t worry, because we are going to go step-by-step through each technique. By the end of this series, you’ll be ready to conquer the Scarf Knitting World!

What are the four foundational knitting techniques?

1. Casting On
2. Knit Stitch
3. Joining New Yarn
4. Binding Off

Today we are on lesson three. We are going to learn how to join a new ball of yarn. Why is this important?

1. When we run out of the first ball, we need to know how to introduce a new one so we can finish the project.
2. Joining new yarn is also important when it comes time to introduce stripes into a project.

Do I have your attention now? I figured that Hermione tribute would get your attention. Learning to confidently join different balls of yarn together is very important if you want to make something like this Gryffindor inspired House Scarf. You also need to purl, but that’s a different lesson. Let’s just stick to joining the new ball of yarn.

Here’s today’s Video Lesson for you!

So easy right? The hardest thing about joining a new color on the end is getting your stitches evened out where you join in that new color. But that comes with practice.

Work on this lesson by joining new balls of yarn a few times so you get the hang of making your ends even.

This does bring up the concept of The Right Side and The Wrong Side of your knitted fabric. If you are joining two of the same colors in garter stitch it won’t matter, because it will all the look the same. But when you get into joining different colors or working in different stitch patterns it becomes super important. What does it mean?

• The Right Side is the Side of the fabric that you want to have be the front or the side that is primarily shown.
• The Wrong Side is the back side of the fabric that you will wear on the inside and where you will weave in your ends.  Basically, the inside of your sweater is the Wrong Side. Take a minute and look at the side you show to the world and look at the side you wear on the inside. See how they are different?

If you stick to knitting with one color like I have you doing in this mini course, then you won’t have to worry too much about this. But when we go to a striped or color blocked scarf (House Colors here we come) then the concept of right and wrong side become important. I don’t want you to stress out about it right now, but I do want you to be aware of it.

Ok, so let’s get to practicing joining up our new yarn and I’ll see back here next week! By now Casting On and doing the Knit Stitch should feel comfortable. At this point you can work on getting even tension in your stitches and having pretty edges. Believe me, you can work on getting pretty and even stitches for a life time. Tension is more important that complexity of stitches, so don’t feel like you have to rush this.

If you have questions, drop me a line on the Facebook page! Chances are good if you have an issue, someone else does, too. Thank you and I hope you are enjoying this mini course!

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