Technique Tuesday – Adding New Yarn In the Middle Of A Row

How To Add New Yarn In The MIddle Of A Row Of Crochet Stitches

Technique
Adding New Yarn In the Middle Of A Row

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What is it?

There you are… happily hooking along on your crochet project and, suddenly, the feeder yarn that was so perfectly tensioned across your fingers and hook goes slack. NO!! You've been so engrossed in binge watching the X-Files that you didn't notice you were at the end of your skein of yarn. Whatever will you do now?? WHYYYYYY?!?!?

Okay… it's probably not all that dramatic but, if you've ever felt the end of a ball of yarn slip through your tensioning fingers while you weren't quite paying attention, if certainly feels like the onset of the wombat apocalypse.

Now, my personal preference is to always change to a new working yarn at the ends of rows. Unfortunately, when I am working with a limited supply or with a particularly pricey yarn, that isn't an option.

Click "Read More" link below for the full post.

And we can't be the only ones who binge watch the X-Files… right??

Notice the title of this tutorial: Adding New Yarn In the Middle Of the Row. This could be adding a new yarn of the same color when you run out of a skein like we describe above OR "adding new yarn" could also mean that you want to change colors mid-row.

While we did use two colors to make the addition of the new yarn easy to see in this tutorial, today we are, specifically, talking about adding a new yarn from a new skein of the same color. Check back soon (next week?) for full-on color blocking and color changing tutorials. This, however, is a good place to start. Practice this little adding technique and you'll be way ahead of the game when we get to adding yarns of another color and working with them in pattern.

Okay… moving on to today's task: preventing an apocalyptic event with demented wombats with laser beam shooting eyes… hey… it could happen. Maybe too much X-Files?

First, we will demo with single crochet fabric, then we will move on to double crochet fabric. No matter what stitch you are working when you want/need to add new yarn, you will work your stitch up to the last "yarn over and draw through all loops on hook" before you add the new yarn to your row.

The principle is the same no matter how tall or short of a stitch you use and these two stitches will give you the skills you need for adding new yarn while making any stitches.

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Break It Down

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Here we've worked our single crochet row up to where we have run out of yarn. You'll want to leave about a 6" tail for weaving in securely so, if you've completely stitched your working yarn up to the last inch or two, frog back a few stitches to give you the needed 6" tail.

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This next stitch is where we want to add our new yarn. We've worked up until the last "yarn over and draw through all loops on hook" of this single crochet stitch.


Note the feeder yarn on the left…

Here you can see I have moved the feeder yarn (now the end of my old ball of yarn) to my right hand and tensioned the old yarn along with the tail of the new yarn (the lighter colored yarn) with my fingers. 

This tensioning of the old and new tails together on my right hand allows me to keep everything neat and tidy maintaining consistent tension throughout my row thus creating an invisible join.

Note I have the NEW feeder yarn (light colored yarn) tensioned with my left hand.

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Yarn over and draw through all loops on hook just like you would at the end of a regular single crochet stitch. Here you can see the new yarn loop coming up through the old yarn stitches.

And a flat photo of that new yarn loop without my big ol' fingers in the way.

New feeder yarn (light colored) on the left, two tails on the right.

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Finish your row of single crochet like you normally would.

Look at those beautiful stitches! Not a bump or a jog in site. Aaaaahhhh… it's a beautiful thing…

Next, the double crochet example. Same principle: work your row up until the last "yarn over and draw through all loops on hook" of the double crochet stitch.    

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Tension the tails of the old yarn and the new yarn with the fingers of the right hand and the feeder length of the new yarn (light colored yarn) with the fingers of the left hand as you yarn over.

Draw up the last loop of your double crochet with the new yarn maintaining consistent tension with the rest of your row. 

By the way, if your tension does go a little wonky here, it is an easy fix by giving a little tug on those loose tails over your right-hand fingers. Easy peasy fix…    

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Finish your row of double crochet like you normally would then check out the beautiful, non-bumpy, invisible join.

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TAADAA!!

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The first few times you practice this technique, use two colors of yarn like we did. It's just easier to keep track of which tail is which and where you need to keep tension with which fingers.

As with any technique, all it takes is practice for it to feel natural and easy for you.

As always, we recommend stitching up a few quick swatches like ours and, using our photo walk through to compare your stitches, to make sure your stitches are lining up correctly. If you aren't happy, rip 'em back out and go again!

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Thanks for dropping by for another Technique Tuesday! We appreciate the comments y'all have left for us on here and on social media and we're happy to know we could help.

What other techniques would YOU like to see included in our Technique Tuesday articles?

Is there a particular technique that you've always wanted to learn but every time you try it just gives you fits so you throw your work across the room and stomp around and just go back to the other way of doing it even though it looks like a deranged wombat gnawed on it?

Yeah… we've been there too…

Let us hear from you in the comments section below to let us know what techniques you'd like to learn and maybe we'll feature yours in a future Technique Tuesday… because nobody likes their work to look like it's been gnawed on by a deranged wombat.

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