Monday, September 17, 2012

Braided Join

While working on my Pole cardigan I had a little dilemma when I ran out of yarn mid-wedge. The outside circle of Pole can be worn reversed so I didn't want ends to weave in and Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage is a superwash yarn so spit/splicing was out of the question. I really didn't want to frog back a bunch of rows to an area where I could weave ends in less conspicuously without giving something else a try first. So after researching Ravelry and the Madelinetosh board, I came across two alternatives, the Russian Join and the Braided Join. I thought I'd give the Braided Join a try.

First I separated one end of the yarn into two plies about six inches (as I was knitting on large needles and wanted the join to cover a few stitches). Then, I took the new end of yarn and overlapped it in the middle of unseparated yarn and secured it with a hair clip.


Then I braided the yarn together and when finished removed the hair clip. The join is very secure. I gave it a good tug to be sure. There are ends that will be left at the back and cut off once the piece has been blocked.


Then you knit as normal with the braided yarn. Here you can see that it blends pretty well except for the one stitch where I had braided the yarn too tightly and it had twisted and become too thick. (sorry for the sideways pics - computer issues today)
I did find it helpful to have an extra pair of hands to hold the hair clip when braiding.

Overall it worked in a pinch. I think it might be more successful with other types of yarn. It is supposed to work with everything from cotton to wool, including Superwash, bulky to thinner yarns. To be honest, next time I'll just plan my join a little more carefully unless I'm running low on yarn and trying to use every last scrap.

1 comment:

Denise said...

Wow!!! I'm totally loving the braided join...I've done the russian join, which is cool but I really like this one. One more tool in our bag of tricks!!!!
Love the color too!!