I have some good news. And, I have some bad news. Good news first: there is no one right way to weave in your ends. So, chances are, you haven’t been doing it wrong! Now, the bad news: there are so many different ways to weave in your ends, you might not be doing it the best way either.

Having options, it’s a blessing and a curse. While options allow us a certain freedom, they also give us cause for doubt and uncertainty! Sure, as knitters we do live by a few hard and fast rules (such as: no knots!), but for the most part, there is always another way to do it, no matter what it happens to be. This truth became abundantly clear during my days working at the Purl Soho shop.

Some of our most seasoned customers would come in to find a knitting newbie at the communal table, finishing up a project in some newfangled kind of way. The old pro would sheepishly ask about it in an apologetic tone, pre-emptively saying “I know, I know I should know this.” It turns out the most basic questions are the most common. And, so as simple as this tutorial may sound, it’s not just for beginners! It’s for everyone who has a creeping feeling of doubt whenever she or he tucks away those last stray tails, “Is this really how you do it?”.

The perhaps unsettling truth is that there is probably another way to do whatever it is you are doing. It might not be a better way, just different. We all have our favorites. To help you pick yours, I’ve gathered together some of my favorite techniques for hiding ends. Some I picked up from the humbling-ly talented Joelle Hoverson, some from the witty Whitney of Whit’s Knits, a lot from customers and of course a few from dear Mom. The techniques below are by no means a conclusive list. We’d all love to hear if you have another favorite method!

Stockinette

Weaving in Ends with Duplicate Stitch (on the ‘Right Side’)

Weaving your ends using the duplicate stitch method means you will sew along your fabric, following the path of the stitched yarn.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

With your tapestry needle threaded, bring your needle from the back or ‘wrong side’ of the fabric to the front or ‘right side’ of your fabric at the base of the nearest ‘V’ created by the knit stitches. Orienting the needle parallel to your rows of knitting, bring your needle behind the ‘V’ of the row above.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Next, insert the needle back into the bottom of the ‘V’, the same place where you began. You have now duplicated one stitch.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

To make your next stitch, bring your needle to the front again, at the base of the adjacent ‘V’. Run your needle behind the ‘V’ of the row above. Pull your end though. Then bring the needle back through the hole at the base of the ‘V’ below, where you began your second duplicate stitch.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Continue in this fashion for a few more stitches or until your feel your end is secure.

Weaving in Ends on the Vertical

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Hold your fabric with the ‘right side’ facing you. Bring your threaded needle from the ‘wrong side’ to the ‘right side’. Point the needle vertically away from you. Weave the needle under every other horizontal strand that stretches between the ‘V’s created by the knit stitches. To see these horizontal strands more clearly, hold your fabric on the right and left sides and gently tug, stretching the fabric slightly.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Hold the needle perpendicular to the stitches you just made. Run your needle under the adjacent ‘V’.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Point the needle vertically toward you. Run it under every other horizontal strand found between the ‘V’s made by the knit stiches.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Weaving your end into the fabric in two directions should secure your tail. If you want to be extra sure your end is tucked, rotate your needle and weave it vertically away from you once more.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Weaving in Ends with Duplicate Stitch (on the ‘Wrong Side’)

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Orient your fabric with the ‘wrong side’ facing you. With your needle threaded, bring it from the ‘right side’ to the ‘wrong side’ of your work, the side you are looking at. Point the needle away from you. Go up through the nearest purl bump.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Closely following the path of the yarn in the stitched fabric, rotate your needle and bring it towards you. First go under the purl bump adjacent to the original purl you went under. Then take your needle under the purl bump in the row below, slightly to the right.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Once again, rotate your needle. Point it away from you, and slightly to the left. Draw the needle under the purl bump adjacent to the one you recently went under, and then under the purl bump from the row above that you previously came down through.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Continue in this fashion, following the path of the knit yarn, for a few more stitches or until your feel your end is secure.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Weaving in Ends on the Diagonal

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Hold your fabric with the ‘wrong side’ facing you. With your needle threaded, bring it from the ‘right side’ of the fabric through to the ‘wrong side’, the side you are looking at. Point your needle at roughly a 45 degree angle. Weave it at a diagonal, under the purl bumps of each of the above rows.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

After taking 4 to 6 stitches, rotate your needle 180 degrees. Take another 4 to 6 stitches, parallel to your original stitches. For extra security, you can rotate your needle once again and take a few more stitches.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Garter

Weaving in Ends with Duplicate Stitch 

Duplicate stitch for garter is a combination of duplicate stitch for stockinette and reverse stockinette. By that I mean, you will follow the path of the knit yarn, grabbing a purl stitch at the top of the row and then a ‘V’ of the row below.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

With your needle threaded, point the needle away from you. Run the needle under the closest purl bump.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Rotate the needle. Pointing the needle towards you, pull your loose end under the adjacent purl bump. Next, orient your needle parallel to the rows of ridges created by the garter stitch. Slide the needle under the base of the ‘V’ in the row below.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Following the path of the knit yarn, point the needle away from you. Run the needle under the purl bump you last came through.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Once again, point your needle towards you and bring it under the adjacent purl bump.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Continue in the fashion until you have duplicated 4 to 6 stitches total.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Garter can be tricky for weaving in ends, but I find this method nearly invisible and quite secure.

Weaving in Ends on the Horizontal

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

With your needle threaded and your loose end brought through the fabric to the side you are looking at. Garter stitch creates ridges of purl bumps. The ridges are created by pairs of slightly staggered purl bumps, one slightly above the other, one making a smiley face, one making a frowney face.

While pointing the needle away from you, run the needle under the nearest higher, frowney face purl bump.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Rotate your needle. Run the needle under the adjacent purl bump, it is slightly lower and making more of a smiley face.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Once again, rotate the needle. Run it under the adjacent purl bump. Continue in this fashion for several more stitches.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho
With this method, you are only weaving your tail in one general direction. Because of this, I tend to take a few extra stitches to make sure the end is secure.

Weaving in Ends on the Diagonal

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

This method is very similar to weaving in ends on the diagonal on a stockinette stitch fabric.

With your needle threaded, point your needle at roughly a 45 degree angle. Weave it at a diagonal, under the purl bumps of each of the above rows.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

After taking 4 to 6 stitches, rotate your needle 180 degrees. Take another 4 to 6 stitches, parallel to your original stitches. For extra security, you can rotate your needle once again and take a few more stitches.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

Rib

Weaving in Your Ends on the Vertical

Whitney tipped me off to this method and its usefulness especially with ribbed knits.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

This method is similar to that of weaving in ends vertically on a stockinette stitch fabric.

Point the needle vertically away from you. Weave the needle under every other horizontal strand that stretches between the ‘V’s created by the knit stiches. To see these horizontal strands more clearly, hold your fabric on the right and left sides and gently tug, stretching the fabric slightly.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

After taking 4 to 6 stitches, run the needle horizontally on the ‘wrong side’ of the fabric over to the adjacent rib column. Next, point the needle towards you. Take another 4 to 6 stitches, parallel to your original stitches.

Weaving In Your Ends | Purl Soho

For extra security, you can stitch away from you once more.

Materials Used

To demonstrate I used Jade Sapphire’s  8-ply Cousin Coral to contrast with the Ivory swatches. To weave in the ends I used a Clover darning needle from this chibi set. Although, sometimes I prefer to use a tapestry needle for weaving in my ends; the bent tip helps grab the stitches easily.

What is your Favorite Technique?

As I said before, this is by no means a conclusive list of all the methods for weaving in ends. These are simply some of our favorites. What are yours?

–Laura

PS: the pictures at the top of the post are from the following stories: Winter Hats for EverybodyBaby Girl Fair Isle CardiganBig Herringbone Cowl and Perfect Fit Socks.