Very few knitters love to weave in yarn tails. It is a tedious, time-consuming task that we have to do at the moment when we want to start wearing our new project the most.
We feel like throwing on that new cardigan (hat, scarf, sweater, fill in the blank) the next time we leave the house, but no. There are tails to weave in.
It is tempting to simply trim those tails, but that can lead to a disaster – without tails all simple or square knots will come undone almost instantly, resulting in huge holes.
We can avoid this outcome when we join yarn with a knot that is so secure that it does not require yarn tails to keep it from unravelling.
One of those knots is called the Magic Knot. We discussed it in a tutorial, published over here. It is a great way to join yarn without leaving yarn tails, but it is a bit fiddly and requires some practice.
Recently, I came across a much easier knot. It is called the Rigger’s Bend, or the Hunter’s Bend, but given that it saves us a lot of time and effort, we can easily call it the Super Knot.
It is easy, quick, and incredibly strong. I tested it on many different yarns and got terrific results. Even when tying a ridiculously slippery nylon thread, this knot didn’t even flinch.
Let’s see how we can make this knot in five super simple steps. If you’d rather learn these steps from a video tutorial, watch it below:
STEP 1
Align two strands so that they overlap, and the end of one strand is pointing to the right, while the end of the other strand is pointing to the left. The overlapped part should be around 15 cm / 6″ long.
The length of the overlapped part is not that important. It can be shorter if you don’t have too much yarn left, or it can be longer if you feel that a 15 cm / 6″ length is not enough for you to comfortably make this knot.
STEP 2
Place the middle part of the overlapped section on your right index finger, and hold the strands of the overlapped section in your left hand.
Move your right index finger clockwise (to the back, to the right, to the front, and finally, to the left) to twist the overlapped section.
You’ll make a loop with the strand and the tail that points to the left at the back of that loop.
STEP 3
Take the tail that points to the left and push it through the loop from front to back.
STEP 4
Then take the tail that points to the right and push it through that same loop, but from back to front.
STEP 5
Now pull the strands and the tails really hard to make the knot as tight as possible. It is very important to tighten the knot, so don’t be shy – pull each strand and each tail until you are sure the knot is as small as it can be.
When tightened properly, it will look like a cross.
This pulling feeds two birds with one scone – we make sure the knot does not unravel later on, and we make this knot as invisible as possible.
Finally, trim the yarn tails close to the knot.
And continue to work on your project, for example, a small swatch like the one shown in the photo below.
Because we can’t place the knot exactly where we need it – at the very bottom of one of the stitches, we should be careful when we incorporate this knot into the fabric.
If the knot shows up in a spot that is visible, redistribute the yarn among the nearby stitches to move the knot to the wrong side of the fabric, or to a spot that is less visible.
It requires a bit of planning, but it eliminates two yarn tails that we would otherwise have to weave in.
In bigger projects, those tails pile up like an avalanche. This knot saves us time and keeps us from frustration.
And if we always join yarn at the beginning or at the end of a row, we won’t even need to do a lot of planning to hide that knot. We simply get a no-yarn-tails project with very little effort.
SAVE IT FOR LATER:
This and 26 other in-depth tutorials are part of Knitting Collection #9.
