There are moments when you can lose yourself in your knitting project to the point that you weave to and from it without thinking. If your yarn breaks unexpectedly, don’t give up on the craft. You can finish what you’ve started by finding ways to rescue your knitting.
You can pick up where you left off and go back to remedy any defects later by using one of two extremely easy methods for rejoining your yarn. Certain yarns appear to break easily, which can rapidly transform your knitting session from a soothing activity to a stressful one.
You won’t ever have to throw away an incomplete knitting project again if you know what to do when your yarn breaks while you’re knitting and how to avoid this annoying problem.
How Do You Rejoin Broken Yarn?
Many knitters will frequently knot their yarn back together and carry on with their design, however this approach has the risk of the knot breaking. The preferable course of action is to use your ball of yarn to reattach the broken piece and then fill in any gaps using a few simple tricks.
A little more reliable technique is to just knit the new yarn into the damaged piece. This can be accomplished by grabbing your new yarn and continuing your project, leaving about 6 inches of your old yarn hanging. Using a tapestry needle, you may effortlessly weave the dangling yarn into your design once the thread has been rejoined.
Leaving about 10 inches of the yarn you’re using in your pattern free is another, slightly more involved alternative you can attempt. Next, using your old piece in your hands, hold a strand of yarn from your ball together. After you’re done, weave in any gaps by knitting these two pieces together roughly three more times.
Why Is My Yarn Breaking?
When working with single strands, yarn is far more brittle than it first appears. Thus, when knitting with it, you need to be fairly gentle. While you’re working, it’s simple to pull your yarn with a little too much force. But you can prevent some breakage if you can just modify your techniques to be a little nicer to your yarn.
Because the yarn is of low quality, it breaks occasionally. The substance that was utilized to make the yarn might be the reason of this. Regretfully, working with certain materials—like synthetics—that are more affordable to create can be far more difficult. Because of this, investing in quality could prove to be more economical in the long run because you won’t be throwing away as much yarn when it breaks.
Another reason why your yarn can break frequently is a manufacturing defect. To prevent fraying or snapping easily, little yarn strands must be spun together very tightly on a skein. Your yarn will break rather easily if the poor spinning is the reason why these little fibers are continuously escaping the strand.
Also Read: Why Are Knitting Needles So Expensive?
Which Yarn Will Not Break Easily?
One of the best yarns that resists breaking is wool, without a doubt. But wool isn’t always the most affordable option—it can get pricey. Other yarn kinds that knit together rather well are wool blends, alpaca, and acrylics and mixes.
Tehete makes top quality wool yarn, that’s also very affordable.
Longer fiber yarn also has a tendency to keep up far better than shorter yarn. Longer fibers may be spun securely during the production process without requiring as much pressure, which keeps them lovely and secure as you knit.
Unraveling a strand from the ball and experimenting with it is one approach to test a yarn before using it. Attempt to gently pull on it and observe how easily the fibers come apart. This should give you a decent idea of how that specific yarn will feel and work.
Can You Unravel And Reuse Yarn?
Unraveling an item of knitwear you don’t like or use but love the yarn used for could be a good way to recycle the yarn for a different project. Although it takes a little while, the effort is well worth it. In order to accomplish this, some knitters would even thrift knits, since it can be an economical and environmentally responsible way to obtain yarn.
Unraveling some knitted things won’t always be simple or feasible. Seek for knits that were not sewed or felted together after being cut into their desired shape. The easiest materials to work with will probably be wool and wool blend garments. Unravelling anything with non-knitted seams is probably not doable either.
The arms are the greatest place to start when unraveling a piece of knitwear so you may reuse the yarn. Just pick at the knitted edges and gradually separate the yarn strands. Certain sections can unravel rapidly, based on how they were knitted together. An easy-to-use stitch picker is the ideal instrument. The best approach is to work slowly and in the opposite direction of the knit.
You’ll have a mound of loose yarn after you’re done. To shape this into a skein of yarn that you can knit with later, you’ll want to wind it up very tightly.
Final Thoughts
While dealing with broken yarn can be inconvenient while you’re in the swing of things, there’s good news: repairing it isn’t difficult. Your cherished endeavor doesn’t have to be abandoned. Your yarn shouldn’t break on you as long as you handle it with sufficient gentleness.
There are many different types of yarn and mixed materials available, some of which are better than others in terms of durability. But when it comes to not having breaks in your yarn, technique is going to be your best friend.
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