How to Weave in Ends and Avoid Loose Ends in Crochet

How to Weave in Your Loose Ends

To accomplish this task, you'll want to have a tapestry needle, a needle threader (optional) and a finished project to work on. There are different ways to weave in ends, but they all begin with threading the loose end through a tapestry needle.

Weave Through the Stitches

On the wrong side of the crochet, run the needle through a couple of stitches horizontally. Then thread it through a stitch vertically. Now thread it back through the stitches horizontally (opposite of the first direction). This technique is not ideal for double-sided items.

Whipstitch

On the wrong side of the crochet, whipstitch the loose end through several stitches. This is different from the weaving technique in that you are going in the bottom of each stitch and out the top, then at the bottom of the next stitch. As with weaving, you then make a vertical stitch and repeat the whipstitch in the opposite direction. This is not ideal for double-sided items.

Weaving While Crocheting

If you are crocheting with the same color, keep a long tail on the loose end and double up the loose end with your new yarn as you crochet the pattern.

Keep in mind that these are only three possible ways of approaching this task. For example, some people like separating the yarn plies at the end and weaving those in separately.

Crochet Over Your Yarn Ends

This is a good technique to use with single crochet stitch, or with stitches that don't have a lot of open areas. The technique doesn't work as well with lacy stitches. This works best if you crochet tightly, and might not be a good technique for you to use if you crochet loosely.

Carrying Yarn up the Sides of Your Work

Carrying the yarn up the sides of your work can be done with striped crochet patterns. This technique saves you time by eliminating the need for weaving in an excessive amount of ends. Usually, when you use this method, you'll end up with only a few ends at the beginning and end to deal with.

Join As You Go

When you crochet granny squares, hexagons or similar motifs, you can use a technique called join as you go. You'll eliminate bunches of loose ends because each motif would ordinarily have had two loose ends, one at the beginning and one at the end. With the join-as-you-go technique, you don't generate these loose ends to start with, so there's no need to weave them in later.

Use the Loose Ends as Fringe

With many projects such as scarves, shawls, and afghans, you can transform your loose ends into a fringe that will finish off your project. This technique is particularly effective when used with colorful projects, striped projects, and tapestry crochet projects.