Another reason to weave in those ends

[crochet mama]

I just read an article by Agnes Russell in my hardcover book, "Old-Time Crochet Made Easy". It's a great article that I wanted to share with you all...

 

Family heirlooms are designed to last for decades, to be passed from generation to generation with love as are little family trade secrets. Here’s a little family secret I'll share with you that will restore that gift of love you make for many decades to come.

 

Many years ago my grandmother crocheted from wool a beautiful granny afghan for my 16th birthday which I treasure deeply. Well, through normal wear and tear the yarns are getting old and I found a few breaks at the joining of the squares, and of course, the border is black. I don't care what the color, you will never match it!

 

Well, around the edge on the wrong side of the border was a little knot, not very noticeable, but a knot and low and behold it was a strand of black yarn woven through the border of my afghan. With care I removed just enough yarn to do my repair and left the remaining black yarn in place with a little knot on the end for future repair.

 

Now, I find myself, adding strands of yarn through the back of every afghan I make. It's great because the woven yarn ages with the afghan through laundry and simple wear and tear. When a repair has to be made the yarns match perfectly.

 

I also now do this on tablecloths. When I work the border, I work over a single strand of my cotton around the entire outer edge and then knot the ends together on the wrong side of my tablecloth. If repairs are needed it's right at the border and has aged with my tablecloth and matches perfectly.

 

Think of all the items you have crocheted over the years and have had to repair and didn’t have the scrap of yarn, or did and it no longer matched. Try this on all your crocheted heirlooms it really works wonderfully.

[seagull1993]

What a clever idea. I would think that could work for a number of different types of crocheted items. :-)

[crochet mama]

Absolutely!

[faithpa76]

What a clever idea! I never would have thought to do that but it makes perfect sense!!

[hollier2002]

That sounds like a great idea!

[mamaoso]

What a great . Thank you for sharing it.. I'm going to start doing that, too.

[mimi_mia]

That is a great idea, I'll be sure to start doing that too

[mudpie]

Such a logical idea, but it would never have come to me! It's heartbreaking to have an heirloom that is beyond repair, I know. Thank you so much for this tip.

[luvtocraft]

That's an awesome idea!

[carrieanne]

Thanks for sharing....that is a great idea!

[Dejhia]

That is a great idea.... I will have to start doing that... And mention it to my mom who knits. I know there have been times she's wanted to fix something, but not been able to match the yarn.