C2C blanket unraveling

[Devyn]

I recently made my first c2c blanket. I love the patten. Used caron simply soft so as to not worry about lot numbers. Now that my son has been using it a while it is unraveling. He only uses it for sleep and I've only washed it on delicate cycle by itself. But every day I'm finding new holes. I weaved in the ends over 4-5 stitches as was suggested in a couple of different video tutorials I watched, and they assured me that would be enough to prevent it from coming apart. Well thats not working. 

Since weaving in didn't work I'm going back through and tying new yarn around the hole and sewing the hole shut. But this is causing the blanket to bunch and is ruining the pattern. 

What method do you suggest for dealing with the ends in a c2c blanket? The holes are not on the edges but in the middle parts of the blanket. 

I'm going to keep fixing this one until I can finish a new one; since this has become his lovey.  I'm just worried that it'll fall completely apart before I can finish a new one. 

Thank you!

[Granny Square]

4 to 5 stitches?  That's not nearly enough, I'm sorry to say.  You should leave at least 6" to weave in, and weave in multiple directions, and I also sometimes split the plies to weave it in even more directions, including weaving part way, anchoring it around a loop, and coming back the way I came, never weaving only under stitches but into the plies of stitches.  And don't ever tie knots and crochet over your ends as your only security.  (I'm a little overly cautious after the first blanket I made did what yours is doing, I didn't know better at the time).

The best/easiest thing you can do now is take some matching sewing thread and darn the holes the best you can, or if you have yarn leftovers split the plies (like if it's 4 ply yarn , split it in 2 two-ply sections) and use that to darn the holes.

[Devyn]

When you say the plies of stitches do you mean through the double crochet itself? Like in the picture.

And by splitting do you mean what I did in the second picture? 

Do you think bringing the spilt back together and timing would add to the security? Pic 3.

Sorry I'm a visual person so I need pictures. 

[Granny Square]

In your top pic, where the bottom strand is going across some DCs -  I normally try to follow the strand of yarn that makes up the DC stitch, in other words up and down, not across, more like what you did in the top strand of the bottom pic (except without the knot of course).  

Here's a swatch I just whipped up (sorry photo's so big), 'weaving in' red yarn of the same weight, just weaving down 1 dc and up the next for 4 stitches*, with the red yarn 'as is' (not split plied), you can see the red ends where I came in and out of that top row.  Obviously I'd be doing this for real in all the same color yarn(! ) and for a greater distance, and probably more directions. One side looks better than the other but even so, if it were the same color, you probably wouldn't notice)

Edited to add - Just in case it wasn't obvious, I'd have woven the very ends in much more securely, not just snip them off at the point they exit the fabric in the photo -- usually by turning and sort of wiggling the needle so I'm catching strands here, and there, and turning back (after securing a loop) back the way I came,  partly thru the same thread I was weaving in as well as other stitches; seriously, I wait to the very end to weave because I have to cut it out, I can't un-pick it.

*8 stitches, sorry; lost my mind; 4 sets of down 1 stitch and up the next.

 

Edited November 25, 2020 by Granny Square

[Devyn]

Thank you for the pictures! That makes a lot of sense. I'm going to try this method on the next one and hopefully it will hold together!

I appreciate your advice!

[USpolishgirl]

21 hours ago, Devyn said:

Thank you for the pictures! That makes a lot of sense. I'm going to try this method on the next one and hopefully it will hold together!

I appreciate your advice!

I would suggest tie at least ONE KNOT ( I make two)  in a middle of weaving each yarn tail. 

Krys

Edited November 25, 2020 by USpolishgirl

[Granny Square]

I'm trying to picture the knot, I think it would be tricky to hide - so you make a knot with the tail around 1 a bit of yarn in a stitch?  I never thought of that...