The "Weave As You Go" Crochet Challenge

[Krystal16]

OK, we've all heard of "tough love", and all that blah blah nonsense...

 

But I have recently challenged myself (since I have 5 granny square afghans in the making for Xmas) to WEAVE AS I GO. That means that I do one granny (or strip, cuz one is a MAM), weave in the ends and then join before starting the next granny.

 

I'm HOPING that it will save me aggravation at the end, and quite possibly change my whole way of doing things so that I don't wind up with a blanket-full of sewing and joining at the end....and some stashed UFO projects b/c I couldn't face another SECOND of a tapestry needle!

 

So I was wondering if anyone out there is daring enough to join me on my journey to overly responsible and diligent crochet assembly...

 

And also share with me (us?) your transgressions and why you like or dislike this weaving and joining "regimen" - anyone?

[Yearnin' for Yarn]

I've done afghans both ways, and it is definitely less aggravating for me to weave as I go. There's nothing as horrible as "finishing" an afghan and then seeing all those yarn ends . . . it usually sits there for awhile before I get up the ambition to do the weaving. I don't think many people like the weaving process; I dont' like stopping my progress to weave, but I remind myself that I am saving myself headaches later.

 

Oh, and even when I am working on a non-granny project, I find it helps me to weave as I go then, too. I just stop crocheting and weave in all the ends I have up to that point.

 

Nicole

[LadyBeBop]

I cannot imagine not "weaving as I go." I don't even use a tapestry needle. I just "hook" the yarn through the last few stitches.

 

I think the piece holds better. (Probably psychological, but still.)

[hischildsindi]

Weaving as you go is probably the best, I found it is what I HAVE to do now since I had once made a baby blanket for a friend, who never got it. I was so ticked at the ends it never got done and that's all there was to it. A couple of years later another friend found out she was pregnant and latched onto the blanket... she lived in another state, so she got an envelope of ends to prove I finished it for her.

 

Weave as you go, save the headache.

[jollyrancher418]

I usually try to crochet over the ends as I go, but if that isn't possible I will weave in the ends as I go. Just makes me feel more accomplished.

[jessc031778]

For Xmas of '04 I made full sized blankets for all of the adults in the family...for my mom I did a scrap blanket, made up of 3 inch squares...there were 272 squares...and I hadn't done anything like that before..this was before I started working over the beginning tail of a square and weaving the ending tail before I went to the next piece....So, the morning of the gift exchange, I wrapped Mom's blanket, but I had to tell her that she could open & adore the blanket but that she couldn't take it home yet cause there were SO many ends to weave in and snip off that I just couldn't finish before I had to wrap it up...I finished all the pieces & joining all the pieces right before Thanksgiving, but the underside of this thing looked like it was covered with worms, there was just a forest of tails to take care of...About a month later Mom asked for her blanket and said that she'd take care of the tails herself...yeah! She just gave the blanket back to me becuase she's never put a blanket together and doesn't have any idea where to start with all the tails!!

 

I told her that I'm going to re-make the blanket, cause that would actually be easier for me than fighting with all those tails...so that one went bye-bye and I've got the first 6 squares done, working over the beginning tail and working in the ending tail as I go!!! I'm only leaving the center tails attached so that can see immediately which is the right side of each square!!!

 

Jessie

[ChainOFools]

When I first started crocheting I made a granny baby blanket and left all the ends to be woven in until the very last...what a horrible experience! I'd honestly rather sit through a root canal I thought, 'who in their right mind would do this on a regular basis?!' A wise co-worker saw me in at lunch one day sitting and weaving (and muttering curses under my breath) and said that she always wove her ends in as she went, then she didn't have a big pile of them to do at the end...and it was one of those "DUH!!" lightbulb moments for me and ever since then I weave as I go...because this is the part I hate about crochet and knitting, I'm always diligent about weaving as I go....you could even say I'm obsessive compulsive about it.

 

Recently I had a project (fingerless glove)that the pattern suggested you leave the ends loose until the very end and it almost drove me batty just to leave them unwoven

[Liv]

Wow ...must be b/c I'm new and I tought myself but I thought that was the

everybody did it....LOL

[craftconnie1]

I've always woven in my ends as I've gone...I want to be finished any project when I put on the border...usually I'm sick of the color or stitch and just want to have it done. I suppose its the way I was taught.....embrodiery must be just as neat on the back as it is on the front....same with plastic canvas. Crochet is no different.

[flyinghooks]

I'd love to join you... BUT...My problem is that most of my crocheting is done "on the go" - waiting or watching - bus stops, ball games, practices, piano lessons, singing my kids asleep, etc. It just isn't convenient to stop and pull out a needle and scissors. SO... I end up with a pile of ends. I hate ends.

 

With most wearables I prefer to put the ends on the side seams so I can't weave them in until after assembly anyway.

 

My two worst ends projects were a blanket that changes colors every row and couldn't be carried up the side and the bolero I'm doing now. I hated finishing the blanket. It took forever. The bolero, went a little faster. It was made from square motifs, crocheted together with mini granny's in the center of 4 motifs. This past Sunday & Monday I weaved in over 150 ends! Just the ribbing to go and it will be done.

[ankey]

I'll join you but how exactly do you "weave as you go"?? I've always weaved at the end but I'm making 2 afghans as christmas gifts and they both have many color changes so I'd love to learn how to weave as I go.

[Deb]

I am a WeaveAsYouGo Gal - 75% of the time! And the other 25% of the time... I am sorry (and angry) that I didn't weave in those #%@* ends BEFORE I got to the end of my project.

 

[Ankey - weaving as you go refers to weaving in the ends (where you have joined the yarn) as you work on your project. You can either hook them in using a crochet hook... or sew them I (like I do) with a tapestry needle. The only drawback to sewing them in as you go is that if the project ends up getting frogged... you have a big mess! Hope this helps!]

[pragmatica]

This summer I made Crochet Garden's Little Maiden sundress for my kid out of Aunt Lydia's Baby Denim simply because it comes on a roll of 400 yards and I could make almost the entire dress without having to deal with ends! (The yarn was really too heavy -- the dress weighs a ton -- but it's mostly cotton and it looks nice and she doesn't object to the weight. Yet.) It was SO NICE! I wish more kinds of yarn came in ridiculously big putups like that.

 

Before that, I nearly lost my mind working on a bolero with some Skacel yarn that had only 80 yards to the skein; there were something like 20+ loose ends to deal with, and I was too focused on the pattern to stop and weave, and it was just a misery.

 

I like to crochet the ends under as I go along if it works with the stitch pattern but with very lacy patterns or light yarn I find that the end I'm weaving doesn't lie flat and hide like it's supposed to so I have to weave the pieces into the solid parts of the stitches.

 

I only recently started using a tapestry needle to weave the ends instead of pulling them through with a crochet hook and while it's still a nuisance, it's not as bad as when each four-inch tail needed to be individually pulled through eight or nine stitches . This is what you get for being entirely self taught; it never even occurred to me use a tapestry needle to weave ends until a Crochetville discussion about Claire on Lost making baby booties with only a crochet hook. The needle definitely makes it faster. D'oh.

 

Cheers,

Elissa

[clocke]

I'm definitely a weave-as-you-go person most of the time. Otherwise I get majorly frustrated at the end.

[lunchbox]

I am a "weave-in-at-the-end-while-cursing" type.

 

I am trying to be better.

 

BTW, we save all of the yarn bits and toss them in the yard for the birds in the spring. Its always neat to see a bit of yarn in a nest.

[darski]

I try to weave as I go because I hate that task at the end. when I am finished, I want to be finished!

[hischildsindi]

I'll join you but how exactly do you "weave as you go"?? I've always weaved at the end but I'm making 2 afghans as christmas gifts and they both have many color changes so I'd love to learn how to weave as I go.

 

It is easy, just stop perodically while you are making your afghan and take the time to use weave all the loose tails under. There's no special technique or trick, just having the patience and telling yourself it will be worth it in the end.

[yarncat]

I started weaving as I go many years ago.It's the part of crocheting I dislaike the most.It takes time away from crocheting,but I have no unfinished WIP's that need weaving!

[amdm]

*I always, always weave as I go. Also, when making something with motifs, I join as I go,and I always crochet them together, never sew.

[Krystal16]

I wonder if all those people who hate joining and weaving as they go have just not posted here...it seems like everyone that DID post, DOES weave and join as they go....

 

Maybe they'll "mend their ways" after reading this?!?!?!