When a crochet or knitting pattern instructs you to “weave in the ends,” what do you do? And what is the best way to weave in the ends of your project? In this article I’ll show you my favorite way of weaving in the ends on the back of granny squares. This method is pretty intuitive and will also work on other crochet projects! Honestly, there’s really no right or wrong way as long as you feel like the ends are secured so they don’t come unraveled or poke through to the front of your work.
This is the same way I wove in the ends for my Agnes Sweater Vest and my granny square tote bag. Weaving in the ends can feel like the part that takes the longest, but once you get the method down and a good rhythm, then you’ll be done before you know it!
To learn how to crochet granny squares and join them together check out my tutorials How To Crochet a Granny Square and How to Join Granny Squares.
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Some Things You’ll Need
Weaving In The Ends – Video Tutorial
I made a quick video tutorial if you would rather watch what I do! The video tutorial is a little more informative since it’s had to explain in written words, but I do my best if you keeping scrolling down.
Weaving In The Ends – Written Tutorial
It’s really not difficult to weave in the ends and there’s not much you can do to “mess it up” (except accidentally cutting your work) but there are a few things I do to help get a good workflow.
If you look at the back of a granny square, depending on how many rounds you have, you will have 1 yarn strand coming from the middle, and 2 strands coming from the end of each round. In the first round of crocheting a granny square, I will “weave in” the first yarn tail when making the circle in the middle, so I will just cut that thread without weaving it in further.
Then I head up to the first corner where there are two double crochet clusters, and two yarn tails. When each round of the granny square is a different color, I like to weave in the tail to the corresponding color. So I thread one tail through my tapestry needle, the red one in my example, and thread it back through the double crochet cluster that is the same color (photo below) and cut the tail close to the stitches. Tip: You could also cut the threads all at once after weaving the ends on one granny square.
Next, I thread the next tail, the brown one in my example, and weave it down the back of the double crochet cluster in a sort of zig-zag pattern. Make sure you are putting the tapestry needle through the back of the stitches so that it doesn’t show through to the front.
Continue weaving down the back of the double crochet stitch until you reach the middle of the granny square. Then I like to weave through the cluster of 3 double crochets and cut yarn tail close to the stitches.
Then move on to the next two yarn tails and weave those in through the corresponding color sections. The first one I usually do is the color that matches the granny square corner, a white yarn in my example, and I simply weave it in through the “tunnel” of the double crochet cluster (photo below).
Then I move on to the next color and weave it by down the back of a double crochet stitch until I reach the “tunnel” of threads made at a corner. Thread the yarn tail through and cut yarn close to stitches.
And that’s it! Then you would continue onto the next square and repeat the same steps. The threads should be nice and hidden so that you can’t even tell you’re looking at the back of your work. 🙂
Let me know if you found this tutorial helpful and good luck on your crochet projects!
