One of our new yarns, Berroco Mykonos™, is a little different from the rest. Mykonos is a core-spun yarn, which means it’s really two yarns, one wrapped around the other. The core of Mykonos is a super strong linen, which give this yarn its beautiful drape. The linen is covered in a wrapper of rayon which gives it the shimmery, slippery surface. Lovely to work with and to wear but how to weave in the ends?
With any non-felting yarn (plant fibers, rayon, viscose, as well as superwash wool and silk) the best thing is to try to join new balls at the seam edge of a garment when ever possible. This will allow you to hide ends in the seam, making easy work of weaving them in. It is a good idea to leave yourself a little extra length on the end of a slippery yarn—aim for at leans 8″. Choose a sharp-tipped sewing needle with a large enough eye for the yarn and weave in as you would any other yarn, working up and down the seam stitch, sewing right through the middle of the yarn every few sts to anchor the end.
For a project like Xenia or Alethea where the edge stitches are integral to the project, it is better to avoid working the stitches in at the edge. Also if you are knitting in the round, there will be no seam or edge stitch. Follow the general rules as above, leaving a good 8″ of yarn and working with a sharp-tipped needle, weaving in the end in a zig-zag pattern to avoid creating a ridge on the work.
I’ve used a contrast color yarn to make it easier to see my work. This method can be worked from either the right or the wrong side. For more details on the technique check out this how-to video from the Berroco Learning Center.
That should be enough to securely anchor the ends of the yarn permanently. Sometimes it happens that it was not possible to leave sufficient length to securely anchor the end, pr perhaps you just want a little more security, there is a trick for that too. a little hand sewing will secure the shortest ends and permanently anchor them. For demonstration I am using black thread—be sure to choose a thread that closely matches the color of your yarn. Working with your thread on a sewing needle, working the smallest stitches, sew right through the yarns. After a few stitches or about an inch, knot off the sewing thread and run the needle though a few more stitches to anchor the end of the sewing thread before cutting to secure the thread ends.
Do you have any favorite methods for securing the ends in unusual yarns? We’d love to hear about your methods in the comments below.
-AC
Any hints on weaving in ends of very thick yarns, like Blanket? I’m almost finished with a striped afghan in Blanket, and don’t know what to do with all those fat ends!
I’m not familiar with this yarn- but generally I recommend splitting the plies if possible and weaving them in as separate ends.
Unfortunately, it’s not plied. It’s like a chenille, about as big around as a pencil.
I like the sound of Mykonos yarn. Where can it be purchased from in the uk and how much per 100grams please.
You can search our Store Locator for where to find the yarn near you http://www.berroco.com/locator/ the information about the skein is here http://www.berroco.com/yarns/berroco-mykonos
Could you please comment more on the best way to join this type of yarn when adding a new ball.
Hi Karen,
There are a few ways to approach this, it depends on the project. I’ve outlined how we like to do this in the blog post.
This project is a shawl, so there are no seams. I think I understand how to weave in the ends but what method do you suggest for adding/joining a new ball of the yarn?
Hi Karen,
There’s the section of the blog post that talks about Xenia, which is a shawl pattern designed in Mykonos. You would work the same as you would if you were knitting a project with seams—join the yarns at the edges and weave the ends in a zig zag manner.
Thank you for the tip! I purchased some of this yarn on a yarn crawl this summer and will soon be starting my shawl.
Aloha! This yarn is quite beautiful. Is it strong enough to be used as a warp in weaving? Hope always springs eternal. If so, do you also have any tips for using it as weft? Thank you beforehand! Wishing you all a happy holiday season.
Hi Shelly,
I haven’t tried weaving with Mykonos yet. The core fibers are strong enough- they won’t stretch. I’m a little concerned about how well the wrapper yarn would hold up against too much traveling back and forth through the heddle but that depends on the size of the reed. If you try it please let us know how it goes!
Thank you so much for this. I am making a top with this yarn at the moment and have been wondering about the ends! I haven’t been changing yarns at the side (working in the round) but I think I will now be able to handle this slippery yarn and may just use a bit of sewing to help out.