Top tip: Weaving in the ends as you go

I recently shared this tip with Kate over at Purple Pear Farm and some of her readers came nosing round here to find out more. If that's you, welcome!

This is a tip I developed because I am a lazy crafter and I hate weaving in all the ends after a big project - especially as many ends as you get from a stripy crochet blanket. There are two methods - the simple and the slightly more complex - but both will work well in any pattern in which you are crocheting a row in colour A and then a row in colour B.

The easy method

Change yarns as normal. Once you have a loop of the new colour on your hook and are ready to begin the first stitches, hold the two yarn ends (old and new colours together) along the top of the last row of stitching. As you crochet the next row, these ends will be caught in the new stitches (see below.) After a few stitches, just trim the stubby ends sticking out and carry on along the row.

The slightly more complex but still easy method

The reason for the second method is that if the two colours are strong contrasts, the end of the new yarn can sometimes peek out visibly against the row of old yarn it is now held against.

This time, hold the yarn end of the OLD colour along the last row and catch it in the new stitches as above, but AT THE SAME TIME hold the yarn end of the NEW colour along the 'active yarn' and use them together, so you will effectively be using a double yarn for the first few stitches. (The picture below should make that clearer.)

I hope these work for you - let me know if they're not clear and I'll post some more pictures. My preferred pattern is Lucy's ripple pattern from Attic 24. If you haven't stopped by, it is a haven for all things crochet so go check it out.

Do you have any favourite tips for finishing as you go?