Fastening Off and Weaving in Ends
Okay. Your washcloth is the size you want it, the last row is done, and you're sitting there holding it wondering what happens now so it doesn't just unravel the second you set it down. Fair question. Let's finish it properly.
Fastening off
When you've worked your last stitch, don't cut the yarn yet. First you need to close it off so the loop on your hook can't pull loose.
Here's how:
- Cut the yarn, leaving a tail about six inches long. Don't cut it short and don't cut it right up against your work — six inches gives you enough to work with in a minute.
- Take that cut end and pull it all the way through the loop that's still on your hook.
- Pull it snug. Not white-knuckle tight, just snug enough that the loop closes down and can't slip.
That's it. That's fastening off. People make it sound like a whole procedure and it's three steps.
Now the ends
You've got at least two loose tails hanging off your washcloth — one from where you started, one from where you just fastened off. Those need to get woven in or your washcloth is going to slowly come apart in the wash, one loop at a time, and you'll never know why.
I use a yarn needle for this — a big blunt needle with an eye wide enough for your cotton yarn to thread through. Craft stores sell them in little packets for almost nothing. Get one before this lesson if you don't have one already.
Thread the tail onto the needle. Then run the needle through the backs of several stitches, following the path of the stitches themselves rather than just poking through in a straight line. I go about two or three inches, weaving over and under a little as I go, then I turn around and go back a stitch or two in the other direction. That doubling back is what actually locks it — a straight line of weaving can still work itself loose over time, especially with cotton, which doesn't have the grip that wool or acrylic does.
Once you've woven it in both directions, trim the tail close to your work. Not so close you clip the stitch itself, just close enough that it disappears.
Do the same thing with your starting tail.
A word on cotton specifically
This is where I'll say the thing I always say: cotton doesn't hold onto itself the way other fibers do. It's slick. That's part of why it's the right yarn for a washcloth — it's sturdy and it takes a scrubbing — but it also means a sloppy end job will come undone faster than you'd think. Weave it in properly. Don't just tie a knot and call it good. Knots slip in cotton and you'll be fishing that tail out of your dish drawer in three weeks wondering what happened.
Holding the needle
While we're talking about hand tools, I'll mention this. My mother-in-law taught me to hold a crochet hook like a pencil, and I held it that way for fifteen years because that's how she showed me and I didn't think to question it. Eventually my wrist started aching on long projects and somebody suggested the knife grip instead — hook held more like you're gripping a butter knife, underhand. I felt strange about switching, like I was going behind her back somehow, but I did it anyway and my wrist thanked me.
I bring that up here because a yarn needle is the same kind of thing. However you were shown to hold it, however feels natural in your hand, that's the right way. There isn't a correct grip for a sewing needle any more than there was one correct way for me to hold a hook for forty years. Find what doesn't strain your hand and stick with it, even if it's not how somebody else does it.
A caution
Yarn needles are blunt, not sharp, which is the whole point — you don't want something poking through your stitches, you want it sliding between them. But blunt doesn't mean harmless if you're jabbing it toward your palm instead of away from it. Keep the motion moving away from your hand, the way you'd cut a carrot away from your fingers. Nobody's ever been seriously hurt weaving in a washcloth end, but I've seen people get a good poke in the thumb from being careless about direction, and it startles you enough to lose your place.
Checking your work
Once both ends are woven in and trimmed, give the washcloth a gentle tug from a few directions — top to bottom, side to side. Nothing should come loose. If a tail starts to pull back out, that end wasn't woven in far enough. Go back and add a few more inches of weaving before you trim it again.
That's your washcloth. Actually finished, actually done, ready for a real test — which is next.
Before next time: bring your finished washcloth to class. We're going to actually wash it and see how it holds up, which is the only review that counts.