Hide Edge When Changing Yarns

Don't you hate the edge of shawls, scarves, or whatever when changing colors of yarns? Here's a little trick that will help you hide those color changes.

You can take any pattern and make the adjustment easily, just add an I-Cord edge to each side. It's really quite simple to do...

I am knitting the "Marina Shawl" by Anja HS Hansen, which I found on Ravelry. I am using three colors of Daisy Hays' hand-dyed yarn in fingering weight for the project.
Three Yarns

In order to do the I-cord edges, I am following all the directions for the pattern as given; however, I added three stitches to each side of the shawl for the I-cord edge. On the right side, I knit those three stitches; and on the wrong side, I slip the three stitches purlwise. Here are the first 4 rows of the pattern (in black), modified to include the stitches I added (in red):

With MC, cast on 4 sts (I cast on 10 sts total)
Row 1 (RS): K3, kfb, k3, k3
Row 2 (WS): Slip 3 sts wyif, k4, kfb, slip 3 sts wyif
Row 3 (RS): K3, kfb, k to last 2 sts, k2tog, k3
Row 4 (WS): Slip 3 sts wyif, knit to last stitch, kfb, slip 3 sts wyif

It should be noted that you do NOT want to pull your stitches tight on the edges. Knit them somewhat loose.
Three Yarns

You can use stitch markers to help you remember the 3 extra stitches on each side if you want. But, as you do the pattern, you would not have any reference to the 3 extra stitches on each end. For instance, the pattern states on Row 3, you knit to the last stitch, then kfb. That part is the pattern, and you will have the 3 extra stitches at end of the row, which you knit.

Three Yarns
Now, when you start to change colors, the instructions have you changing to the contrast color on a right side row. Simply start knitting the extra three stitches at the beginning of the row with the contrast color and continue on with the pattern and the last three stitches. On the wrong side, you will continue to slip the first and last three stitches wyif for the I-cord edge. The tail of the added contrast color yarn can be woven down inside the i-cord edge and never be seen.

Three Yarns
In the picture above, I have at least two yarns that I will be changing periodically. Before I knit the next RS row, I ensure I take the yarn underneath the other two yarn(s) before knitting the first three stitches. This places those yarns inside of the I-cord edge. As I change yarns, I select the correct yarn for the rows I need to knit and take it underneath other two before knitting the first three stitches.



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