How to Carry Yarn from row to row in Crochet

In a recent post, you saw how to change yarn color or add a new skein to a piece in progress. Now I will show you how to carry yarn up the side of a piece, such as an afghan you are crocheting in a striped pattern with two colors. Sometimes it's fun to mix it up a little and make something colorful instead of a solid color, so here's how to do it...


Stitch to the end of the first color row, purple in this example, where you want to start using your new color, blue in this example. Change yarn colors as described here. Do not cut your purple. Just leave it hanging loosely while you work two rows of your blue.



After working two rows of your blue, you will be back to the same place where your purple is waiting for you. With the last two loops of the last stitch of blue still on your hook, drop the blue yarn towards the front of your work, bring the purple yarn up behind the blue and draw the purple through the last two loops of blue to complete the row and the color change.



This is what your piece will look like with the purple yarn carried up the side and the blue yarn hanging loosely while you work two rows of purple.



Once you have completed two rows of purple and you have the last two loops of the last stitch still on your hook, drop the purple towards the front of your work, pick up the blue yarn from behind the purple and draw it through the purple loops, thus completing the last purple stitch and the color change.



This is what your piece will look like with the purple and blue yarns carried up the side and the purple yarn hanging loosely.



Repeat this same procedure for two more rows and this is what you will get.



And after another two rows, you can really start to see how the carried yarns make a little bit of a twist pattern along the side of the piece. This is because, with each color change, the old color is dropped to the front and the new color is picked up from behind the old color. This carried yarn will be covered up by the border being stitched over it so it will not show in the finished piece.



This is what the front of the piece looks like with the blue yarn hanging loosely along the side waiting to be drawn into the last stitch of the purple.

This method can be used no matter what stitch pattern you are using for your afghan. It can also be used with more than two colors. The method is exactly the same, but you will just have more colors to keep track of! Experiment with it and have fun.

If you like the stitch pattern used in this example, stay tuned for a lesson on the Ripple Stitch coming soon!

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