Unwanted knots

[Jilly]

My favourite length is 18 inches (46cm) I get this by pulling 36 inches from the skein and doubling it over, I don't measure it, as each skein is 6" it's easy to pull the right length every time
Also, I take the needle out if I feel that dangling isn't enough, separate the strands and re thread the needle.. but mostly I dangle too

[maggs]

I am a dangler to. I have found that if the wrong colour used if its not to far off the colour I tend to sew a new stitch but use only a single thread then it gives it a inbetween colour.

[skitzzzzz]

yep dangle to untangle is the best way boy learned that over 20 yrs ago thinking about it now i feel old lol and keep lengths short my rule of thumb is 18 '' less waste etc

[Daesania]

I'm a lazy stitcher, if i have one or two out of place, as long as it wont look weird I just leave it.

I'm also one who lets it hang to untwist. I get the knots occasionally but if i put my needle in the knot and slide it, 9 times out of 10 i'll just pop the knot out and keep going, but every once and awhile you get that mean knot that will break your thread.

[rvdiehl]

I had been taking the lazy way, and holding the thread up, sliding the needle down to the work, then back up. I will try dangle, but my current piece is large and not easy to flip over often.

I also use 36" pieces doubled. I thread the two cut ends through the needle, then use the "loop" to anchor my first stitch by passing the needle through it. Saves a little thread and a lot of time.

[lacemaker2004]

I'll dangle too but when I get one and I catch it before it's pulled tight then i gently pinch it and pull it toward the knot while holding the leading end of the thread. It kind of stablizes the knot and gives the right pressure to pull the kink out.

[McDLT]

I thread the two cut ends through the needle, then use the "loop" to anchor my first stitch by passing the needle through it. Saves a little thread and a lot of time.

I do this as much as possible too. I like how neat it keeps everything.

If I can't get the knot out, I try to make the knot as small as possible and keep stitching with the knot in it. Almost all of the time the knot piece winds up at the back of the work and all is well. When it doesn't, I'll go back a few stitches and end my thread and start again or if it's not too noticeable (only noticeable by me) then I just leave it.

[sajohnston]

Oh and if it's too late, I find these useful:

Pull the loop of the knot to make it bigger and easier to unpick.
or
Hold the threads and pull the threads sharply to get the knot to disappear.
or
Needle in the loop the pull either thread at a time to see which way it moves

Note that option 2 can lead to a stage where you can't get the knot out!

I usually do the first choice when I have a knot. 99% of the time, they come right out.

[jphill11]

Pull the loop of the knot to make it bigger and easier to unpick.
or
Hold the threads and pull the threads sharply to get the knot to disappear.

I do these two things together. That is, pull the loop (horizontally) to make it bigger, then grab the threads and pull and the knot will just magically come out. 95% of the time anyway.

Also since I've been using Thread Heaven, I rarely get knots.

- Judy

[Granny]

Prevention rather than problem solving are my idea of avoiding a lot of knots. I have far fewer knots if I start with threads that are no longer than 18". The other thing I find helps tremendously is separate the threads before stitching. Pull off the number of strands needed, pull them apart and put back together before threading the needle. There is far less need to dangle with this method.

[Lessa54]

If I can't get the knot out, I try to make the knot as small as possible and keep stitching with the knot in it. Almost all of the time the knot piece winds up at the back of the work and all is well. When it doesn't, I'll go back a few stitches and end my thread and start again or if it's not too noticeable (only noticeable by me) then I just leave it.

And I thought I was the only one who did this

Fortunately it's rare as usually dangling and gently testing the loop of any knot if formed gets them out. The thing I find annoying is when a big loop slip-type knot forms at the back and you don't notice till you realise the thread has ended quite quickly! Even though the knot comes out easily, it's then a real pain to unpick and work the thread through to get to that un-used portion.

[Cecilia]

If I can't get the knot out, I try to make the knot as small as possible and keep stitching with the knot in it. Almost all of the time the knot piece winds up at the back of the work and all is well. When it doesn't, I'll go back a few stitches and end my thread and start again or if it's not too noticeable (only noticeable by me) then I just leave it.

And I thought I was the only one who did this

Fortunately it's rare as usually dangling and gently testing the loop of any knot if formed gets them out. The thing I find annoying is when a big loop slip-type knot forms at the back and you don't notice till you realise the thread has ended quite quickly! Even though the knot comes out easily, it's then a real pain to unpick and work the thread through to get to that un-used portion.

How true!

[burgundyice]

I can usually make the knot magically disappear by running my nail back down the thread... if this doesn't work I might cut the thread if the knot's too big to stitch with, or leave it at the back, which leaves a bit of a loop but it's on the back, so I don't care

Louise

[Sarah Gixxer]

I have some rather naughty habits too.

I am a dangler, but if I do get a knot that simply won't budge, and it's very close to the back of my stitching, I lay the thread, including the knot, along the back of the stitching and then oversew it back towards the bit I was working on so there isn't a loop.

I often use rather long pieces of thread too, although I try and stick to about 18 inches by cutting a 36 inch length and doubling it. If I have a lot of confetti stitches to do though, I will often cut a single strand about 6 inches long and double it, so it's just right for 1 or 2 stitches.

Like a couple of others who confessed, if I find one odd wrong stitch, particularly on my HAEDs where the stitches are so tiny, I stitch over it in the correct colour. It's so small that I can't notice one naughty stitch amongst 100,000 of them. If I'm working on something larger like 14 count Aida, then I do the right thing, cut the stitch, unpick it and the one or two either side of, sew the ends into the back and then fill in the hole with a piece of new thread.

[Flannel PJs]

I'm a dangler, too and I've also hidden a knot on the backside by stitching over it. I can't remember where I got this tip, but I've started doing this lately and so far, it seems to work really well. Once you put your two strands of floss together (or more, depending on what project you're working on), run them under a warm iron. It gets all the little kinks out of both strands of floss and like I said, it has worked beautifully for me. At first I thought this would flatten the floss out and ruin the texture, it doesn't.

[milkmaid]

i ted to make the knot smaller but i've starting using thread heaven read about it on here (thanks )and i don't get as many now

[Murmured]

I use the oh-so-official length of from my left hand (where I hold the end) to my right shoulder when I hold my arm out straight. Then I double a single strand of the thread over for stitching. I hardly ever get knots, but most of the time when I do there is always a loop sticking out of the knot that I can pull on, and it disappears, so I tend to think of them more as twisted thread, rather than knots.