Waste yarn help

[drie80]

Ok, I've been teaching myself out of books and as I go along through patterns and I've been doing ok. But now I'm stumped. I'm sure this is actually very simple nad uncomplicated and that I'm going to smack my forehaed and go "DUH!" when I finally get it, but in the meantime....

Can someone please, slowly and with small words (lol) explain to me what the heck it means to work stitched on waste yarn? I'm working on Tempting from knitty.com and I don't understand this concept. I've read all the clarifications to the pattern, so that's not the problem. I just don't get how to knit with waste yarn.

-Adrienne.

[brendajos]

hmm...i am sure someone has a better answer than me to this but i would think they are talking about practicing on scrap yarn before actually working the project? maybe? not sure. do you have a link to the pattern you are talking about (i can't find a search function on knitty's website)

[brendajos]

well i just googled "waste yarn" and this site was the first one that came up and this is what they said about it...

Bosuns' Locker - Tricks'n Techniques
Waste Yarn
My favourite tool for new grafters and those tackling a difficult situation (yarn-overs, cables, knit/ purl stitch patterns and sock toes) is good old Waste Yarn. (To be known as WY hereafter!)

Waste yarn can be anything at all. It is best to use a contrasting coloured yarn without fluff, and of a similar weight to that used in the knitting. It is simply an aid to grafting (also known as Kitchener St) and will be removed completely once the graft is complete.

After completion of a shoulder, knit in stocking st. with waste yarn for four rows, and then bind off with WY (or slip the sts onto a thread), all the stitches to graft are laid out flat and looking just like any picture of grafting you might see in a book.

Another bonus is that tracing the path of the WY in and out of the last row of the real knitting, shows you exactly the path that the grafting thread should take. You may graft as many times as you like until you are completely happy with it, and then just rip out the WY; it also prevents the stitches from splitting into plies as you insert your darning needle.

http://www.tradewindknits.com/tbwastyn.html is the link to the site

[ekgheiy]

Short 'n Sweet Waste yarn is an extra peice of yarn that you use in the place of a stitch holder. The waste yarn holds a series of stitches open until you're ready to knit them. You thread the yarn through the stitches you need to set aside and then take those stitches off of the needle.