How to change yarn colors

The change

Finish the old stitch with the new color

Names below are US terms. UK double crochet is the same stitch as US single crochet. See US vs UK crochet terms.

1. Stop before the last yarn over. Work the stitch in the old color until the yarn over that closes it. In single crochet, that is two loops on the hook. One teacher stops half double crochet with three loops left.
2. Lay the new yarn over the hook. No slip knot for this. Leave a tail about 4 inches, or 4 to 6 inches when you are joining the second color of a stripe.
3. Pull through. The loop now on the hook is the new color. The top of the stitch you just closed stays in the old color, and the next stitch starts in the new one.
4. Keep going. A turning chain at the start of the next row is in the new color too. The same pull-through is the change at the end of a row, at the start of the next row, and in the middle of a row.

Why there, and not after the stitch is already finished? That last pull-through is the first loop of the next stitch. Close the stitch with the old color, and a little of the old color sits at the start of the new one.

For a taller stitch, stop at that same last yarn over. The teachers we read do not all count the loops the same way, because the stitches are different. Follow the stitch you are making.

Rounds

Starting a round in a new color

Changing color on a stitch in the round is the same pull-through. Starting a round with new yarn, when the hook is empty, is a join. Two joins are in common use.

• Slip stitch, then chain. Join the new yarn with a slip stitch in the stitch where the round begins, then chain up to the height of the stitch. This is the line many printed patterns use.
• A standing stitch. Put a slip knot on the hook, then make the stitch the pattern asks for, in the place it names. There is no slip stitch and no chain in front of it. One teacher prefers this to slip stitch plus chain. A pattern that says "join with sc" or "join with dc" is often asking for it.

The slip knot belongs to a standing stitch, because you are beginning a stitch. It is not the way to finish a stitch you have already started. For that, loop the new yarn over the hook with no knot.

Spare yarn

Carry it, hide it, or cut it

The color change and the spare yarn are two decisions. You can change color and still leave the old yarn attached.

Up the side

Carrying up the side saves ends when a stripe repeats. The carried yarn can show on the edge. An edging, often a round of single crochet, or a seam, hides it. Skip the carry when the color will not return for more than a few rows, or when the edge will stay in view and you are not adding a border. One teacher, on an afghan, floats the waiting color along the side and catches it in the last stitch, then covers the float with the border. Working back and forth, the rows in between need to bring that yarn back to the edge where its next stripe starts. An even number of the other rows does that.

Inside the fabric

Stranded colorwork leaves the unused yarn as a float on the back. Keep the repeats short. A long float catches on fingers and buttons, and the back looks unfinished, so this suits a piece whose back is hidden.

Tapestry crochet is the same idea with the float crocheted into the stitch, so both sides can show. It is easier in rounds, or in rows that stay on the right side. Back and forth, the stitches often look less clean. The fabric can come out firm. One teacher uses a hook one or two sizes smaller so the carried strand does not peek through. That is her advice. We have not tested it. For a short change of two or three colors, you can enclose the strand or leave it on the back. Leave it relaxed enough that it does not sag. A lot of changes, or a long stretch of one color, is a reason to cut and start again.

Intarsia gives every color block its own ball or bobbin. The yarn hangs from the last stitch of its block and is not carried across. The cloth stays one layer thick, so it keeps its drape. Many corner-to-corner graphs are made this way. It is easier back and forth than in the round, because the spare ball is waiting when you turn. If a color comes back on the next row, leave that ball where it is.

There is a fourth way that does not carry anything. Mosaic crochet uses one color per row. The picture is a taller stitch worked into stitches two rows below, and the back of the fabric is striped. The Interweave article shows all four on one motif.

A loop left waiting

In a spiral, each color can keep the place where it stopped. At the end of a color, pull up a long loop and take the hook out. When you come back to that color, put the hook through the loop, snug it up, and continue. The long loop is what keeps the stitch from unraveling while you work the other colors. A pattern that does this in a spiral square is linked below. The squares and the stitch counts are hers.

The jog

The step at the end of a stripe

In the round, the last stitch of a color and the first stitch of the next one do not sit on the same level. That step is the jog. What you do about it depends on whether you also mind a seam. The comparison below is one designer's, worked in single crochet rounds for amigurumi and hats. It is not a rule for every stitch, and a granny square that changes color at a corner is a different problem.

• A plain spiral. No seam. The stitches stay even. The ends of the stripe do not meet, so the step shows.
• An ordinary join. Slip stitch to close the round. Stack the joins and the stripe ends line up, with a column of horizontal bars from the slip stitches. Let the join travel forward one stitch each round and the seam will not stay in one place on the back. The step is still there.
• No cut. Her No-Cut Join does not travel and does not cut the yarn. She describes a slight seam and no color jog. She suggests it when the color is staying, when the inside of the piece will show, or when you do not want to cut every round.
• Cut, and hide the back. Her Invisible Join, on that same page, does not travel. She calls the finish invisible. You cut between stripes, and the ends sit on the back, so it suits a piece whose back is hidden.
• Cut every round. Her later method, Ultimate Stripes, is the one she describes as having no seam and no color jog. It asks you to cut the yarn at the end of every round, even when the color does not change. The first stitch is a chain plus the close, standing in for one single crochet. If that round starts with an increase or a decrease, she moves it to the end of the repeat, because that first stitch cannot be the increase. The 2 inch tail on that page is for this close, not for ordinary weaving.

Her pages show the moves. We are not reprinting them. If you will not cut at the end of every round, she still points to the No-Cut Join.

Ends

Tails, weaving, and even tension

Leave enough tail to weave. About 4 inches is the length two guides agree on, and one of them says to leave more when the yarn is thick. A couple of stitches will not hold. 4 to 6 inches is a good tail at the moment you join a second color. Give both tails a small tug when you weave, so the change looks neat.

1. Weave before you block or seam. An end that is woven holds through wear and washing better than one you meant to do later.
2. Go under several stitches, then turn around. Weave back under several more, and trim close. The turn is what keeps it from working out. One direction only is not enough.
3. Stay in the same color. A cream tail woven through teal can show. If you are unsure, run the needle through and look at the other side before you pull the yarn through.

You can start the job by crocheting over the tail. That does not finish it. You still turn and weave back, and on a color change the old tail may show through the new stitches.

Knots are a temptation when an end is short. One teacher warns that they come undone, and says to weave the end back into its own color instead.

A carried strand has a tension of its own. Too loose, and it catches. A carry up the side can also show along the edge. No guide we read gives a number of stitches a float may cross. Short repeats are the ones they recommend. Watch the strand as you go.

In Krowshea

How Krowshea writes a color change

The swatch above is this pattern. Cream for the foundation and the first two rows, teal from row 3. Krowshea checked it, counted 12 single crochet in every row, and wrote the lines beside the code.

STASH {
    YARN cream = #F7EFE0 [ weight: 4 ]
    YARN teal = #2A7F86 [ weight: 4 ]
}
LAYOUT Linear {
    FOUNDATION [COLOR: cream]: CH 13
    ROW 1: CH 1 TURNING, SC 12, TURN
    ROW 2: CH 1 TURNING, SC 12, TURN
    ROW 3 [COLOR: teal]: CH 1 TURNING, SC 12, TURN
    ROW 4: CH 1 TURNING, SC 12
}

A row's [COLOR: teal] starts that row with "Change to teal". Because row 3 names a new color, the written row 2 ends with "Fasten off cream." Row 4 is still teal, and it does not say so again. The yarn in your hand is already the one the row uses.

• USE teal changes color in the middle of a row. The written line says "change to teal" between the stitches, and it does not tell you to carry the old yarn, enclose it, or cut it. That choice is yours. A row written this way does not fasten the old color off.
• JOIN teal IN ANY ST starts a round in new yarn. The written line says "Join teal in any st", then the chain that lifts the round. A round's [COLOR: teal] joins the new yarn in that same place when you do not write the join yourself.
• A standing join. With [start: standing], that same join makes the first single crochet a standing single crochet, and there is no beginning chain.
• DROP and PICK UP cream are the waiting loop in a spiral. The first drop says to pull up a long loop so it doesn't unravel. USE teal on the empty hook joins teal with a standing double crochet, and that stitch counts. These words belong to a spiral. They are not for rows or for joined rounds.

The other samples behind those lines are checked when this page is built. The chart is drawn from the stripe.

Questions

Questions

Sources

Where this comes from

Read November 12, 2026. Where sources disagree, we say so. The swatch and the written rows are Krowshea's, checked at the time the page is built. We do not sell yarn.

• FayDH Designs, How To Change Yarn Colour in Crochet Rows and Rounds
• Amy Solovay, The Spruce Crafts, How to Carry Yarn up Sides When Crocheting Stripes
• Tamara Kelly, Moogly, Switching Colors in the Middle of a Row
• Crochet.com, Tapestry vs Intarsia
• Daniela Nii, Interweave, One Crochet Colorwork Motif 4 Ways
• Red Heart Design Team, Yarnspirations, How to Weave in Ends in Crochet
• Edie Eckman, Join a New Yarn with Standing Crochet Stitches
• June Gilbank, PlanetJune, a comparison of stripe joins
• June Gilbank, PlanetJune, Perfect Stripes for Amigurumi
• June Gilbank, PlanetJune, Ultimate Stripes for Amigurumi
• Andee Graves, Mamas2Hands, Spirals and Squares (the live-loop notes)