Anchoring a Stitch for Tail Weaves and Direction Change in Duplicate Stitch

Duplicate stitch is a technique for covering already knit stitches. It's good for lines and small areas. If the area is too large the item gets bulky, so duplicate stitch wouldn't be the best technique for that area. Intarsia or Fair Isle (stranding) would be a better choice. Many knitters work forward with duplicate stitch thinking how easy it is. The reality is it is one of the more difficult of techniques to get correct. To the astute, trained, review committee eye, errors stand out. Common problems are: Poor stitch coverage Twisting of stitches at the base Splitting both the working thread and base stitches Legs at the base of an end stitch don't separate, but rather lean in the same direction This blog post deals with the last problem. End stitches that sometimes appear twisted or have both legs leaning in the same direction. The problem occurs because the tail or working yarn is brought inward towards the stitch worked in that set. The solution is to anchor the stitch to the outside stitch by splitting the outside stitch slightly and then continuing forward with the tail weave or duplicate stitch. Below is what anchored stitches look like.