I don't think there's any one best way -- for me, it depends on the yarn, the pattern, etc. Whenever I can I use a felted join, something I discovered not that long ago -- of course it only works with wool and wool blends, but for joining yarns it works great. If I'm changing colors I often just start knitting with the new yarn, letting the tail hang free, and weave the end into the same color later on. That way it's a clean change. Another join I've used and really like is the Russian join -- it can be slightly bulky where the yarns join but it works well with yarns that aren't too chunky, no ends to weave in, and it allows you to move from one color to another with no overlap. If I'm joining yarns of the same color I'll often just knit a couple of stitches with both yarns, then drop the old one and weave the end in later. Jenn, I usually weave ends close to the edge, although not always... depends on the bulk of the yarn, etc. I try to weave them in where ever they'll be least noticeable. I carry yarn up the sides by holding it behind and to the left of the working yarn when I start the new color row, then looping it over the top of the new color before I start knitting. If I have to carry it more than two rows, I do catch it every two rows to "tack" it to whatever I'm knitting by kind of looping it over the working row yarn as above. If you're using colors that contrast a lot it will be more noticeable. If I were doing big wide strips I'd be tempted to stop and start the yarn over and over again just so I didn't have to carry it up far, but then there are a bunch of ends to weave in. Here's a photo that shows the edge of a scarf I'm making now; I alternate colors every 2 rows... you best can see the carried-up yarn where the colors contrast the most, maybe in the lower right portion where it's green alternating with purple. Because it's carried behind the working yarn, it gets kind of woven in and looks like it belongs. There are very neat ways to tack the yarn if you have to carry it more than a few rows but I don't know of any that will completely hide the carried yarn (not saying there aren't any, I just don't know of them!).

If you buy a hand saw, the best are the japanese pull saws. I have a bucket full of hand saws that are not worth the effort - they have too agressive teeth and you simply can not get a good cut with them. The pull saws cut as you pull them towards you, standard ones cut as you push, and that is way harder to control. You mentioned it's a bearing wall. Though the wall in the picture is in the middle of the house, it is actually a bearing wall as that was the exterior of the house at one point, then a porch was added and eventually closed in. We had already "fixed" the wall and then after four years decided to swap the den and dining room and opened up a second passageway and made an alcove for the hutch as there was not enough room for the hutch and dining table. This is what the other side of the room looked like after we made changes the first time And after making changes We moved the wall 2' into the kichen to make the alcove for the hutch. Here is the kitchen side of the original wall, after plaster and lath had been removed. You can tell where the exterior windows use to be - This wall now has three headers installed. The main one is 7' wide and then htere are the two new ones, 3.5' wide for the second entryway and about 5' wide for the alcove I put the new wall in place before opening up as I wanted to save as much sheetrock on the back side as possible. This is the new wall - DH was working out of town and while I can demo and build walls, I needed him to put up sheetrock so it stayed like this all last summer. My house is a complete remodel so we've been at this since 2004 - the big problem is I ended up changing my mind a few times so we tore out a wall and patio door we had installed only four years earlier. And just one more picture taken a few weeks ago - we were still using the old cabinets - the new ones are getting final coats of finish and we may get some installed this weekend.

When knitting on 4 double pointed needles or circular needles you don't join anything. It's not like knitting with 2 needles where you have definite rows. You just continue knitting or purling whichever your pattern requires. When you make the last stitch of the first round you sort of spiral up to the first stitch of the second round. In other words if you were doing the whole piece with a knit stitch you'd just continue knitting until your piece was the required length. When adding in a new color start with the first stitch and just knit it leaving a tail of yarn to weave in later. After a couple of rows you can go back and tie it off or you can wait until you are finished the garment. This way you can tighten or loosen the stitch so it matches the tension of the rest of the garment. If you are carrying the different colors up the center back do not do it over more than 2 rows and don't pull it very tight. When you pick up a new color to knit drop the color you have been using over the the new color yarn. This prevents holes. Look up (fair isle knitting) for tips on changing colors of yarn in more detail.

It is MUCH cheaper to have a few pieces of hardwood added (your professional flooring refinisher can do this for you...for a fee of course) and the whole thing refinished than it is to lay new plywood and then lay new hardwood. A full sand and refinish = $5/sf. That is the average cost. That includes labour and materials. If you need to source some pieces of hardwood and then lace them into the existing floor, it will add a few hundred dollars to the overall job. Now compare that to BAD (low end piece-of-junk) engineered hardwood. You can purchase the hardwood for $4.99/sf (please don't....they aren't worth the "savings") and then you will spend $2-$3/sf to install it...and that does NOT include new plywood (you can add another $2/sf for plywood+labour to install it). Refinish = $5/sf (plus a little more for new wood to be laced in) Add new engineered hardwood = $5 - $12/sf (floor itself) + labour ($2-$3/sf) + plywood.....a grand total of $9/sf - $17/sf. It's your call. The first thing you want to do is check to see how much wood is left on those old planks. Find a floor vent to look at the cross-section. Measure the amount of wood ABOVE the tongue. You will need 3mm of wood to get a full sand/refinish done. Start there. A sand/refinish is ALWAYS cheaper than new flooring. That's why solid hardwood is always more desirable. It can be CHEAPER to own over it's life time (60-80 years) than any other floor.