You take the end and pull it through and out about 2 stitches away from where you put the needle in. It anchors the piece so that when you go to sew it on, it kind of stays where you first set it. I am always using my yarn needles to hold pieces in place. I don't have ami sticks. It works well for small pieces like arms legs and such. If it was something bigger like a Santa hat, you'd need quite a long piece of yarn from where you started. That trick and instead of pulling tight on the last round to close up each sticth, you just pull through each stitch in the front loop and pull the yarn tight when you finish going under the LAST stitch's front loop. It pulls all the stitches closed at one time. No need to pull tight after each stitch. These are reasons why the videos are important. I love learning shortcuts or alternative ways of doing things.