Tips 'n Tricks

Do you have a helpful hint or handy trick that will make any aspect of knitting easier? Share it! Post ideas on scrap yarn usages, stitch markers, color changing, maintaining your sanity while following a difficult pattern, etc. There is most probably someone out there that will benefit from your help. Need ideas yourself? Read others' comments--we all live and learn!

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Name: Johnica
Subject: Slipping work
Comment: When I am putting my project down -to prevent the stitches from falling off the needles I take the yarn and wrap it around the end then, the other end and all around ( from end to end) and then repeat. It prevents your work from slipping off and you dont have to have anything on hand to do it.

Name: Patricia
Subject: Tip
Comment: If for any reason you are going to leave your project on hold, it is better to put a piece of waste yarn and out of the needles, this way, when you restart, your project will not have the marks of the needle.

Name: Teresa
Subject: Circular needles to knit straight
Comment: I wish someone had told me when I first started knitting that you can use circular needles to knit straight rows! I would have saved so much money! I was buying a circular needle for this pattern and regular needles for that pattern. Plus it's easier to knit in chairs and lighter in your hands. I highly recommend the Denise interchangeable needle set. So many options for a much less expensive start-up cost! (And, no, I don't work for the company.) :]

Name: Paula Jo
Subject: Well duh! moments
Comment: Most of what I make ends up being given as gifts. A few years ago I realized I couldn't remember what I had given to whom! Well duh! In my craft journal I now list the type of craft (knit, tatted, painted, etc.), the pattern, materials, etc. and the person I gave it too. I have a list of who got what!

For a long time I would follow the pattern as written, no matter what but sometimes it didn't work right or I didn't like the end result so I wouldn't use that pattern anymore. Well duh! Sometimes a pattern has an error in it. Now I have a few basic patterns I love and just use a pattern stitch or charted design I like. Usually I can make it work by adjusting the stitch count by 1 or 2 stitches. This works especially well with socks.

I like to have something to work on in the car but quite often I find I walked out the door without a project. Well duh! Now I keep a small project in the car all the time. It doesn't come in the house until I'm finished with it. These are usually small items like bookmarks so it doesn't take long to finish one even working a couple of minutes at a time.

I'm sure we all have our Well duh! moments and I'd love to read some of yours!

Name: Bernadine
Subject: My Traveling Knitting Bag
Comment: We spend a lot of time on the road and I always take a few projects with me, usually two totally different projects to fight the bore dum.
My Traveling bag is always a Shopping bag that you can buy at any shopping centre, and has scissors, ruler, darning needle, needle holder (leather one that my sister made me) and projects and pattern and a good book to read when the road gets too bumpy to knit.

Name: Winifred
Subject: knitting two at the same time
Comment: I tried is many years ago and found you had to be really careful in what direction you were going, because if you stopped at the end of one needle to answer the phone for any reason, when you picked it up again you can easily get mixed up in what direction you were going. I'm sorry but it didn't work for me, I found just writing all the rows down and marking them off as I knitted them kept everything the same length. Try it.

Name: Pien
Subject: two of the same items
Comment: Knit the two sleeves, for any top you are knitting, at the same time. This way they will be exactly the same (in my case also the same length). make sure you do not tangle the two balls of yarn you use (one for each sleeve). It might go a bit slower, but at the end you have two sleeves ready at the same time. I do the same for a left and right front of a cardigan (one needs to be the mirror image of the other). And many other projects that need to have two of the same.

Name: Lisa
Subject: Stitch Markers
Comment: I use a bright colored strand of yarn to mark my stitches. All you have to do is tie a small strand of yarn loosely around your needles, and away you go. (If you need the marker in the middle of a row, you just have to knit up to that stitch and then slip the yarn on your needle)

Name: sandra
Subject: storing
Comment: I keep all my tape measures/stitch holders/row counters etc in one of those nice boxes the laundry tabs/laundry gel are packed in. Thank you Mr Persil!

Name: Carol
Subject: Neat Edgings
Comment: To make a neat edge always slip the first stitch in every row, this gives neat and firm edge, makes sewing up much easier.

Name: Freda K Scotland
Subject: scrap wool
Comment: I keep a plastic sandwich bag in my knitting bag to hold all the wee bits of wool I cut off after I have sewn up a garment. It soon mounts up and I can use it to stuff anything even cushions, as it is so easily washed.

Name: Anna
Subject: cold nights
Comment: It is the best on cold nights to knit. It is not so pleasant knitting in summer when you are knitting because the yarn does not go through your fingers as nicely as it would in winter.

If you have trouble with knitting and it is your first time it will get better. After about your first project you should have a hang of it.

happy knitting!

Name: Winifred
Subject: pins
Comment: I always use the pins you put through hair rollers to keep seams in place when sewing together. They are good for heavy wool as they don't get lost in the wool.

Name: Alison - from Birmingham UK
Subject: Sticky needles
Comment: Another way of keeping the warn slipping smoothly over the needles is to rub them through your hair, against your scalp. The oil there will keep the needles slippery - it works for bamboo, plastic and aluminium. (I have seen this tip on this site before, but is is very useful and worth repeating.)

Name: Dee Abbate
Subject: Bamboo needles
Comment: I love knitting with wooden needles but have found that the yarn doesn't always slide as smoothly as I would like...! I carry wax paper and rub them during my knitting. Have also used a 'very' small amount of hair conditioner it also works very well.

Also before knitting with mohair put in the freezer for an hour or so, knits much easier.

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