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!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007Name: J

Subject: Tips

Comment: 1. My hair falls out easily, and so to protect my yarn from getting any hair in it while I knit, I enclose the yarn ball in a plastic ziplock bag and poke a hole in it with my knitting needle and string the yarn through that.
2. To keep my patterns looking nice I enclose them in sheet protectors, and then the patterns I am working on I take out of my 3-ring binder and place in a cheap folder that has the three-hole prongs in it.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007Name: Tina

Subject: Yarn

Comment: To stop your knitting from slipping off the needles when work is put away I just roll a small quantity of 'blue tac' into a tiny ball and press onto the end of the needle.

Happy knitting

Monday, February 12, 2007Name: Natalie

Subject: i use scrap pieces of yarn and put one next to me everytime i finish a row. after i am finished i count the scraps of yarn.

Comment: i use scrap pieces of yarn and put one next to me everytime i finish a row. after i am finished i count the scraps of yarn.

Friday, February 09, 2007Name: Mary

Subject: Keeping track of pattern rows

Comment: When knitting a complicated pattern, I write each row on a 3 x 5 card, punch holes in the top, one at each end, and put round key chains through the holes. As I do each row, I flip the row over and keep track of the pattern that way.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007Name: Lindsay

Subject: Scissors

Comment: I have a pair of small scissors for my yarn crafts. They are always opening and I am scared that they will accidentally cut my work. I discovered that if you put a knitting needle point protecter on the end of the scissors, it prevents such things from happening. It also prevents the sharp ends from poking holes in my bag!

Sunday, February 04, 2007Name: Lizzy

Subject: Chart Holder

Comment: Ok here is a great way to keep your charts handy. You might have to adjust the length of the card board to fit your needs. Just cut a piece of cardboard about an inch wider than what you chart is and double your chart size plus 2 inches. Fold the cardboard in half and staple or glue elastic strips to the cardboard however you want the chart to fit. i know this is a lot and kind of confusing. but i am a very bad instruction typer. Hope it works!

Saturday, February 03, 2007Name: peggy markley

Subject: storing yarn

Comment: Use the plastic bag that your daily newspaper comes in on a rainy day for storing yarn. You can easily see the contents and they fit so nicely together wherever you store your yarn.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007Name: ALison from Birmingham UK

Subject: Toddlers/children

Comment: When knitting for fast-growing toddlers, I usually lengthen the pattern by 2 inches at the waist, and an inch at the sleeves. This way, the child can wear the sweater for 2 seasons, the first with the sleeves turned back. The extra length at the waist and sleeves means the life of the sweater will be extended to (hopefully) two years.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007Name: Knitwit Anni

Subject: Markers

Comment: I stumbled on this one totally by accident! I was starting a laze pattern shawl at my daughter's house and needed some markers. Well, she had those 'no snag' hair rubber bands (actually I think they're silicone). She didn't like them for her hair, and she was planning on throwing them out. Well, they make great markers! They're small enough, don't snag on any knitting (can't say that for hair), and you can get about 500 of them for a dollar at most dollar stores! I actually found a pack that had a bunch of bright colours, black and clear. Give it a try! I don't worry if I lose one of those, unlike my pretty jewel beaded ones!

Happy Knitting!
Anni in Cheektowaga, NY

Monday, January 29, 2007Name: HALLO EVERYBADDY

Subject: random

Comment: 1. If you are a new knitter, a knitter that doesn't know abbreviations, or a knitter that is just too lazy to remember all the abbreviations and find it difficult to follow instructions, it doesn't matter. Just make up your own designs! It may seem hard for some people to know how long or how many rows to do but if you just start out with making you own scarf, you'll get used to it. And then you can just make whatever you want and experiment with different types of stitches. I have never knitted anything that I didn't change at least a bit. I have only made 1 project where I followed instructions for most of the project. The rest of them, I made up!

2. If you don't have any fiberfill and you can't buy any, just get some scraps of yarn (make sure it's not that you are cutting it from the ball of yarn because that is just a waste) and stuff your projects with that. So if this is something you are reading ahead of time and you think you will never knit anything like a toy that will need to be stuffed, just start collecting them, JUST in case.

Note: This is a great website!

Monday, January 29, 2007Name: HALLO EVERYBADDY

Subject: making needles

Comment: To make needles you can get wooden dowels from a hardware store. You can use the gauge to find out what the actual size of the needle is. So to make the needles, find out if you want to make a straight needle (around 35 cm), cable needle (around 8 cm), or a double sided needle (around 17.5 cm). Sorry, my measurements are probably wrong...Anyways, you then sharpen them with a pencil sharpener or the grinding ones but this is only for the smaller ones. For the big ones or if you don't have a pencil sharpener, you can use a knife and shave it, which needs some practice, just to tell you. And then get some sand paper, starting at approx. 150 and just sand the needle by ripping off a bit of it and just squeezing tight and rubbing the whole needle. Then you can use at least a 400 one and sand it that way. If the tip of the needle is too sharp you can get the rougher one and just scribble over it. Have fun!

Sunday, January 28, 2007Name: Convivialiddell

Subject: General Notes

Comment: 1. Stitch Markers: my parents don't support my knitting habit, so I make do with what I've got. Paper clips. They come a really wide variety of sizes from small for the thinner needles to REALLY big with the huge needles. They also come in different colors so you can coordinate colors and projects or if you're doing a multicabled/laced project, you can use different colors.

2. To keep track of right/wrong side, knit/purl rows, etc. Use a hair tie and tie it around the base of one of the needles, which marks it for right/wrong side. And when you're done, you can tie the needles together so you don't lose one in your bag of knitting needles.

3. I like to knit in front of my computer, and when I'm working on a complicated pattern or a repeat that I'm too lazy to memorize, I copy and paste it onto a word document, set it at a huge font double spaced, then copy and paste the whole repeat several times. As I knit, I just delete the rows from the screen and before I stop, I save the document as it is, it helps to keep track of rows if you leave the house.

4. For really short pattern repeats, like say... 4, I use my feet. On the first row, I lift my right foot. On the second, my left. On the third, I put my right foot down. On the last, my left. It keeps me from getting too antsy from just sitting here and my feet aren't moving, it helps.

5. For REALLY long row repeats, I use ont of those clicker counter thingies. Like you press a button once and the number goes up. I do that and operate it with my feet. One holds it in place, the other pushes the button. When you're done with the entire thing, reset it, or just keep going and divide.

Sunday, January 28, 2007Name: HALLO EVERYBADDY

Subject: stockinette

Comment: For scarves, I recommend to not use the stockinette stitch (stocking stitch) because the sides will curl up unless you put a border with some other type of stitch, like garter.

Sunday, January 28, 2007Name: HALLO EVERYBADDY

Subject: for different types of stitches

Comment: Different types of stitches need different types of yarn to look good as a finished product. Example: if you are going to use the elongated stitch, use some yarn that is pretty fluffy.
So basically try to look for the right type of yarn for the type of stitch.
Also, make sure you read the size of needle on the label so that when you knit, the stitches won't be square-ish. Sometimes it looks good when it is square-ish but that is not very often.

Sunday, January 28, 2007Name: Evea

Subject: winding yarn into a ball

Comment: Always make your yarn into a ball before you start to knit. never leave it as a skein because as you go through yarn, they get floppy and hard to work with. Plus, skeins often have tangles in them that it is easier to work out when you dont have a project on the needles. OF course, it is also harder to tangle a ball of yarn than a skien of yarn that is getting floppy!

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