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, August 28, 2012Name: lully

Subject: scraps of yarn

Comment: So when you are done with a scarf and you have like some leftovers you can finger knitted it into something pretty neat and pretty or even make it into a fringe

Monday, August 27, 2012Name: Cynthia

Subject: Tips

Comment: If your pattern starts with "K1, make 1" and ends with "make 1, K1", always add an extra stitch at each end when casting on. These two extra knit stitches will give you a nice edge to sew your garment together. On your second to last row, don't forget to take the two extra stitches off again, especially if you have to leave them on a stitch holder as in knitting a baby jacket with a yoke.

Monday, August 20, 2012Name: Cookie

Subject: Baby Blanket

Comment: Cast on 120 stitches on size 13 needles. Go up 7 rows, then go to size 3 needles go up 7 rows. On and on until you are bored. Easy and fun, enjoy.

Monday, August 13, 2012Name: Sara

Subject: Least favorite Part of project

Comment: If there is a part of a project that you either don't like knittig (sleeves for me!!) or is the "hardest" part of the pattern, start with that if you can... I know that I tend to procrastinate on parts of a project that I don't like to knit and then the whole thing gets held up. So I get the annoying bits out of the way ASAP so I can enjoy the rest!!

Sunday, August 12, 2012Name: Heather Ward

Subject: Sewing up a knitted garment

Comment: Quite the easiest way to hold two pieces of your garment together before stitching is to thread a knitting needle thru' both pieces. Longer than pins and sooooo much easier to extract!

Monday, July 30, 2012Name: janice

Subject: knitting with 2 colours

Comment: i have found knitting with 2 colours easier if you buy 2 large plastic jars with lids and drill a hole in the lids make the hole big enough to tape the inside of the drill hole or sand of so it wont fray the wool. then place the wool inside thread wool through hole and your set to go no more tangled wool.

Thursday, July 19, 2012Name: Naomi

Subject: scrap yarn usage

Comment: I had all sorts of odd and end yarn in my drawer, so I decided to make a neat scarf out of all the different colors. I used a simple pattern;,

Row one; Knit 3, purl 3, repeat to end
Row 2; Purl 3, Knit 3, repeat to end

Repeat these rows until it's long enough for you.

Mine is the most beautiful scarf I've ever made, and I used up most of my small balls!

Saturday, June 16, 2012Name: AweMe Designs (Ravelry)

Subject: Stop multi bobbins from tangling

Comment: I learned an interesting fact the other day. While working on 2-at-a-time / magic loop socks and doing multi-color cables for each sock, I was getting tangles all around. There were 6 bobbins per sock, which left me with 12 bobbins for the project messing me up and slowing me down. I grabbed some small ziplock baggies!!! I grouped and placed each socks bobbins in one baggie. So, I had 2 baggies for the project.
When it was time to knit that particular section, I took them out of the baggie! AWESOME!! Once done, put them back in the baggie, move on to the next section and the next UNTANGLED bobbin group.
Hope someone finds this useful.... I did.

(Ravelry user: project "Love SliprZ" - picture of baggies in use)

Saturday, June 16, 2012Name: hey!!! (again!)

Subject: easy bind off

Comment: I have always had a hard time binding off without dropping at least a half of my stiches. (I'm not kidding!) I now use afgan crochet hooks. They look like knitting needles; but have a crochet hook end and once you get the hang of knitting with them, they make binding off so much easier. What you do is knit your first two stiches onto the afgan hook, then pull the second one through the first one as if you were crocheting. Keep on like that 'til the end of the row. That way you won't drop any stitches. : )

Monday, June 11, 2012Name: smckee51

Subject: New "old" knit techniques

Comment: For knitting, use the long needles and tuck the "empty" non-pointed end of the needle under your dominant arm or in your armpit with your arm holding it in place and with the working end at a comfortable distance from your body.
Hold the yarn on the same side as this needle by wrapping it under your little finger, over the top of both your ring and middle finger, down between your middle and index finger and all the way around your index finger so it comes out on the palm side between your index and middle finger at the bases of their fingernails, with the skein at the little finger end and about two inches yarn between your needle and fingers. (In using some yarns you can skip wrapping the little finger).
With your dominate hand; keep index and middle fingers slightly curved and rest your thumb on the same needle and guide it into the stitch. Move the index and middle finger, with the yarn between them, back and forth; wrapping the yarn around the needle point like a shuttle cock on a sewing machine. You can also use your ring finger fingernail (of the same hand) to pull the stitch off the other needle onto the working needle with each stitch and use your middle finger to push yarn just wrapped around for a stitch towards the needle it is going onto. To change needle position at the end of the row; grab both needle points with your dominant hand and slip the empty one under your arm and the full one into your other hand, done right and you won’t have to rewrap your yarn on your hand. I haven’t found a stitch that I cannot do with this method and I can go very fast this way.
I have been knitting this way for about two years as I was having trouble holding the needles with a heavy- already worked piece on it so I put one end under my arm to support the needle and liked it. When I was in a yarn store I mentioned it to the clerk and she said she had read about this method in an early 1900 magazine but it was explained in a way that she couldn't figure out how to do it. She didn't say which magazine it was or who the author was. I just hope that I explained the method a little more clearly. This is also a great way for people with arthritis to start knitting again as there is little movement of the arms and hands and for beginners it allows them to focus on the stitches rather than on their hand movements. Once you have mastered this easy technique you will very easily figure out how to do it two handed as is required for double pointed or circular needles.

Saturday, June 09, 2012Name: JustJudith

Subject: Quick Update to Circular Knitting Cord Key (ever lost one?)

Comment: No surprise...no less than 10 minutes after I submitted this idea...I had a better one...

Was sorting a 'junk basket' (everyone has one ..or a drawer, or....you know what I mean)...found several odds-and-sods key chains...where do they come from? Simply attach your circular cord key to the key chain! Now THAT will not stray too far and makes the key chain useful...and since we usually have more than one circular key, and more than one key chain...think of all the possible places it will be handy to have one! Your purse, your knitting bag, with your house and car keys...etc. etc. Hope you enjoy this fun idea!

Monday, June 04, 2012Name: Sally

Subject: Seaming

Comment: While putting my mom's hair up in rollers, I got the idea to use the plastic bobby pins (I prefer the pink ones) to hold pieces together while seaming. They are easy to see, slip between the yarn wonderfully and will never rust like straight or safety pins, and are cheap.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012Name: Cynthia

Subject: two pieces alike

Comment: When knitting two pieces that are alike (sleeves, front of a cardigan (reverse shaping) make them at the same time using circular needles, if necessary, then use the same skein of yarn (to reduce tangling) there will be no doubt that they will be alike.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012Name: hey!!!

Subject: use for leftover sock yarn

Comment: Take leftover pieces of sock yarn and knit them together to make a one- of-a-kind pair of socks. I can only imagine what creative pairs of socks would be made! : )

Monday, May 28, 2012Name: Stitch Diva

Subject: Save Money on Supplies

Comment: Needles:

Buy a selection of DPNs in common sizes. They can be used for knitting in the round, making i cord, or use 2 to knit flat. Better yet, make your own DPNs using wooden dowels (see a tutorial).

Yarn:

Synthetic yarns are better for beginners, as they are cheap, washable, and come in all sorts of colors. Use scrap yarn for stuffing toys.

Hope this helps.

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