Knit Tips & Tricks

[lynn893]

5. Do not fear the frog. Do not resent the frog. Love the frog. It's hard, I know, but it must be done.

I love this! This has to be one of the hardest things. I'm well acquainted with the frog, but don't know if I'll ever love the frog!

This one really made me smile! Personally, I hate frogging my work! I always mess up the stitches when putting them back on the needle. For some reason, they always get twisted or are backwards!

Then I get worried that I'm going to mess up the new row because my sts are wrong.... hehehe.

[Shandeh]

I have a knitting DVD, which includes videos showing how to do different knitting techniques. One of the videos shows Jennifer from "Jennifer Knits" in Los Angeles, California. She says, "If you're not a good ripper, you're not a good knitter."

Every time I have to frog a row, I think of her saying that.

[RuthieinMaryland]

Hi!

Earlier in this thread, I wrote in about a home-made blocking kit I'd just put together.

I've been using it to great effect and just wanted to let everyone know how it was working.

I went to a welding supply place and bought a tube of 3' "tig rods", stainless steel rods about i/16" thick and three feet long (under $16). At Lowe's, I bought a package of "alphabet blocks", ($16.88) 1 foot square dense foam type blocks you can use to make a floor mat for kids, and a perfect surface to stick pins in.

The alphabet letters separate from the larger blocks, so when I needed a longer size surface to pin an afghan to, I took some blocks from the center portion and left the alphabet letters in place. This gave me a great surface with no sagging because of missing blocks!

The "tig rods" (there were about 34 of them in the tube) have a flattened end that makes threading through the knitted piece so easy. No snags, and easy to overlap on the long sides of the afghans.

So for under $33 I got a killer blocking system! It works SO well, and the finished pieces look finished, very professional! I just put the afghans (all acrylic) in the washer on "hand-wash" or delicate, then take them out damp, thread the stainless wires along the edges, stretch and then pin the rods in place with stainless rust-proof T-pins.

I use a ping-pong table to spread out the blocks, but they'd work just as well on a bed or the floor.

Hope this is useful for you. It's made a huge difference for me and I can finally get a beautiful finish for my projects!

Right now I'm working on yet another afghan (one for each family member! I'm on #6 of 8) and starting to knit winter scarves for my yearly holiday gifts to friends, family and the elderly in the community. They will all get blocked, many at the same time, thanks to the foam blocks and the large number of rods that came in the tube from the welding supply shop.

Happy knitting!

Ruthie

[cacunn]

I use the little jump rings from the bead making section of the craft stores. You can get a lot for a little cost.

When I come to a repeating pattern I link a number of the rings together to make a pattern counter. I have two color rings. If it is a 10 row repeat I place a different color ring at 5 so I know where I am. I place this counter one or two stitches in from the end of a row. Each time I come to the counter I advance one ring.

I have a yarn winder, but I have started using the winding stick more than the ball winder. There is a fancy name for this that means nest stick. As I was walking though the drug store I saw one of the round toothbrush holder. I picked one up. I glues buttons on each end to close the air holes. I now store dp needles inside the toothbrush holder and wrap yarn on the outside.

[saracidaltendencies]

This may have already been mentioned (and many of you may already know this), if so, I apologize, however this is a handy little tip I heard about some time ago by a fellow knitter.

If you have to frog or your needle falls out of your work, or, you just lose a few stitches, don't worry about putting the stitches back on the needle the right way, just get your sts. on the needle. If your sts. are on the needle the wrong way, simply knit into the back of the stitch instead of the front. Makes picking up those stitches so much faster and easier!

[kristaj]

I have a yarn winder, but I have started using the winding stick more than the ball winder. There is a fancy name for this that means nest stick.

What a coincidence. I was just looking at these. They are called Nostepinnes.

Thank you to everyone for this thread! I am a newbie, so I am all about picking up tips and tricks. So far, my biggest problem has been storage. I have a standing knitting bag that was my grandmother's (not sure which grandmother, though!) and I bought a plastic bin with a lid for storing my stash, but my knitting needles and crochet hooks are a mess in the bottom of the bag. I will definitely steal a few of these ideas for myself!

[RuthieinMaryland]

Super tip! Thanks! :o)

[lynn893]

Thank you to everyone for this thread! I am a newbie, so I am all about picking up tips and tricks. So far, my biggest problem has been storage. I have a standing knitting bag that was my grandmother's (not sure which grandmother, though!) and I bought a plastic bin with a lid for storing my stash, but my knitting needles and crochet hooks are a mess in the bottom of the bag. I will definitely steal a few of these ideas for myself!

a pringles can is fantastic for storing all your straight needles (after you've eaten the pringles, of course! Just wash out the can!

a pringles can is fantastic for storing all your straight needles (after you've eaten the pringles, of course! Just wash out the can!

Hey, that's perfect! Thank you!!