Helpful Hints

Things That Make Knitting Easier For Me

First, always look at your work.  A very wise teacher at my LYS taught me that one.  If you do not check your work periodically, you may find a mistake farther back than you’d want to rip out.  If you are watching, your chances of catching mistakes early increases.  And yes, it took several big rip-outs before I learned this lesson.

Next, stitch markers are your best friend when doing patterns such as mine where there are definite design sections.  When you start your design rows, if you put a marker at the beginning and end of each design, you don’t have to count the background stitches in between the markers (assuming the in between stitches are stockinette or garter pattern).  I have even put markers for the border stitches. On one pattern with an eyelet border, I kept missing the first stitch of the border at the end of the row, so after a few rip outs (see above), I put a marker at the beginning of the border.  It was only for 4 stitches, but it ended the rip outs.

You can change the size of your item by changing the number of rows and/or number of stitches.  This is works better on the blankets than on the washcloths or bibs.

To increase or decrease the length of the blanket, add or subtract rows in multiples of 2 rows (2,4,6,8).  This is because the designs normally start on the right side row.  If you do an odd number increase/decrease, the background stitches will change to reverse stockinette and the design will be in stockinette.

A second way to increase or decrease the length of the blanket that has a top and bottom design row, is to change the length of the blanket center of the blanket.   Measure the length of the beginning design section, double that length, and subtract that length from the desired finished length.  The resulting number is the length in inches of the center section.

To increase or decrease the width on a blanket that has a repeating design, (example: a row of giraffe’s), equally increase or decrease the number of stitches between the designs.  Just remember to change your cast on number to reflect these changes.

An additional way to increase the both the length and width is to increase the size of the borders.  You can add additional rows to the top and bottom borders for length, and add stitches to the side borders to add width.

Have A Tip?

Have a great tip or trick that helps you with knitting? Let me know and I will get it added to the list.