Some tips that have saved my sorry knitting wotsit!

Although I've been knitting and crocheting for around 40 years, I wouldn't call myself an expert knitter.  Maybe I'm being too harsh on myself but I have to admit I still find myself making silly mistakes when I would have thought I was way beyond that sort of thing.

Over the years, I've developed a bag of tricks that has saved me from many a knitting or crocheting disaster.  Looking back, I can see that I actually have become a skilled knitter, if a little lazy!  I've come to accept the odd mistake as a badge.  After all, if I wanted everything to look manufactured I wouldn't bother to knit would I?!

So here are some of the things that I've relied upon for all these years to dig me out of whatever yarny hole I find myself in!

Frogging - pulling knitting back to just before the mistake was made.  I did this just this morning.  I am currently making a jumper for my grandson Connor, and am doing the sleeves.  The pattern is written for flat knitting but as I hate (and I do not use the word hate lightly!) seaming, I knitted the front and back in one piece.  When I was nearly up to the armholes, I realised I had cast on more stitches for the back than the front.  Grrrr.  I "fixed" this by knitting a couple of stitches together while casting off for the armholes and am fairly confident any unevenness won't be noticed.  They are my favourite mistakes - the ones that look like they were meant to be there!

If you look closely you can see the side panels are slightly different widths

Now I'm doing the first sleeve in the round as well, until I reach the shaping.  I mis-read the pattern which said increase on the 7th and every following fourth row until the increasing is done.  Well, first of all I increased on the first row (old habits die hard) then every 4th row as instructed but found that the increases were finished about 2 inches up the sleeve.  Now that didn't sound or look right to me, so I put the sleeve back into my knitting bag for a couple of days, hoping that I would decide this was OK.  Alas, it was not OK.  I dithered about, not wanting to pick it up, but wanting it finished anyway, until I bit the bullet this morning and pulled back the sleeve to the ribbing. 

This time I am increasing on the 7th, 4th, 7th etc rows until I get the right number of increases.  Even now I'm not convinced that this was correct but that is how I've interpreted the pattern.  I know that  patterns can't be too long and wordy, but I do really like the ones that spell it out row by row...I wonder why?!

In case you are wondering, here is the actual text of the sleeve increases -

Excerpt from Peter Pan Jeanie Bk 341

And of course, I've just re-read the instructions for the first size (not the one that I'm doing) and it says, inc 1st then every 10th row.  This means that I am doing it wrong AGAIN!!!  Oh well, it should still be fine...shouldn't it??   Postscript - I've just checked the Blog preview and realised I should have increased every 8th row not every 4th........now where is the "smash head against keyboard to continue" button??!!

What does all this rambling have to do with handy tips?  I'll tell you what - READ the pattern BEFORE you cast on!  Get the design into your head first so the instructions are logical.  Don't start something then have to give up when it gets complicated by a new stitch or technique that you are having trouble mastering.  I shall call this Tip number 1.

Tip Number 2 - Use stitch markers.  When you are knitting lace or anything that has panels of stitch patterns, stitch markers can make the difference between pulling back a few stitches to pulling back entire rows....no fun when you are knitting cables or lace.  Markers are pretty much essential for circular knitting too.  You must know where the beginning of a row is.  You can use all sorts of things as markers, from pieces of scrap yarn tied around the needle, to beautiful handmade beaded markers.

Tip number 3 - If you are tackling a new stitch pattern consider doing a test swatch first.  Tension (gauge) swatches are a common task when knitting with a new yarn or needle size that is different to your normal one.  I'm trying to design a knitted messenger bag using cable stitch panels and I'm finding it easier to knit the panels out of cheap yarn first to make sure I have the pattern correct.  Once I've done this, I'll be much more in tune with the design and hopefully won't make too many mistakes.  (This relates to Tip 1)

There are hundreds of handy tips and hints to help make your knitting life a little easier and the ones I've listed are only a few of my faves.  If you have a favourite, why not let me know by adding your comment?