Knitting Hack #1 - Paperclips to the Rescue
Hack: Paperclips in various sizes act as a perfect stitch marker to prevent the waiting room blues. Simply use the natural loop of the paperclip to slip it onto your needle. I use a standard size paperclip when knitting with US size 5 - 10 needles; anything smaller than size 5 risks the paperclip slipping around and anything larger than size 10 makes it difficult to move the paperclip. Luckily, paperclips come in all shapes and sizes! Larger paperclips accommodate larger size needles and smaller paperclips (sometimes even small safety pins) accommodate smaller size needles. And what a better place to search for one than at the DMV or doctor's office - there is bound to be one hanging around there somewhere!
Knitting Hack #2 - Rule of Thumb
Hack: The average thumb from thumb-joint to tip measures exactly 1 inch (this excludes your nail. Additionally, this also explains the common idiom "rule of thumb"). Your thumb can be used as a fairly accurate way to measure.
To double-check your work, a US $1 bill is a perfect ruler as well! The dollar bill measures exactly 6 inches long - fold it in half, and you have a 3 inch measuring stick. Fold it in half again, and you have a 1.5 inch measuring stick.
Knitting Hack #3 - Don't Tear It, Repair It!
Problem: Ever accidentally knit a stitch when you were supposed to purl it (or vice versa), but didn't notice until a row or even several rows later? There is an easy fix for this small, silly mistake that doesn't involve tearing out many rows down into your work.
Hack: Find the stitch connected to the mistake made a row or more into your work. Then, as they say in the movie Frozen, let it go! Slip stitch connected to the mistake off the needle and keep pulling out stitches to undo work until you have successfully pulled out the mistake or mistakes. This will tear down your project vertically and will look a lot like a ladder.
Once you have gotten past the mistake, stop any additional tearing by placing the loop of the stitch you would like to save onto a crochet hook appropriate for the thickness of the yarn you are using (see label of skein/hank for that information. In a pinch, any crochet hook smaller than the gauge yarn you are working with will do just fine).
Then, using a crochet hook, work your way back up the "ladder" vertically until you get to your current working row by pulling what looks like the steps of the "ladder" through the loop of the stitch.
TO KNIT your way up the "ladder": Place loop of stitch in front of yarn hanging across work like a ladder step. Then, pull yarn from behind and through loop of stitch.
TO PURL your way up the "ladder": Place loop of stitch in back of yarn hanging across work like a ladder step. Then, insert crochet hook through loop and pull yarn from in front through loop of stitch.
To alternate knit and purl stitches, alternate above techniques.
TIP: Always make sure the yarn you are pulling through your torn out stitches is the correct working yarn for that stitch. When tearing out many rows, it is very easy to accidentally twist or skip a "step in the ladder".
ANOTHER TIP: If you are tearing out 2 or more stitches in a section, see below hack about a safety line.
Knitting Hack #4 - Safety Lines Save Stitches
Problem: While knitting in a very complicated lace pattern, I soon became aware of a mistake I made that was at least 2 inches from the point I was working on. I also realized I had to tear out a whole section, not just one stitch. I could start ripping or a I could engage in the painstaking process of undoing everything I just worked so hard to complete while simultaneously trying to keep track of what row I'm in, but to save from the headache, I can combine knitting hack 3 above to only tear out the problem section.
Hack: Floss is the perfect lightweight, flexible material to hold onto stitches you don't want to lose while tearing down the problem area of your project. Simply thread it through the stitches you would like to hold in place.
In the knitting world, this is often called a "life line". Some knitters thread a piece of floss through their work on every row 1 of a repeated pattern (especially working with a lace pattern); therefore, if a mistake is made, the knitter can simply tear all the way down to the floss row and know that is their row 1. They can begin working again from that point onward in the pattern.
Knitting Hack #5 - Color Code Your DPNs
Hack: Purchase 2 different colored sets of DPNs in the correct size needed for your project - the more these two differing colors contrast, the better. Then, when setting up your project, choose one colored needle to represent the needle 1 that marks the beginning of a new round. Then, use the other color you haven't used yet to represent the 2 or 3 remaining needles needed to complete the round.
Comment below with your favorite knitting hack or suggestions to improve the hacks listed above. Thanks for reading - happy knitting!
- Amanda
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