TIPS

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HINTS

                    

Knitting Tips:                                                                              Long tail cast on trick: Cast on using the inside and outside of the ball. To do this, make the usual slip knot as your first stitch, using the outside tail. Before tightening it to fit the needle, take the inside tail and pop it through the slip knot, leaving a tail about 3" long. Now when you tighten the knot, you have two strands like you normally would, but neither one will run out because they both lead back to the ball. Cast on all the stitches you need, clip one of the tails, and keep knitting with the other.               ……..from Carol Marcin

Color Changes in Ribbing: When changing colors in ribbing, knit the entire first row (even the purl stitches) of the new color. Knit the next row with the same color in the normal way for ribbing, knit the knits and purl the purls. You will avoid avoid that funny jog you get on the purl stitches and make a smooth color transition. That knit row will essentially disappear. Or knit three rows of each color instead of two and you will get a smooth transition.                                  ……from L. Lee in Stitch and Bitch Calendar.

A dropped stitch in a sweater? That stitch will drop all the way to the ribbing and might add a nice lace effect. Drop two, three or more for a very lacy effect. When knitting in the round, drop a stitch at each side and you will get the effect of a seam

Your favorite sweater has a hole? Knit circles, flowers, bobbles, or embroider same and make this a decorative addition.

Sock Stretcher.  Bend a wire coat hanger into your desired size. Use the hook to hang your socks from the shower rod.                           ………….A great idea from A,Berka

How to Block ANYTHING Fast & Easy!  Here's my favorite way to block knitting made from any fiber that can be washed: Wash your towels. Take a spun-out damp bath towel and smooth it out on a flat surface. Place your sweater pieces on the towel one at a time, smoothing them out and rolling up the towel as you go. Let it sit for several hours. Overnight is really good. Un-roll your towel and lay out your pieces on a flat surface. I use an inexpensive 3'x5' Indian-type rug. The fibers of the rug act like gentle Velcro and grip the sweater pieces, usually without pinning! Gently ease your sweater pieces to the size that the pattern called for. Let dry and you're all set to put it togeter! This method works safely on any fiber content that can be dampened...

To protect against mistakes, use a lifeline, which is a thread (some people use dental floss) that is run through all stitches on a plain row so that if a mistake is made, there's a safe go-back.

Weaving Tips:                                                                            NEW ..... On hemming the towel:  Robyn Spady, when she did weaving tips for the Seattle Guild, says after weaving about 1/4" she does one pick of a heavier thread a little heavier than what the weft is and then after another 1/4" of weaving does another pick of the heavy thread.  She does the same on the opposite ends.  When she is ready to hem, she takes out the heavier thread and there is an even line for folding and ironing for the hems. Also, having an excellent iron makes the difference too.

How to warp a loom using water bottles:. You will have even tension and no longer NEED to rely on a friendly family member to assist YOU. Divide warp into sections no larger than 6". Fill enough bottles with water to go across the whole warp.  It is important that all are the same weight. Straighten and smooth each section of warp so all threads are equally tensioned. Make a slipknot in each section. On each water bottles, make a loop and use a knot to hook it onto the handle. Hook the loop on the water bottles around the slipknot in the warp (trust me it will hold, I didn't think so either until I saw it). Do this for all sections of the warp. Start winding warp onto beam, until bottles reach the breast beam. Untie bottles, and do it all over again.

Basket Weaving: When cutting spokes, cut the ends of your horizontal spokes straight across and the ends of your vertical at an angle. This helps you identify which are which more easily.

Testing yarns/fabrics for Fiber Type: From: Kris Abshire :To everyone who finds need to test yarns/fabrics from "The Weaver's Companion" book, a compendium from Handwoven Magazine, publisher Interweave Press. (for fabric, test with a snippet - blends will take some extra thought to determine...)

  1. Light a match or candle 
  2.  Using tweezers, hold a short length of yarn horizontally, and slowlyfeed the yarn into the edge of a flame and observe what happens.
  • WOOL: Burns slowly in an open flame, and self-extinquishes when removed from the flame. It has a characteristic "burning hair" odor and produces an irregular dark ash.
  • SILK: Burns slowly in an open flame, and self-extinguishes when removed from the flame. It has a characteristic "burning hair" odor and produces a crushable black ash.
  • LINEN: Burns quickly in an open flame, and continues to glow when removed from the flame. Smells like burning grass and produces a gray, feathery-smooth edge.
  • COTTON: Burns quickly in an open flame, and continues to glow when removed from the flame. Smells like burning paper and produces a gray, feathery-smooth edge.
  • RAYON: Burns quickly in an open flame, and continues to glow when removed from the flame. Smells like burning paper and produces a gray, feathery-smooth edge.
  • ACETATE: Burns and melts in an open flame, and continues to burn and melt when removed from the flame. Produces a brittle, hard, black bead.
  • ACRYLIC: Burns and melts at a low temperature, gives off toxic fumes, and melted residue is very hot. Produces a brittle, hard, black bead.
  • MODACRYLICS: Burns very slowly and melts in an open flame, and self-extinquishes when removed from the flame. Produces a brittle, hard, black bead.
  • NYLON: Burns slowly and melts in an open flame, and self-extinguishes when removed from the flame. Produces a hard, gray bead.
  • OLEFIN: Burns and melts in an open flame, continues to burn and melt briefly when removed from the flame, and then self-extinquishes. Produces a hard, tan bead.
  • POLYESTER: Burns slowly and melts in an open flame, and self-extinguishes when removed from the flame. Produces a hard, black bead.    ......   "The Weaver's Companion" book, a compendium from Handwoven Magazine

 

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