QuickTips Index
Sock Basics
Many knitters are afraid of knitting socks, but there's nothing to be worried about. Just trust the pattern and read this pep talk to get started.
Knitting for Pets
Knitting for pets can be a lot of fun, but there are some important things you should keep in mind to make sure that your projects are safe and useful for the animals involved.
Measuring Yardage in a Hank of Yarn
Whether you've recycled yarn or simply don't have the ball band for the yarn you're looking at any more, there are times when you might want to figure out the yardage of a yarn with no information to go on.
Tips for Working with T-Shirt Yarn
T-shirt yarn is a great way to recycle old shirts, but it can be a little tricky to work with. Here are some ideas that will help make your crafting with T-shirt yarn a little easier.
Tips for Baby Knitting
Baby knitting projects are always popular, running the range from basic to sophisticated, using every kid of fiber and construction method out there. How can you choose the best baby knitting patterns for your situation?
Your Knitting Tool Bag
When building a knitting bag to take your project on the road, you'll want to include some knitting tools in case you need them during your time away from home. Here are some thoughts on essential knitting bag tools, as well as other items you might find handy.
Felting with a Front-Loading Washing Machine
If you have a front-loading washing machine, you might have been told or somehow convinced yourself that it isn't possible to felt knitting with your machine. It certainly is possible, but you might not get the exact same results as someone using a top-loading machine.
Learn to Knit Intarsia
Intarsia knitting is not a very difficult technique once you get the hang of dealing with all the different yarns, but some tips for success should help make the learning process easier.
Fair Isle/Stranded Knitting Tips
Fair Isle or stranded knitting is not that difficult, but here are some pointers that should make it even easier for you to have success with this fun color knitting technique.
Felting Knit Sweaters
Felting a knit sweater might not be your idea of a good time just after you've knit it, but there are occasions when you might want to felt a sweater (homemade or purchased) or have an accidentally felted sweater on your hands and wonder what to do with it. Here are some tips for sweater felting and using the felted fabric.
Machine Sewing Hand Knits
Most of the time I wouldn't recommend machine sewing hand knit pieces together, but there are times when it can come in really handy, as when you're sewing swatches of different sizes, yarn weights and gauges together into a sampler project.
Stringing Beads onto Yarn
Stringing beads onto yarn before knitting is an easy way to have beads at the ready when you want to use them in your knitting projects. Just string the beads on the yarn, moving them down as you knit, then place a bead wherever you want.
Making Bobbles
Bobbles are a relatively common way to add dimensional texture to a piece of knitting. They involve increasing several times in the same stitch, turning the work, purling back and decreasing those stitches immediately.
Resizing a Hat Pattern
Sometimes you'll find a great pattern for a knit hat that you really love, but maybe it's not the right size to fit the person you are knitting for. Resizing a hat pattern is not all that difficult, but it does involve some math (and the dreaded gauge swatch).
How to Form a Knitting Group
Joining a knitting group is a great way to get yourself to knit more and to meet other people who share your passion. But what if you can't find a local knitting group? Here are some tips on starting your own knitting group.
Felted Yarn Join
When you're working with an animal hair fiber yarn like wool, alpaca or llama, you can easily and seamlessly join a new ball of yarn by felting the two yarns together, also known as a spit join.
How to Join a New Ball of Yarn
Joining a new ball of yarn to your project is an essential skill if you want to knit something bigger than one skein of yarn will allow. There are a few different ways to join start a new yarn ball, and here are couple of the most popular.
Make a French Knot
French knots are a quick and easy embellishment for your knitting that are often used as the centers of embroidered flowers or just to add a bit of texture to plain knitting.
Lazy Daisy Stitch
The lazy daisy is a really easy stitch that you can use to embellish many different types of knitting projects. If you finish something and find the look a little plain, some well placed lazy daisy flowers will perk up your project quick.
Feather Stitch
Feather stitch is a great little embellishment you can add to your knitting project once it's done to give it a little pizazz. The stitches look sort of like branches or a vine trailing across your knitting, and they can nicely be paired with other embroidery stitches for a layered look.
Keeping Your Shawl in Place
Shawl pins might not seem like a true knitting tool, but they are important for the knitter who likes to make shawls. Here are some ideas on ways to keep a shawl situated, with a shawl pin or some other devise.
Felting Tips
Felting is a lot of fun, but it can be a little intimidating. Here are some felting tips that will help you felt with ease.
Knitting Etiquette
Just like anything else in life, there are knitting etiquette rules. Here's a quick list of the most commonly accepted forms of knitting etiquette so you can stay on the good side of all your fiber friends.
Three-Needle Bind Off
The three-needle bind off is a quick and easy way to get the same number of stitches off of two needles at once, closing up the end of a sock toe, the top of a hat or the head of a doll, for example.
How to Knit with Wire
Knitting with wire can be a lot of fun, but it's a little different from knitting with yarn. Here are some things you should know before you get started.