Tips for Wool
- When working with slippery yarns that tend to “self destruct” into knotted messes, place each ball into its own zippered sandwich bag. Cut a very small notch in one corner, just big enough for the yarn to run through.
- Use two separate row counters to keep track of alternating cable twist when knitting multiple cables.
- Remember to bind off the neck stitches loosely to make certain that the garment will fit over the head easily.
- When determining what size sweater to make, always base your decision on the finished measurements, not the numerical size. Every designer has a different opinion on how much ease to add to a garment. Sometimes its comfort ease, and other times its design ease.
- For a smoother edge when binding off, don't work the first stitch. Instead, slip it to the right needle, work one stitch, then bind off.
- Circular needles are also useful for knitting, backwards and forwards for flat knitting. It is easier to work a large number of stitches (such as a throw) on circular needles because all the weight is held in front of you, on your lap rather than at the end of long needles.
- Always join a new ball of yarn at the beginning of a row. Knots left in the middle of a row almost always come apart or eventually work through to the outside of the garment.
- When using hand-dyed variegated yarns, use two balls changing balls every two rows to avoid slight variances in colour from one ball to the next.
- When knitting with a heavily textured yarn, where there is little visible difference between the knit and pearl side of the work, place a large safety pin on the knit side of your work. This will remind you that when the pin is facing you, you are on a knit row, when it is on the back of the work, you are on a pearl row.
- When fastening off, leave longer tails where they will be useful for sewing seams.
- To uncoil circular needles immerse them in hot water for a few minutes to straighten them out.
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