Category: Knitting tips

I like to use the yarn from the center of the ball/skein, as it then doesn’t roll around. But as there gets less and less left in the ball/skein, there can be problems pulling the yarn from the center. What’s left has a tendency to end up in a big knot.

Solution: Use a plastic bag to hold the ball/skein of yarn, or several balls/skeins if I am using more than one color. The yarn continues to pull out from the center of the ball/skein and I avoid having a knot at the end.

I often have several knitting projects going at the same time, often as there is a need for something simple to knit while watching television or when chatting to people, as well as a project that is more challenging. With each project in it’s own bag, it is easy to keep the yarn separate for each project.

Comment on terminology – I use a “ball” of yarn, though others might use a “skein” of yarn. Looking up various sources online, these terms might be interchangeable though some people would think that there is a difference. One manufacturer described a “ball” as something that you would use the yarn from the outside and a “skein” as something that you could use the yarn from the inside.

Most of the “balls” of yarn that I buy in Norway are easy to find the center of the ball and to use the yarn from the inside.

Using Google translate to go from Norwegian to English, a “nøste” is translated as “skein” and “garnnøste” is translated as “ball of yarn”. So even Google seems to feel that the terms are basically interchangeable. Perhaps, too, growing up in BC in Canada influenced the term that I would use.

As I mentioned in my last post, I keep a knitting diary, where I write down every evening what I’ve accomplished with my knitting projects during the day. For example, “10 cm on sock done”, or “finished first sleeve on baby sweater”. I started writing my knitting diary on the 1st of October, 2018.

Now that I am retired, knitting is one of my daily activities, one that I find very relaxing as well as useful. Though I knit primarily in the evenings, if I am awake in the middle of the night, I often spend an hour knitting then too. This book becomes a log of what has happened in that particular aspect of my life.

The purpose of the diary is primarily to acknowledge, to myself, that I have done some knitting, or worked on a knitting project, during the day. Purchases of yarn or knitting equipment are recorded. When a project is finished, I record the dimensions of the finished product as well as the amount of yarn used.

But the diary has practical uses as well. For example, when I have completed a project, I can go back and see when I started it and calculate how long it took to do the project. This helps me plan future projects, especially anything that will have a specific deadline.

In addition to a written diary, I will always take a picture of the finished project so that I have a visual record as well of what I have done.

There are times when I lose motivation to keep going on a knitting project. This is often when the project becomes a bit monotonous, such as the body of a sweater for a tall person, or a repetitive pattern that I need to concentrate on.

I have found that it helps if I can see how much I have done every day. It also helps me set a reasonable goal for how much I can get done in a day. I place a marker on the last row done on the previous day then in the evening I can see how much I have accomplished that day. It gets written down in a knitting diary.

When knitting garments with a circular needle, it can be useful to use two or more. I’ve already mentioned using three short double-pointed needles for socks and sleeves.

Here’s another example:

I’ve been knitting a pair of baby overalls. The legs are knit separately first (using the set of three short needles) and are then joined together with some added stitches in between. Because of the nature of the garment, it becomes very difficult to knit in a circle immediately. Therefore I use two circular needles the same size and length and have half of the garment on each needle. You can either use a third needle to knit onto, or just use the other end of the same needle.

This same technique can be used when joining the sleeves and the body of a pullover or cardigan, when making raglan decreases or yoke decreases. It is, of course, sensible to get everything onto one needle after about 5 cm of knitting, but you’ll find out yourself when enough length has been knit to allow you to easily put all on one needle. On a pullover I would have each needle go from the middle of one arm to the middle of the other arm. On a cardigan it works best with three needles, with one front and half of one sleeve on each of two needles and a long needle with the back plus two halves of the sleeves.

Happy knitting!

Do you ever get frustrated with so many needle ends poking you when you are knitting in a circle on a small garment and using several double-pointed needles? In North America it is common to use a set of four double-pointed needles. In Norway it is common to use a set of five double-pointed needles. This last year I found a different solution which I now use almost exclusively.

The new set of needles are still double-pointed, but there is a flexible wire in the middle of the needle so that one knits on two needles and can join the work in a circle using the third needle to make the next row.

I purchased my first sets in March 2019 after seeing another person using them. I purchased the four sizes that I use the most (2.5 mm, 3 mm, 3.5 mm and 4 mm) and have since used them on socks and sleeves and am now using them for the legs for a baby outfit.

I am happy with my purchase and find that I use my new needles a lot. If there are too many stitches they can fall off the “other” end, but that is primarily getting used to how the needles work. Particularly with sleeves, I would transfer my work onto a circular needle as soon as I have enough stitches to make working on the circular needle function well.

It is always fun to try something new and find that it works better than the old ways.