You can add color and texture to your knitting by adding heavy thread or embroidery floss to your yarn and then just knitting regularly. It also helps keep lacy projects made on large needles keep their shape, as it won't stretch as much.
When I saw ecru embroidery floss for several skeins at $1, I snapped it up to use with my knitting. I have also found (in thrift shops) industrial spools of tweedy thread with blobs of color which adds a tweedy effect to plain colored yarn.
By pam munro from L.A., CA
This page contains the following solutions.
I got psyched by the suggestion of using chop sticks as knitting needles and used the round Korean ones with the pointed tips, but the resulting gauge was really too small to make a narrow scarf out of the ball of bargain fun fur I had picked up.
I made what I thought was the "back" of a long vest and it turned out entirely too "wide", a big rectangle, in fact. So I re-purposed it, sewed around the top for a neck hole and made a poncho out of it!
A while back, a woman asked about how to knit or crochet. Here is what you do. You make a loop with your yarn and place it on your knitting needle, that will be your lead needle.
It's spring and scarf season is over - so if you are a knitter - switch over to rectangular shawls. It's the same only a bit longer and wider!
Take an old fashioned writing pen, remove the tip, ink cartridge, and end cap. Thread yarn through the now empty tube. Use this to keep the yarn together when loom knitting and as a handle to wrap the yarn onto your loom.
One way to vary the knitting on all of your shawl projects is to practice using different knitting combinations of purl and knit to make patterns. (A knitting book will show you how).
I was working on a knitting project recently, and the pattern called for stitch markers. I could not locate mine, but my husband came to my rescue.
When knitting or crocheting a pattern that has different instructions for each row I copied the pattern and cut out each row and put 1 row on a 3X5 blank index card and put it into the binder that comes with index cards. (I bought mine at Wal-Mart)...
In a pinch, you can use chopsticks as knitting needles. Just sharpen the tips of the chopsticks in a pencil sharpener then dull them a little so they aren't too sharp.
This craft tip is for storing knitting or crochet needles. Using fish aquarium tubing, which is very inexpensive and comes in various diameters, I cut just about an inch or so, pushing it down a bit (so they don't slide off) but yet long enough to cover the tips of the needles.
Take an empty Pringles can and cover it with pretty paper, fabric or paint. In the plastic lid cut small X's to insert your knitting needles.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
What is the best "glue" to use to secure yarn ends when crocheting and/or knitting? Thanks for your response.
By applesauce from Alexandria, VA
You don't "glue the ends - just use a tapestry needly and "weave in" the ends. A google search will get you more specific info.
dj_pinkey was correct that you don't glue the yarn ends when crocheting or knitting.
However, if you are having problems with the ends unraveling while you are working on your project, the end of the yarn can be seared with a match or cigarette lighter. Most yarns are man-made fibers and they will melt. Be very careful the first time you try a yarn in case it is flammable.
Okay, I never have glued the end of yarn, even though I weave in the ends of the yarn, sometimes it still needs an extra 'something', but thanks anyway for your hints and advice.
Have a look here:
How to crochet lesson 5 Taking care of the tails
www.youtube.com/
Are you talking about the ends you have when you have to add or switch yarn? I never liked having the loose ends just woven in, taking the chance of it coming unravelled & ruining my hard work.
Hey everyone thanks for all the hints. After watching the video on "ends" I guess I've been doing them almost correctly all the time.
I've done that for years
I use a drop of clear nail polish on ends and then squeeze the end together with the part of the yarn where you want it placed. Used it for years on cross stitch, Swedish embroidery, knitting and crocheting. Give it a try and see how you like it.
I use Aleene's Fabric Fusion. All it takes is a tiny bit, can even be applied with the tip of the finger, just to ensure an end. I suspect you could also use Super Glue, lightly.
Sometimes you make a mistake and end up with a little short yarn that cannot be woven in. Just want to push it between stitches so it won't come out.
There is a web site that is for knitters' questions/solutions. Would anyone know it?
Ravelry.com is a great site. It has what you are looking for plus patterns.
My daughter knits but I do not so this is her answer.
There are many web sites for questions some better than others of course.
Here are some I use from time to time: The first listing also advertises a book Knitting for Dummies (available at most public libraries) but there is also a question & answer forum.
forum.knittinghelp.com/
www.craftyarncouncil.com/
Has anyone had problems with the Isela Phelps pattern for a brocade baby sweater? It's in the Loom Knitting Primer book. I'm having problems with the sleeves.
Where can I find knitting abbreviations?
By Laverne
The Craft Yarn Council provides the bible of knitting abbreviations:
www.craftyarncouncil.com/
I have always wanted to learn to knit. I don't have knitting needles and can't find them anywhere. Walmart has some, but they are extremely long, or thick. They tell me they are not good for beginners and I agree.
If someone can find me some cheap knitting needles, I would appreciate it, or tell me how to make some, please. Thank you.
By Jamish
Have you looked in the toy section for child craft sets? Those knitting kits feature short needles, very simple instructions, and a few other supplies to get a young person going in knitting-usually the needles, some yarn, and counters or gauge rulers.
Also, you could try using chop sticks as you learn. Good luck, I wish you great success learning to knit! I've tried to learn several times but I've been crocheting so long now that I look for the hook, lol, and can never seem to get past casting on.
I would like to make clothes for the children of friends, many of whom I very rarely see. The knitting patterns give chest sizes, but I don't know what age they relate to. I want to make the clothes as surprises and would be quite pleased to make them a size larger than the child/person would need at present. Any help would be very much appreciated.
By Aunty E. from north of England
Check out these photos.
Last summer a group of women recycled wool and other materials to knit covers for poles which had been used in the past for drying fishing nets.
