QuickTips Index
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.
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.
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.
Knit the Knits and Purl the Purls
Sometimes in a pattern instead of specific instructions you'll see something that says to knit the knits and purl the purls as you see them. Find out what that means.
Deciding Whether to Finish or Frog
There comes a time when every knitter loses interest in a project. Should you struggle through to finish it or rip it out? Ask yourself these questions to determine if you should finish or frog.
Sock Knitting Tips
These sock knitting tips from readers and others will help you knit socks more efficiently and with better results.
Knitting with Double-Pointed Needles
Double-pointed needles are the tool of choice when knitting a small circular object such as a sock. But they can be a little tricky to deal with. Here are some tips to help you use double-pointed needles.
Choosing a Knitting Bag
Choosing a knitting bag is a very personal thing, but it's something every knitter will have to do at some point if she or he wants to transport a knitting project or knit in public. What to look for in a bag and where to find it.
Make a Felted Swatch
If you're planning a felting project from scratch, you need to know how much your knitting is going to shrink in order to come out with a finished felted project you'll be happy with. Once again it all comes down to the swatch.
Baby Blanket Yardage
Sometimes you have your own idea for a design for a baby blanket and you might not know how much yarn to buy. This quick estimate will give you an idea of the yardage requirements for a basic baby blanket.
Counting Stitches When Casting On
When casting on a large number of stitches it can be difficult to keep track of how many you have made or to accurately count them when you are finished casting on. This tip makes it much easier.
Knitting a Circular Gauge Swatch
Knitting a gauge swatch in the round is vital if you really want to know how your yarn is going to behave when knit in the round. Fortunately, there's an easy way around knitting a gauge swatch in the round.
Knitting with Kids Safely
Keep kids safe while knitting by using duller needles and supervising them.
Tips for Teaching Knitting
Almost every knitter gets called on to teach someone else how to knit at some time in their lives. Here are some tips for teaching knitting to people of all ages
Knitting Tips: Quick Knitting
A user reminds us that using big needles makes quick work of projects.
How to Follow a Complex Pattern
This user-submitted tip will help you follow a complicated pattern.
How to Make Tassels
Making tassels for knitting projects is a fun and easy way to embellish projects, making them a little more special and interesting than they might be otherwise. Here's a really quick way to make tassels for any project.