Stitch Markers: A Knitters Best Friend (by Whitnee Humphrey)

I got a phone call the other day from my best friend. She asked if I could talk and that she needed help. I said sure and the first words out of her mouth were “my son has a giant head”. Naturally the first thing that goes through my mind is that this sweet little three year old has gotten his head stuck somewhere and she needs someone to calm her down while help arrives. Luckily this was not the case. It turns out she is knitting him a cute little hat and the pattern is too small for his giant head. My best friend has fairly recently begun to knit and has only done basic projects so she needs help modifying the hat. I whipped out the laptop, read through the pattern and told her exactly what she needed to do to make the hat larger. As I was reading through the pattern, I noticed that there was a pattern repeat. I explained that it would be wise to learn to use stitch markers for this pattern or she might just end up with a few gray hairs!

Stitch markers are a wonderful invention. They have kept me sane through a few projects, as well as made them fly by that much faster. Before the phone call from my best friend, I had never really thought about people not knowing what stitch markers were used for. I taught myself to knit from a book and they were discussed in there. I have taught several people to knit and I don’t believe I have ever once covered stitch markers in any of my lessons. Now I realize this was terrible of me!

Are all stitch markers created equal? No! There is the obvious difference between larger and smaller markers. Larger markers fit on larger needles. And yes you can use the larger markers on smaller needles, but be careful as big markers on small needles with small yarn can equal a big gap in the knitting.  A friend of mine, who used to own a yarn shop, taught me something wonderful to use for stitch markers: baby hair bands. These look like those rubber bands that you use on braces. They are multicolored and I believe they can be found in the toddler area, with the rest of the little girl hair accessories. The bands that I bought came separated by color in a plastic container. They are not sticky feeling like regular rubber bands so they don’t get stuck in the yarn. These do not create holes at all. I do find though that when I am working with a heavier yarn, I like a thicker marker.  There are also split markers which can be used like a regular marker but they can also be used to mark a stitch in the actual body of whatever you are knitting.

Stitch markers do not have to be used only when the pattern calls for them. You can use them any time you want to mark a stitch or a group of stitches.  The times that I most commonly use them are:

• Any time there is a large number of stitches. You can break down that 400 stitch count into a smaller, more manageable number. This comes in handy when casting on or when you are KIPing and that wonderful friend of yours decides to count by tens while you are trying to double check your stitch count causing you to have to start over again and again.
• Pattern repeats. *K1, P4 , K1* Repeat across row. By marking each repeat, you don’t have to wait till the end of the row to realize that you are one stitch off at the very beginning of the row. Tink, tink, tink. When you get to the end of that particular repeat, you should know that you are off. I found this saved me from pulling my hair out when knitting lace.
• Places you want to keep an eye on. For me this is usually the borders. I am knitting a scarf for my mother right now that has a 4 stitch seed stitch border on each side. If I don’t mark the stitch, sometimes I will get going and not realize that the first stitch needs to be a purl instead of a knit. It may be only one little stitch, but it still takes time to tink and then correct.
• Measuring length. Knit 4 inches ST st, increasing on each side on even rows. Then knit another 4 rows of ST st with no increasing. Where do you measure from? Sometimes it is hard to tell which row to measure from. If you mark that with a split marker in the middle of the row, it will be much easier to measure from.

So why use stitch markers? Because they can save you a lot of time in your knitting and keep you sane!

You’ll find colored rubber stitch markers (pictured above) in the ACCESSORIES section of the KNIT SHOPPE under the NAUGHTY STUFF page!

Holiday Knitting Is A Marathon (by Robyne Devine)

Say what you will about me, but I’ve already begun my 2010 holiday knitting. One of the joys of the holiday season for me is giving the gift of something hand-made; from hats to sweaters to mittens, I love the look on a loved-ones face when they open a package full of items I’ve made just for them.

Gifting handmade takes far more time than gifting store-bought, however. Making each individual item takes a far amount of time – there’s the picking out of patterns and yarn, sizing items properly, not to mention the actual knitting! To keep myself from losing my mind (and giving myself Carpel Tunnel) this November, I’ve already begun my holiday knitting.

Getting your holiday knit on this early is as easy as a few simple planning steps. Here’s how I got myself into the holiday groove so early.

First, I spent some time making my Gift List. I put everyone’s name into a document on my computer, and started to figure out what each person might like. For some, it’s as simple as a hat or a pair of mittens. For others (like my nieces and nephew) something more substantial like a sweater was in order. I made this list as large and “Ideal World Knitting” as possible – practicality comes into play later.

Once the list was made, I started to figure out what I already had yarn for. This is key in getting as many hand-knits made for the holidays as possible, truth be told. If you’re constantly running to the store for more yarn, you’re cutting into precious knitting time and spending far more money than you may want.

If you’re lucky, you’ll find much of the yarn you need in your stash – in my case, I had enough yarn for at least five of the projects on my list. That’s when the fun really starts. I updated my list to reflect the yarn I already had, so that I could start figuring out what yarn I needed. If you don’t know what you need, you won’t know what to get!

I watch the sales at my local yarn shops as well as at the big box stores, and when I saw yarn on sale for a holiday knitting project I wanted to tackle, I snapped it up. Thanks to this, I was able to purchase almost all the yarn I’ll need for holiday knitting before April 1!

Once you have your yarn, or have begun to figure out what yarn you already have for your projects, you can begin knitting! I started knitting some of the smaller items (scarves, mittens, etc) right away. With the weather turning warmer every day here in the Midwest, I don’t want to get bogged down with too many larger pieces on my lap. Plus knocking out a bunch of smaller items will get more names crossed off the list faster – a huge mental boost! Figure out which project you want to knit first, and jump right in!

Finally, I designated an area in my craft room for holiday presents – it’s actually the top drawer of my “knitting dresser” for now. As I finish gift-able hand-knits, I write down basic information (who it’s for, yarn content, care instructions) and pin that piece of paper to the hand-knit so it doesn’t get lost. Then I store finished items until it comes time to gift! You may also want to keep a running list of what you’ve knit up and who it’s for, to help remind you at a glance which projects still need to be tackled. I’ve been using Ravelry for that so far, with much success.

Even if you don’t start your holiday knitting as early as I do, if you love to gift hand-made presents, a little organization can go a long way to keeping your gift-giving in order – and help keep you sane!

How to Knit a Hat (video)