Five tricks to using DPNs without pain (by Robyn Devine)

Picking up your first pair of double-pointed needles can be both incredibly scary and supremely exhilarating. To make something using them instantly makes one feel like an expert knitter but to charge forward and use them takes a fair amount of “yarn balls”!

While it can seem overwhelming – why did five of them come in the pack, how do I go from one to the other? – mastering them is much easier than you may think. All you need are a few helpful hints to get you pointed (HAH!) in the right direction. Here are five tips I’ve picked up along the path to mastering my DPNs.

Trick #1 – Be sure your stitches aren’t twisted before you join for working in the round! This same advice goes for knitting with circular needles – by twisting the stitches around the needles, you end up knitting a Mobius at best, and a hot mess at worst. Take a few extra minutes to be sure your stitches are situated properly before you begin, and you’ll have much fewer headaches as you knit along.

Trick #2 – To prevent the “jog” that happens when switching between needles, move your stitches from one needle to the other. Most first-time users of double-pointed needles will comment on looser stitches at the change point between their needles. To prevent this, simply knit the first stitch off each needle onto the last needle, rather than onto your new needle.

Trick #3 – Use three different colored needles so you always know where you’re at in your round (ex: red, then yellow, then blue, done. Yellow, then blue, then red, done!) One of the biggest mistakes I made when learning to use DPNs was losing track of which round I was on. By using different colored needles, I was able to track where I was at in the process and keep my rounds straight!

Trick #4 – When decreasing for a hat, the space between needles can count as a stitch marker! This equates to less stitch markers used, and an obvious point for decreases!

Trick #5 – If you have trouble joining for working in the round, cast on with two sizes larger of a DPN, and then switch all stitches to the right sized needles. You’d be amazed at how much more room you feel you have!

Test out these tips one at a time or employ them all at once and you’ll find your double-pointed knitting adventures becoming easier and easier!

 

Four Fabulous Tricks for Knitting in the Round (by Robyn Devine)

It may seem like an advanced move, but knitting in the round can be mastered by beginner knitters with ease. And by adding it to your knitting bag of tricks, you will open up an entirely new world – one of hats, sweaters, and socks!

Getting started with knitting in the round can seem tricky on the best of days, but with just a few tips and tricks you can be joining to work in the round in no time at all. When I began my circular needles journey, these four tips helped me immensely.

Trick #1 – Make sure your circular needle is shorter than your finished circumference. If you’re knitting a hat for a 20” head, grab 16” long circular needles. If you’re knitting a sweater for someone that’s 36” around, be sure you’re not using your 40” long needles. Seems self-explanatory, but I spent many frustrated hours fighting with needles that were just a bit too long for projects I was working on. When in doubt, go a bit shorter – you’ll never regret it!

Trick #2 – Cast on one extra stitch. When you join for working in the round, knit that last stitch you cast on together with the first stitch you cast on. You will have the correct number of cast on stitches, and you will have a much less noticeable join for your work.

Trick #3 – When casting on a large number of stitches, to ensure you don’t twist them (and create a Mobius on accident!) knit the first few rows of the pattern before joining. You’ll have a much clearer view of joining your stitches together, and you can use your tail to sew up that open spot later.

Trick #4 - Use a different color stitch marker to mark the beginning of the row. When you are using stitch markers to mark decreases, increases, pattern changes and the like be sure your “beginning of the row” marker is a different color, shape, or size. This will help you more easily distinguish it from your other markers.

With these four simple tips, you will find yourself knitting around and around before you know it! You can use this new-found skill to whip up some sweaters for all the folks in your life, hats to keep their noggins warm, and maybe even donate a few things to a local charity!

Knitting A Baby Sweater – Part Two (by Robyn Devine)

Here we go with the second half of our Knitting A Baby Sweater post.  Hopefully you’ve completed part one and you’re ready to finish your sweater. 

Now that you’ve got the yoke of your sweater done you’re ready to start working on the sleeves and the lower body.  As tricky as some of these instructions may seem I promise they’ll go just as fast as the yoke part of the sweater.

First up is dividing for the sleeves and body. What I love about a pattern like this is that you knit the sleeves in the midst of knitting the body so there’s truly no seaming to be done. According to the directions you knit through the first 22 stitches and then put them on a spare needle, a stitch holder or some yarn. For this I just leave the stitches on the needle.  Once you start working on the sleeve it’s pretty clear which stitches are which and then you don’t have to futz with any extra tools.

Follow the directions for the sleeve: knit a row, purl a row, continue along until you decrease.  You already know how to do this thanks to the first half of the sweater!   Then knit seven rows in stockinette stitch. Bind off to the last stitch leaving the loop free for seaming up the sleeve.

It should look something like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now fold the sleeve in half, as seen in the photo below, with the right sides together. You’ll be grabbing a crochet hook (I use size “I” for this) to slip stitch up the sleeve.  To slip stitch in crochet, insert your hook through one stitch on either side of the sleeve and wrap the yarn around the crochet hook, from back to front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pull the hook (with the yarn wrapped around it) through all three stitches you now have on your needle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and you’ve got yourself a slipped stitch!

Continue like this all the way down the side of the sleeve, until you come to the armpit of the sleeve. You should have one stitch left on the crochet hook and see a bit of space between the needles and where the arm should join the sweater.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To get rid of what will end up being holes in the armpits I simply pick up a few stitches before I move on.  This isn’t in the instructions but it helps get rid of those holes that will otherwise show up and we’ll get rid of those extra stitches later on! 

To pick up stitches, simply insert your right needle into a free spot between it and the sleeve. Do this twice and then slip the stitch off the crochet hook and onto the right needle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pick up two more stitches between the sleeve and the left needle (using the right needle again) and then knit across the back stitches. Repeat this same “sleeve making process” for the other sleeve and finish knitting across the row.

The rest of the sweater is easy! You simply knit a row, then purl a row, until the sweater is long enough that you want to add the bottom edge on. If you want to get rid of those four extra stitches under the arms simply knit two together four times around each armpit on your first knitting row after adding the sleeves.

The bottom edge of the sweater is simply a few more rows of garter stitch which should seem like a cake walk compared to all the new stitches you’ve now mastered.   All that’s left is to weave in the ends and you’ve got yourself a great new baby sweater!

Now if you’re anything like me you’ve already gotten addicted to it and you’re about to cast on another!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t forget to make one or two and donate them to your local hospital – the babies will thank you!  You can also send your sweater to the Knit for Needs charity and Meridith will make sure it gets to a baby that needs a warm sweater.