Thursday, May 14, 2009

Quirky and Tricky

Last night, at knit group, somebody asked me why I had a pin in my project.



I've mentioned before that I'm a slow, distracted, impatient knitter. But I'm also a product knitter--I like to know that all this knitting is getting me somewhere.

So, every morning, I place a little gold pin on the row where I begin knitting. I then see exactly how much I get done (or not done!) each day.

It's a little mind trick. When I see that I'm actually accomplishing something, I don't feel as if I'm in a knitting abyss and I continue to knit.

Here's another trick I'm using on the Summer Lake Shawl:



The multi-talented Sonja once sent me interlocking stitch markers--one green, the other red--to help me keep it straight when I had to increase every other row. Green=go and red = stop.
After I did the increase (green stitch marker), I'd flip to the red as a reminder not to increase next time.

I've used the trick of flipping stitch markers on many projects since.

For the shawl, I'm flipping blue and purple.

Bear with me, my explanation is somewhat convoluted:
Blue sounds like two. Two is close to three. AHA--this is the row where I begin with three knit stitches.
Purple reminds me of "for purple mountain majesties. . . " For = four. This is the row that starts with four knit stitches.

Like I said, convoluted--but, hey, it works!

What quirky tricks to you have?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those are great tips! Thanks for posting them. I can't think of any tips at the moment.

stringplay said...

I love your convolutions. Sort of like "starts with P, and that rhymes with T and that stands for trouble"!
LOL

On my triangle shawls I like to use very rubbery round stitch markers on either side of my center stitch. Then when I get halfway, I can stick one end of the circular into the marker and it will firmly hold it in place while I either count some stitches or wander off for M&Ms.

Keep on flipping.

Susan said...

I like to measure, on those miles of stockinette it assures me that I'm actually making some progress. Or count repeats. Pretty yarn!

minipurl said...

What great tips. Thanks Mary :)

Windyridge said...

These are great. I especially like the progress pin! I am going to use them!