Why do I. . . ?

One evening at knit group, a friend saw the folded magazine subscription card in my yarn and went to pull it out.

I screamed and nearly tore her hand off.

"NO, NO! That belongs there!"

When asked why, I explained that Handmaiden Seasilk has the reputation for being very tangly. I used the swift and ball winder to wind it. When the yarn was carefully removed from the winder, I inserted that folded card into the center of the ball. This prevents the ball from collapsing in on itself and the yarn getting tangled. (I also work from the outside of the ball to prevent the tangles.)

Another "Why?" I've been asked is:
Why do you have the shawl all wrapped up in a black ribbon?

No, it's not in mourning.

This is a trick I learned from one of my knit group buddies. It's just that the shawl has gotten quite long. Folding it up and tying it makes the whole thing a lot easier to handle. Folding and tying it also prevents me from strangling myself on it.

One more "Why?"



Why does it look as if my knitting bag has grown antennae?

I don't like point proctectors. I find they often don't stay on. And things can happen within a knitting bag. I push my knitting way down into the center of the needle, but I still fear that the stitches will work their way to the tip and hop off.

So I pull the ends of the needles out and tie the top of the bag very tightly. The knitting stays nice and snug in the bag and can't work itself to the tips.

And that's why!

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?