![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Knitting - Number Your Needles
Jul. 2nd, 2008 06:09 amEvery time I mention this, everyone from beginning knitters to knitting shop proprietors goes "Oh! What a fabulous idea!" (It may even show up in a Monica Ferris needlework book.) So while I've mentioned it in passing here before, here's a complete how-to for the biggest, best, and apparently most unique knitting tip I've got:
Number your needles.
So many patterns, especially for the beginner or low intermediate knitter are two or four row patterns that this is a real lifesaver, particularly if you're the sort of person who has to put their projects down for days or weeks on end.
Straight needles are easy. All along I'd already been painting one with nail polish (the flat top of a Clover, the decorative ball on a Brittany, a band at the decorative join on a Lantern Moon). That way, I could tell at a glance which row was supposed to be purled in stockinette, or which one started with a purl for seed stitch, or which one was the decrease row in a mitered square.
When I moved up to beginner's lace and cabling, I stuck with 4-row patterns and simply bought a second pair of needles. The elongated top of a Brittany was perfect for using a sharpie to mark 1 to 4 rings, and I just had to remember to drop a needle and pick up a new one at the end of the row. I may have miscounted what I was supposed to be doing between the stitch markers, but I never got confused as to which row I was on, no matter how long I'd set the project down.
Now I've moved to using circular needles as very long straight needles by tipping one end, and my favorite, the Knitpick, is too well polished for the sharpie to stick; I've tried marking the metal, the wood, and the cord and it doesn't work.
It took a little engineering, but I've found a way to number them that doesn't interrupt the rhythm of the knitting and (bonus) is easily expandable to any number of needed rows.
Get a bag of the locking stitch markers, the ones that look like tiny padlocks, and use the sharpie to number them. Lock all the odd numbers in a chain (1 connected to 3 connected to 5) and all the even numbers in a separate chain.
Slide the loop of the #1 lock onto one needle and cast on as usual. Before you start knitting, slide the #2 lock onto the empty needle. There you are, ready to knit from Needle 1 to Needle 2.
As you reach the end of your row, right after the last stitch will be the chain of odd-numbered markers. Move Lock 1 off the needle and drop the next in the chain, Lock 3, back onto the now-empty needle. (If your needles are small enough, this can be another "stitch," as it is the same motion as "slip 1, pass slip stitch over.")
In one quick flip, you're now ready to knit from Needle 2 to Needle 3. As you reach the end of the row on the other side, do the same maneuver to change the now-empty Needle 2 to Needle 4. Continue knitting, always moving to the next lock in the chain as you move the yarn off each needle.
Someday I'll do this with beaded markers (a completely unsubtle hint to the beadworkers out there). There are chain row markers out there, but they are for circular knitting; this technique needs two chains; one odd and one even.
Oh, and if you are fond of a pattern that has particular stitches on every row (say feather and fan?) Those little markers are inexpensive... why not make a specialty set that actually lists the stitch for that row? Anywhere there's space enough to write a "4" there's space enough to put "P," "K" or chart markings.
Feel free to link this post around anywhere you consider it useful.
Number your needles.
So many patterns, especially for the beginner or low intermediate knitter are two or four row patterns that this is a real lifesaver, particularly if you're the sort of person who has to put their projects down for days or weeks on end.
Straight needles are easy. All along I'd already been painting one with nail polish (the flat top of a Clover, the decorative ball on a Brittany, a band at the decorative join on a Lantern Moon). That way, I could tell at a glance which row was supposed to be purled in stockinette, or which one started with a purl for seed stitch, or which one was the decrease row in a mitered square.
When I moved up to beginner's lace and cabling, I stuck with 4-row patterns and simply bought a second pair of needles. The elongated top of a Brittany was perfect for using a sharpie to mark 1 to 4 rings, and I just had to remember to drop a needle and pick up a new one at the end of the row. I may have miscounted what I was supposed to be doing between the stitch markers, but I never got confused as to which row I was on, no matter how long I'd set the project down.
Now I've moved to using circular needles as very long straight needles by tipping one end, and my favorite, the Knitpick, is too well polished for the sharpie to stick; I've tried marking the metal, the wood, and the cord and it doesn't work.
It took a little engineering, but I've found a way to number them that doesn't interrupt the rhythm of the knitting and (bonus) is easily expandable to any number of needed rows.
Get a bag of the locking stitch markers, the ones that look like tiny padlocks, and use the sharpie to number them. Lock all the odd numbers in a chain (1 connected to 3 connected to 5) and all the even numbers in a separate chain.
Slide the loop of the #1 lock onto one needle and cast on as usual. Before you start knitting, slide the #2 lock onto the empty needle. There you are, ready to knit from Needle 1 to Needle 2.
As you reach the end of your row, right after the last stitch will be the chain of odd-numbered markers. Move Lock 1 off the needle and drop the next in the chain, Lock 3, back onto the now-empty needle. (If your needles are small enough, this can be another "stitch," as it is the same motion as "slip 1, pass slip stitch over.")
In one quick flip, you're now ready to knit from Needle 2 to Needle 3. As you reach the end of the row on the other side, do the same maneuver to change the now-empty Needle 2 to Needle 4. Continue knitting, always moving to the next lock in the chain as you move the yarn off each needle.
Someday I'll do this with beaded markers (a completely unsubtle hint to the beadworkers out there). There are chain row markers out there, but they are for circular knitting; this technique needs two chains; one odd and one even.
Oh, and if you are fond of a pattern that has particular stitches on every row (say feather and fan?) Those little markers are inexpensive... why not make a specialty set that actually lists the stitch for that row? Anywhere there's space enough to write a "4" there's space enough to put "P," "K" or chart markings.
Feel free to link this post around anywhere you consider it useful.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}