It’s National Crochet Month! To celebrate, we have some wonderful crochet tips to share with you. This week’s tip is from Sara, WEBS Marketing Coordinator and crochet designer.

I like to use 2 linked stitch markers in different colors when my pattern asks me to increase every other round. When I start a round with increases, I’ll use the green marker. This tells me that when I come back to that marker I can Go-Go-Go! No reason to stop and think about the work; just one stitch in each stitch.

When I do start that round with NO increases I’ll mark it with the orange one (better if it was red!), this way when I get back around to that marker I know I need to STOP and make sure that I’m working my increases in this round. This is a great tip for both knitting and crochet!

It’s National Crochet Month! To celebrate, we have some wonderful crochet tips to share with you. This week’s tip is from Sara, WEBS Marketing Coordinator and crochet designer.

Arm Knitting has taken off like wildfire this year and there’s no reason why crocheters can’t get in on the action! Grab a few skeins of yarn and NO Hook and make yourself a scarf in less time than it takes to watch your favorite sitcom.

It’s National Crochet Month! To celebrate, we have some wonderful crochet tips to share with you. This week’s tip is from Sara, WEBS Marketing Coordinator and crochet designer.

This is a great instant-gratification project! Take your favorite doily pattern and work it up using a chunky yarn and a big hook.

We did something similar with our Hellebore Rug which was crocheted using 2 strands of Northampton Bulky, but if you’re looking for something washable try Katia Big Ribbon or Schachenmayr’s Bravo Big or Filaria.

It’s National Crochet Month! To celebrate, we have some wonderful crochet tips to share with you. This week’s tip is from Sara, WEBS Marketing Coordinator and crochet designer.

This week’s post comes from Jackie; a knitter, weaver, new crocheter and one of our fabulous Customer Service Representatives.

When I’m using a knitting yarn that comes in balls or one I wound into a ball for warping my rigid heddle loom, I put the yarn in a shoe box and thread it through a hole poked in the box.  This lets me warp the loom without the yarn rolling around on the floor.  It also has the added bonus of keeping my “helpful” pets away from it.

Knitting yarns can be wonderful to use in weaving. I like using hand dyed yarns especially or yarns with long color repeats because they look really interesting in weaving. My favorites include: Classic Elite Liberty Wool Print, Tosh Vintage, Sweet Georgia Trinity Worsted, and Malabrigo Rios made some awesome scarves last year!

The Magic Loop method is a great way to knit socks, but it can be tricky to pick up stitches for the heel flap. It’s often hard to get enough slack to make it comfortable to pick up stitches without undoing the magic loop. Try using an interchangeable needle tip to pick up stitches instead. In the image on the left, the stitches are being picked up with the interchangeable tip. On the right, you can slide the stitches off the interchangeable tip by placing the tip of your working needle up against the back of the interchangeable tip. This is an easy way to slide the stitches off one needle and onto the other.

Today’s tip comes from Kerry; one of our wonderful Customer Service Representatives. 

Instead of using a cable needle when knitting cables, Kerry likes to use an interchangeable needle tip. It’s best to use a tip one size smaller than the needles you’re using for the rest of the project. Once you’ve knit your cable, you can stick the needle into the tail of the interchangeable tip to put the stitches back on your needle.

This week’s tip comes from Jackie, one of our fabulous customer service representatives.

When I do any project with a chart, I like to put the pattern in a plastic page protector and then mark my place in the chart with a dry erase marker. If I make a mistake and need to frog a couple rows, it’s a lot easier to update my place than if I had written on the pattern itself; and pencil marks can get confusing if my eraser doesn’t work well enough. As long as I’m careful about not putting anything on top of the page protector, the dry erase marks are still there weeks later when I pick up the project again after indiscriminately abandoning it!

Adding a new ball of yarn to your knitting is easy! If you’re adding a new color or just switching to a different skein, you can use this technique. It’s not hard, but those first few stitches can be a little fiddly.

Click here for the video!

When joining in the round, it’s very easy to get a little gap in between the first and last stitches. You can stitch this up when you weave in your ends, or you can try this technique!

Slip your first and last stitches onto a spare needle, then twist that needle around. Now, the first stitch will be on the left, and the last stitch on the right. Slip the left stitch onto the left needle, and the right stitch onto the right needle. This twist actually crosses that first and last stitch to close your gap. Now you can start knitting without having to worry about the gap again!