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mamameco
New Pal
0 Posts |
 Posted - 04/04/2004 : 12:56:24 AM
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Dumb question, but I want to make sure I am doing it right and I can find no photos. I get the concept of a stitch marker, but HOW do you use them? I have small plastic ones, but how would I get them off? I am knitting in the round. Do I use them every row? When can I take them off? Do I make sense? LOL.
Thanks sooo much in advance for any help for a novice--
Melissa |
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fmarrs
Permanent resident and our guardian angel
USA
9776 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2004 : 03:59:25 AM
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Stitch markers are used just like book markers, to keep your place in the knitting. When you come to them, you just slip them from the left needle to the right needle. You can take them off whenever you no longer need them to mark a place for you. There are markers that are slit on the side and those that look like tiny plastic safety pins. They can be inserted through a stitch to mark it, for instance to mark how many rows you have knit or which stitch is in the center.
If you are knitting in the round, a stitch marker is usually used to mark the end of the row so you know when you are starting another round. When I make a hat for, instance, I will place markers around the top to divide it into sections that mark where to make my decreases to flatten the top.
fran |
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Luann
Permanent Resident
USA
2340 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2004 : 06:49:25 AM
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Melissa, this is *not* a dumb question! I had been knitting for years before I learned that they go *on* the needle. It's not obvious at all, especially since they are called "stitch" markers. Once the light dawned, I discovered how useful they can be! I've posted this story before, but I think it's worth repeating:
I will never forget the day I learned how to use stitch markers. After about 5 years of knitting, I took a class on sock knitting. I had remembered everything on the supply list except stitch markers. One of the other participants offered to share her O-ring types with me, and I said "Oh, I can only use the split kind, I never know how to get those solid ones off." Another knitter piped up "You can share mine (the split kind), I can't work those ring-types either." The first woman looked at us both and said "well, how do you use those?" and I showed her by poking the split ring into the fabric down a couple of rows. She laughed and said, "Oh! You see, stitch markers go on the NEEDLE, not the STITCH!" The light dawned and the second knitter and I looked at each other and said "ON THE NEEDLE!!!"
Twice I have told this story at two different knitting groups, and both times at least one person says "They go on the needle?" Such a very simple tool, but not obvious to use (for some of us anyway!)
Luann
Knit and let knit! |
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fmarrs
Permanent resident and our guardian angel
USA
9776 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2004 : 09:33:32 AM
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That is exactly the type of information I have been collecting for a book project. I remember learning to knit and all those thousands of questions that were never covered in the usual knitting instruction books. I can hear the knitting gurus complaining about the content now but I don't have them in mind. My purpose would be for the knitter who is stumped by something simple and doesn't know where to find an answer. Send me all your insignificant and tiny problems so I can include them.
fran |
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knittykat
Seriously Hooked
USA
710 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2004 : 08:29:16 AM
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I am such a cheapskate. I have NEVER used a storebought marker of any kind--I make little loops out of yarn from old projects,and I reuse them, I have a bag of them. Every once in a while they end up all over the floor...
I saw those beautiful ones in the boutique not too long ago and I've seen pretty ones on e-Bay and I'm like "yikes, I can't even spend $1.50 on them at Michael's!"
The Cheapskate Kat
Kat in Illinois |
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fmarrs
Permanent resident and our guardian angel
USA
9776 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2004 : 4:19:12 PM
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Kat, I can afford the $1.50, but I use the yarn markers because I PREFER them. They are always my first choice. They don't flip off your knitting needles when you don't expect it, they are available in lots of colors, cheap enough to throw away or cut off, and I still think my homemade row counters work better than anything the gadjet makers have invented. With mine, you don't have to remember to click them or move them, they sit right there and won't let you knit until you use them.
fran |
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HoJo
Permanent Resident
USA
1474 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2004 : 12:46:20 PM
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I love this thread. I'm working on a variation of Fran's trinity poncho and needed four stitch markers. Well, I started this late Saturday night when no stores were open and needed "do-fers".
Well, after rummaging around I finally lit on the perfect solution - my dd's (8 yrs old) toe rings. I have the most stylish markers around.
My lys ladies burst out laughing when I showed them what I had used and insisted that I not replace them with regular markers.
HoJo
"Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels." Faith Whittesley |
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A10CO
Gabber Extraordinaire
577 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2004 : 1:09:32 PM
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Can I ask a related question? I am knitting a cardigan, all three panels at once. When working on the right side (Row 1), the pattern says to place a marker in 5 different places. When you get to the wrong side (Row 2), it tells you where you'll slip the marker, but there are only 4 markers referenced on this row. So I have to slip one marker that Row 2 doesn't tell me to slip. Is this normal? or a typo? Or am I missing something completely? It seems to me that each side (WS/RS) should have the same number of markers.
Thanks! |
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knittykat
Seriously Hooked
USA
710 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2004 : 1:12:08 PM
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Well Fran, I CAN afford the $1.50 but I just can't make myself do it when there are all those for free...and it makes me feel good to know someone else prefers them too. I like them because I can always just reach into my basket and grab some contrasting yarn if I need more or I need a few or can't find the bag.
How do you make one of your homemade row counters? I must have missed that thread!
K
Kat in Illinois |
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Jackal
Warming Up
Canada
83 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2004 : 1:12:51 PM
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| If you need low-budget stitch markers, heck, cut up some twisty-ties and use those. |
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fmarrs
Permanent resident and our guardian angel
USA
9776 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2004 : 7:59:45 PM
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(copied from an archived posting)
I think I mentioned this somewhere else on the forum but I make my own row counters. No matter how hard I tried, I always forgot to change my counter. The more relaxed knitting makes me, the more ditzy I become. So........I made a counter I have to pay attention to or I can't go on knitting. It is so simple. Tie a contrasting yarn around 2 knitting needles the size you are using with a square knot, remove needles and with the same yarn tie another knot with the two ends. Continue this until you have the number of circles tied in the yarn that you want. For straight row counting, I use 10. Look at the chain you just formed. One end has a circle that is smooth all the way around. That is row 1. The other end has 2 yarn tags hanging from it. That is row 10. Now knit 4 or 5 stitches in the row and slip your counter to the right hand needle and then continue knitting. You have to stop and do something each time you get to the chain. You can't ignore it.(Put in on the end of the knitting and you can ignore it) Each time you finish a row, slip your needle in a circle below the one you were using and go on.
If you have to count a large number of rows, use 2 chains and switch one every row and the other each time you come to the end of the first chain. You can count 110 rows with these two chains. Need more? Add a third chain and you can count 1110 rows. If you need a fourth chain....STOP....you are knitting a highway.
To space things like cables, make a chain the number of rows between the cables. For example, to make a cable every 6 rows, make a chain of 6, then cable whenever you get to the 6th row and start over. I haven't make a mistake in cables since doing this. Here is a picture of the row counter.
http://ils.unc.edu/~parkn/rowcounter.html
In circular knitting I make a 2 loop chain to tell me which row I am on in the pattern since you need to switch the knits and purl every other row when working in circles.
When doing patterns, I make a chain to match the rows in the pattern. That could be 4 rows or 18, but I don't lose my place this way.
The whole secret is putting the counter in a few stitches so that it doesn't fall to the end of the needle and get ignored there.
fran
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