WHAT ROW AM I ON???

I am knitting a capelet that is a design from Plymouth Yarns. The yarn is yummy - and it's called CONFUSION (if you ever knitted with it, you will understand why). Anyway, The capelet goes from stockinette stitch to reverse stockinette stitch, about every 4 rows or so. Hard? No! Keep your place--not a problem......until you forget to mark off where you are!

I am almost done stitching it and I realized that I should have had a cross reference of the rows--meaning this: Since this goes from Strip 1 of 4 rows of stockinette to Strip 2 of reverse stockinette, etc., AND the rows are numbered for each strip 1 through 4, I would number the rows consecutively on a separate piece of paper and put whether it's a purl or knit row. It may sound like a bit more work to do before you start knitting it up, but when you are reversing every 4 rows it's okay, but it goes from 4 rows in some areas to 10 rows in other areas and this yarn consists of 12 yarns connected together and sometimes it's hard to see what you have done. So, cross referencing your rows to another sheet of paper, at least for me, helps me to keep my place and keeps me in check! It tells me where I am suppose to be!!

If you have any ideas on how to keep your place in a quasai simple pattern, PLEASE let me know!

HAPPY STITCHING, my friends!

To Gauge or Not to Gauge...that is the Question!

GAUGE.....most knitters or crocheters DON'T GAUGE. Why? I don't know. We have customers come into the shop and say 'my sweater didn't fit' OR 'why is this baby sweater so small?' Well, the answer is they didn't gauge their work. Steve took a crochet class last year and the question was posed to the teacher: "Is gauge important?" Her answer was: "If you want it to fit!!" Sometimes it's easier just to take the 2 sticks or the hook and stitch. But..will it fit? Get out your crystal ball and ask it because no one is going to know if it will until it's done. And...you may be sorry that you didn't take the time to gauge it! So...what is gauge? For those who don't know...read on! For those who do know...READ ON too!! Your project may read: 20 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches or
20 single crochets and 24 rows = 4 inches. Take the time to gauge it. The proper way to achieving gauge is to hang your swatch on a clothesline or onto something similar. Why? Because you don't wear your sweater lying down, so you don't check a gauge that has been sitting on a table. Others say that it should be washed AND dried so that you can see what happens to the yarn AFTER it has been laundered. Both make sense. Well, the choice is yours...to Gauge or Not to Gauge...will it FIT????

Frog-It (aka Rip-it, Rip-It, Rip-It)!!

I'm a believer that there's a reason why things happen. Several years ago, Steve (my husband) and I were on a plane to California to go to our winter trade show. Of course I had 2 sticks and lots of yarn!! I was working on the back of a bulky cotton sweater when I noticed that 3/4's of the way down I made a big boo-boo! So, instead of getting rabid mad, I frogged it: (rip-it, rip-it, rip-it). As Steve was winding up the scads of yarn that I unknitted, I realized I should of had a V-8!!! Instantly revelation set in! All I had to do was go to my boo-boo, take the stitch off the needle, rip it down and reverse the stitch. But....I had to learn, and really, it wasn't the hard way. I feel that a mistake is not always a bad thing--it's a learning experience. What I like to tell my customers is 'let this be the worst thing that ever happens to you.' So, my friends think of your boo-boos as being a teacher--you get to learn on your own sometimes, plus, Steve says that you get to knit again without it costing you any more money!!
Check out my website: http://www.stitchershaven.com for classes and more!