Tips 'n Tricks

Do you have a helpful hint or handy trick that will make any aspect of crocheting easier? Share it! Post ideas on scrap yarn usages, stitch markers, starching, hook organization, color changing, maintaining your sanity while following a difficult pattern, etc. There is most probably someone out there that will benefit from your help. Need ideas yourself? Read others' comments--we all live and learn!

Tuesday, September 06, 2005Name: Kelly

Subject: Counting Stitches

Comment: This may sound a little funny, but you know all that pocket change just languishing about in drawers, under the couch, etc? Use a penny for a stitch or for a row. A nickel for five, a dime for ten, etc. So, if I have a fictitious piece that is 500 stitches, place $5.00 in the requisite change, and as you do your stitches, take coins out of your unfinished stitch pile or container and into your finished pile/container. When you're done, take your finished stitch money and go buy some new yarn or keep it for next time.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005Name: Stephanie

Subject: Nails Catching

Comment: I have extremely weak fingernails but still try hard to grow them out. The only problem is they tend to chip over the littlest things. Sometimes even if I go to grab a skein of yarn and my hand bumps against the end table next to my working chair.

At first I tried to just keep working but I found that the chipped part of my nail would sometimes catch my yarn. I fixed this by keeping a nail file in the bin that holds my hooks and needles. This way I can just file down the chipped area and get back to working without searching the house for a file or getting rid of my nail completely.

Hope this helps for those fingernail fanatics too. :)

Friday, August 26, 2005Name: di

Subject: organization

Comment: Empty kleenex boxes make great storage containers - they're decorative and easy to carry - for crochet as well as other items in the household. The opening of the box can easily be changed with a pair of scissors.

Thursday, August 25, 2005Name: di

Subject: plastic forms

Comment: I really liked the idea of using a plastic cover to cut a form for a wreath. Other projects involving different shapes such as stars, scalloped edges, multi-dimensions, miniatures, mobiles, toys and more could be made as well.

Thursday, August 25, 2005Name: di

Subject: weave loose ends

Comment: To weave loose ends: use a smaller crochet hook - smaller than the one you originally used for your project. The smaller hook glides more easily through the stitches.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005Name: diane

Subject: Fun!

Comment: I have a neighbor who has a computer, but is not on line. Her daughter is beginning to show interest in crochet, applique' and embroidery. I collected free patterns that are within her skill level and copied them onto a CD. A creative child can easily learn from pictures as well. Makes a fun gift!

Wednesday, August 24, 2005Name: diane

Subject: Creative Challenge

Comment: I like to challenge myself to build confidence in creativity - rarely do I make the same thing twice. My first attempt with a pattern is to learn gauge, measurement and instruction. My second attempt is to use a different set of crochet stitches. In my household, everyone wears a different pair of slippers and I got to learn something new...

Wednesday, August 24, 2005Name: diane

Subject: organization

Comment: i've organized my free patterns in file folders on my laptop computer. Each folder contains several pictures and a separate folder for all instructions. The pictures are a quick reference for the instruction folder. The laptop sits next to me while i crochet. No need for stands, notebooks, paper.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005Name: Cristin

Subject: yarn winding

Comment: I was taught this trick by a relative I just met...which was taught to her by my husband's Grandmother, Violet. :)

To wind yarn; keeping a 7" tail, start winding yarn around two finger tips in a figure eight fashion - just a couple times and then fold the "8" over itself so it's an "o" and them wind as you normally would.
When you are done, you can pull from the tail and it unwinds as a pull skein of yarn would-from the middle!! No more rolling balls of yarn!!

Monday, August 22, 2005Name: Linda

Subject: Hints and Tips

Comment: 1. I bought a very inexpensive see- through tackle box to keep my hooks, pins, needles, buttons, eyes (for toys), etc. At a glance I can see what I have and don't have.

2. Milk crates (plastic) are great to store skeins in and they are stackable.

3. Every Item I make I take a picture of and put in a photo album.

4. When my hook starts to drag, I use a bounce sheet for clothes on my hands and hook. This gets the hook going again and also smells nice.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005Name: Joyce

Subject: trying something new

Comment: When starting a new afghan pattern, I was having trouble holding my instruction book and my yarn, so I went to rummage sales and bought me a music stand. I can adjust it to the right heighth for my chair and I use bussiness "clips" to hold my pages open. This has made it much easier to read and crochet at the same time.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005Name: Aline

Subject: Patterns

Comment: If you have friends who crochet, but don't have internet access or a computer; invite them to surf the internet at your place. Or if you find a pattern that someone else with a little more experience would enjoy, print it out and pass it on.

Monday, August 08, 2005Name: katie

Subject: tips for road trips

Comment: i know alot of you guys put your patterns in binders and i do too but when you are a road trip i think it is alot easier to put the one pattern you are using in a folder it is much easier to slip under the seat when you get bored or tired of the project i would also suggest to only bring the supplies you need some people will take everything the own having to do with crochet just put the items you need in a ziploc one gallon freezer bag they stay safe!

Thursday, August 04, 2005Name: Brianna

Subject: Left over Yarn

Comment: When I am finished with a project and I do not have enough yarn to make anything else, I tie all my extra scraps together untill I have a enough yarn to use. So it is like having a thing of yarn to make another interesting project out of.

Monday, August 01, 2005Name: louise vincent

Subject: bed quilt

Comment: if you do a square crochet width of a baby's cot you can put a piece of material snd sew them together and also it's a nice present for a new born baby

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