Knitting

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Using Household Items for Knitting

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use a dpn to fold and hold a knitting projectWhether you’re traveling this summer or just want to do a bit of knitting on the go without dragging your whole knitting tool arsenal with you, there are some great hacks you can do to use regular household items to aid your knitting.

Amy from Love Knitting has a great list of things you can use instead of other things. Some of these are classics, like using scrap yarn as a stitch marker or a wine bottle cork as a point protector.

But I don’t think I’d have thought to use dental floss as a stitch holder (I usually have some extra yarn around I can use for that purpose) or using a DPN to hold your folded scarf in place so it’s not warming up your lap when it’s hot outside. That’s pretty brilliant right there.

Her suggestions for common household measuring tools are great, too. It’s a good idea to measure things you always have with you like your hand (mine’s about 6.5 inches from wrist to end of the longest finger) that you can use in a pinch. Or always carry a business card (usually around 3.5 by 2 inches) or an index card (3×5) in your bag, which is handy for jotting notes as well as measuring.

Do you use any common household items in your knitting? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via Love Knitting.]

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Comments

  2. When knitting cable stitches I have had to open up a paper clip and us it as a holder when my cable stitch holder went missing. I have also used large size baby diaper pins to hold a few stitches away from the others for part of a project.

Have you read?

Knits with Sheep

It felt like it had been a while since I’d done a roundup of knitting patterns involving sheep, and if search is any indication, that is true. I found a roundup of patterns for knit sheep from a few years ago, but the only one with v I could find is from 2015. So it’s definitely time to revisit this fun genre of knitting patterns.

This all started with a headband. Alyssa Kaat’s Icelandic Sheep Headband (free on Ravelry) to be specific. Ravelry showed it to me as a pattern highlight and I couldn’t resist taking a closer look. It’s worked with two colors of worsted weight yarn and alternates sheep with stars around your head.

Another great sheepy headband is this one from Loch Fyne Crafts on Etsy. These sweet little sheep are worked in bulky yarn and you can make the background look like field and sky or work it in a solid color.

Or make a headband (or a hat, cowl, or all three) covered with a flock of sheep with this set of patterns from New Age Knitting CA. These pieces also use the field/sky coloring, but you can use whatever colors of worsted weight yarn you like.

Speaking of hats, there’s also the sheep hat from Lynann Knits Designs. The sample was worked in Icelandic wool to make the sheep and the hat extra fuzzy and warm, but any worsted weight yarn will work.

There’s also the Wandering Sheep hat from Kat Hudon (on Ravelry), which features a fun collection of speckled sheep that can be worked in different yarn weights to make different sizes of hats for kids and adults.

And lest you think sheep need to be knit in traditional stranded colorwork, check out the Rebel Sheep Mob blanket by Deborah Moore. This one is worked in mosaic knitting using fingering weight yarn. In mosaic knitting you’re only working with one color per row so it’s pretty easy. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

I can’t possibly share sheep knitting patterns without mentioning the amazing Black Sheep Shadow Shawl by Mark Jamieson. Shadow knitting is a technique I want to do more of, but it involves working two rows alternating in two different colors and the pattern emerges when you look at the design from an angle. It’s so cool and the sheep on this one are amazing! It’s not a beginner project but well worth the work. You can find it on Ravelry or at the designer’s website.