Pimp My Knitting: Part One (WARNING: Image heavy)

My current WIP is the Ruffled Surplice from the current issue of Interweave Knits. This is part of the left side. It is an odd shape right now.

I love knitting toys. Needles, tools, gadgets and notions!

People often ask me what all the appendages are hanging from my knitting.*

<- I use double rubber ring markers to remind me to decrease and change the pattern.

I like the rubber ring markers, but I also make my own beaded markers. Coil-less pins are used t0 mark increases and decreases, & pinch hit for markers on small gauge needles. (Click on the photos for larger images) ->




To keep track of rows, I mount a barrel row counter on a rubber stitch marker (sometimes I use those little figure 8 holders for eye glasses (see the sheep marker below) and place it a few stitches in on the row of knitting. Every time I pass the marker with the counter, I advance the counter to count the rows.

I try to pick these up whenever there is a sale and have some on hand for a new WIP.

This is a homemade row counter. It works like an abacus. On the left (dark blue beads) are the ten's and on the right (light blue beads) are the one's. This one is showing the 15th row because one ten is pulled down and 5 ones (the dark blue bead on the right is to indicate "5").

Right now my sheep marker is there to remind me which side of the knitting is the right side, but the sheep can also ride along with the knitting like any stitch marker.

<-(This sheep marker has the eyeglass thingie I was describing above).

My latest gadget is using a bread tie to hold the extra cast on yarn tail. This was something I learned from Tomme in my new office--Thanks, Tomme!!! What a great idea! She actually had larger ties from potato sacks, but we didn't have any large potato sacks lying around our house.

I like cute tape measures. The sheep on the left was my only tape measure and I couldn't find it for months and months. I finally decided it was lost and bought a new one at Stitches West (SW).

Just a few days after I brought the new one home, Jazmine decided to play with it. She bit into it and broke the spring. (I suspect one of my children participated in this destruction since the tape was pulled all the way out and the dog does not have hands to have accomplished that). So I did a bit of surgery. I removed the destroyed tape measure (the empty sheep carcass lies there with the tail pinned to the inside with a large safety pin), and I'm looking for a new tape measure to put inside.

Meanwhile, I found the doggie on sale for cheap and bought that as a consolation prize.

Of course, after buying two tape measures to, I found my original sheep. Just call me "Bo Peep".

I guess I have a collection now.

Well, I have a lot more to show, but this post is getting image heavy and long. That means I have blog fodder for another day, so check back soon--I'll probably post again on Sunday night.

Please feel free to leave your comments and suggestions. I know I have a lot to learn about blogging, but I hope you find this interesting and fun.

JanKnitz

*Many of these ideas are from Maggie Righetti, author of Knitting in Plain English. I mean no disrespect to EZ (Elizabeth Zimmerman), whom many consider THE Knitting Goddess (and she is), but Maggie Righetti is MY Knitting Goddess. I thought I could knit before I read Maggie's book, but after I read her book (and worked through her instructional projects) I could KNIT. I am forever indebted to her.