Share Your Favorite Crochet or Knitting Tip!

[ooh-lalah]

Just started this as a standard practice recently. I've been making a LOT of hats, starting with the magic circle. Anyway, after the first round is joined and you've pulled the circle closed, PAUSE. Take the tail of the magic circle and weave it through a few stitches from the first round. That way the MC won't open up and you won't have to remember to finish it off when you're finished.

[dancingbaehr]

Ooh-lalah,

I do the same thing .... knotting the yarn to a stitch to keep it from coming out, but I have never divided the strands. I like your way better. Thanks for sharing!
Hugs, Jo

Finishing off: Most instructions tell you to weave in the ends and voila! you're done. I've noticed that the ends I weaved in pop out...so this is what I do: I weave enough to get away from the last stitch, then in an inconspicuous place (inside if no cuff, outside if it's a cuff), split the yarn in two (2 plies each strand), and with a smaller hook, pull one strand into a nearby stitch and tie a knot (firm, but not tight), then tie another knot and pull it tight. Then cut the yarn as close to the knot as possible. The knot is barely noticeable and the end won't pop out.

[dancingbaehr]

When making something that requires more than one color, I always weave in my ends as I go along. It keeps them out of my way and when I bind off, I am done! ~~ Jo

[selegear]

My husband is a bow deer hunter and of course he goes out in very cold weather hunting the deer. I make him items to help keep him warm and comfortable such as very long fingerless gloves (up to elbow) and knee high boot liners. Also, I have made him several hats which cover his ears and face. He is so appreciative of the items I make for him and he tells me over and over how much he enjoys them. Of course, that just makes me want to crochet more for him

[seashells_Shelly]

My favorite tip is to use a Knit n Spin. It's saved me countless hours of pulling, cleaning up vomit, etc. Whenever I stop a project to start a new one that I want to finish first, I just pop the foam spinner off, and like most everyone else, put it with the project with the essential info and put it inside a gallon size zip close type plastic bag. That's my tip whether I'm crocheting or knitting and I'm sticking to it LOVE, HUGS and PRAYERS to everyone, Shelly

[LadyDi461]

I don't know if this qualifies as a tip, but it's something I've started doing. I don't have pattern books, as such, but print out lots and lots of patterns from the internet. They were all over the place, in my craft room, in a bag with the last yarn I used to make something, on my nightstand under a magazine...you get the picture. Sometimes, I just went back on the internet and re-printed patterns, since I couldn't find what I'd printed before.

I got a 3 ring binder at Walmart, and bought a box of plastic page protectors at Office Depot. I put each pattern in a page protector, which has 3 holes for the binder, and then into the binder. I don't have an index, but I do put all the same types of patterns together in the book, i.e. hats, scarves, afghans, etc.

When I want to make something, it is easy to flip through, find the pattern and take that page protector out.

I do the same! In fact, I've got 3 big binders full of patterns. Been collecting crochet patterns for years, and finally hit on a way to keep them nice and clean and easy to find.

I keep all my crochet magazines too, but awhile back I went through them and threw out any that did not have patterns I wanted to try someday. Some of these magazines were 15 years old or more!!

I too keep each project in a separate tote, with the pattern, and the hook I'm using. As for my yarn, it's pretty well organized and I don't have to look very hard for what I'm needing. I'm down quite a bit in stash from what I was two years ago... I had so many boxes and sacks of yarn I had to crochet afghans fast and furious all that year to use some of it up.