Craft Tips: Short and Sweet

Dear users, dear authors,
do you have any short, snappy crafting tips you’d like to share here?

That’s a very good tip, dear Monika.

I’ve gotten into the habit, whenever I knit or crochet a project, of always photographing the yarn labels. The file name is then the name and color number of the yarn. I also photograph the gauge swatch. On the picture, I write the result of the counted gauge and the needle/hook size used. Both files are then stored together on the PC with the finished project. That way, even years later, I can still say what I made something from. And I don’t have to make a new gauge swatch if I use the same needle/hook size.

Best regards, Ina

Wow, Ina, I’m going to do that too. Thanks for the great tip!

Wow, Ina,
that’s a great tip (though I’m usually too lazy to do a gauge swatch)—well, you don’t really need one for a crochet shawl anyway—and I usually have a little extra yarn, so it works out fine, but if I ever do decide to make a gauge swatch, I’ll do it this way from now on.
By the way, I’m also putting the pattern with photos of the finished project into a single file 😉

And for shawls, when you need to find the center, I also run a thread through it so I don’t end up “crooked”—it looks almost like Monika’s rows of markers 😉

Winding Yarn with a Cordless Drill
I recently had to unwind some color-gradient bobble yarn for a crocheted sweater.
I just taped a toilet paper roll onto my cordless drill and got started. It was super, super fast and wound up neatly.

Katharina
😲 A cordless drill for wool—I would never have thought of that 😉

I wind small leftovers of yarn around popsicle sticks.

When there are frequent color changes… I always join the different colors using the Frankfurt knot… That saves you from having to weave in all the ends… The Frankfurt knot just doesn’t work with yarn that’s very smooth and slippery… such as synthetic ribbon yarn or silk