Knitting Time Is Here Again !

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21043, 21 February 1940, Page 3

Knitting Time Is Here Again !

Firelight—the click of knitting needles—the purring of the cat on the rug—what more can one ask ?

J->UY the best wool you can afford. Cheap wool is brittle and harsh, and washes badly. It’s waste of time spending hours over an intricate pattern if the garment, when finished, won't stand washing. Don't form a habit of sticking your needles through your ball of wool. Wool easily splits, you know. And for goodness’ sake don't wind your wool too tightly: it stretches the wool and spoils the elasticity and softness of texture. Always make a point of putting two • or even three fingers beneath the strand of wool as you wind, so that, when they are removed, the ball is slack and loose. If your needles get bent, coax them back into shape in the steam from a boiling kettle, then plunge them into cold water to set into correct shape again. If you lose a knob, melt some sealing wax, stick the end of your needle into this, and fashion a round knob from the wax. When doing cable stitch, try using an orange stick instead of a spare needle—just big enough, and so much more easy to manage. One sleeve longer than the other again ? What a nuisance—and it could so easily have been avoided if you had knitted both sleeves at once. So easy to do, too—you just cast on both sleeves on the same needle (two separate balls of wool, of course) then knit one row of one sleeve, and one row of the other sleeve, and so on until the end. Can’t make a mistake this way, can you ? So nice, too, to have both sleeves finished at one go ! Going to be brave, and tackle a fair-isle ? It’s easy, if it wasn’t for getting the wools mixed ? Well, don’t get them mixed, then ! Get an ordinary cardboard boot-box and divide this into sections. One ball in each section, please, and then a hole in the lid to correspond with each section. You take a strand of each colour wool through one of these holes—and work goes with a swing ! Always do ribbing on finer needles than the rest of the jumper. This keeps it trim and snug and avoids ugly stretching and bad fitting. Oh, and when you’re knitting socks and stockings, knit in some mercerised silk with your wool at heels and toes —it strengthens them considerably. Wow—dropped a stitch ! Don’t get all upset—just take a crochet hook and crochet the stitch up through the various rows—an eagle eye wouldn’t know you'd dropped a stitch after this treatment. If you’re in the habit of dropping stitches, try to cultivate a tighter tension for your work—loose knitting never looks nice and oh, how it stretches ! Remember that the finer the wool the more difficult to keep in shape. Unless you are an expert knitter, don’t go in for two-ply wool and Shetland—or you’ll find your garment, once it is washed, will probably fit somebody at least four times your size. The thicker wools do not stretch half so much, and are far easier to work. Casting off at last ? Then use a larger-sized needle for this row. Then your casting-off stitches won’t drag at all, and spoil the shape of the garment ! Of course, you knitted into the back of all castingon stitches! Such a pity if you didn’t—the work is one hundred per cent, better if you do this. If you’ve decided to unravel your knitting, don't think the wool is spoiled. Wind it carefully around an aluminium hot water bottle, fill the bottle with very hot water, and leave for a couple of hours, or until the bottle gets cool. When unwound the wool will be quite straight and fresh.