We’ve all heard the one about the parentage of invention. More than once, I’ve found myself knitting late at night without the stitch holder I needed, or on the other side of a trip involving air travel, having neglected to pack all the doodads I needed. For some reason stitch holders seem to be the things I most often forget.

Yes, I know I could always just cut a length of my working yarn to serve as a stitch holder, but I prefer not to do that. I either don’t want to crack into another skein, or I don’t want the hassle of figuring out which is the stitch and which is the fastening yarn when time comes to transfer the stitches over. I could also just employ a bit of string, but that would mean that I’d had the forethought to remember some in the first place (and if I had done so, I probably would have remembered the stitch holders, too).

As a result, I’ve pressed all sorts of things into service.

Spare needles are a natural first grab. Stitches can be slipped onto a DPN and secured with a rubber band looped around both ends. Circs can be used as long, dangly stitch holders. But again – if I don’t have my full knitting bag I might not have these to hand. For larger yarns, chopsticks and pencils can also be used instead of DPNs.

Sneaker and shoelaces are good stitch holdersfor large numbers of stitches. The the skinny kind made for kids shoes that still have the reinforcement on the lacing end works especially well. Thread the stitches you need onto the lace, and tie the ends. Plastic lanyard string is also good because it is stiff and easily threaded through stitches, although shoelaces hold knots better.

Safety pins are a natural for small numbers of stitches. The coil-less ones work best, but if I’m without my knittinggadget bag, I’ll use the standard kind. I’ve also used paper clips, twist-ties from plastic bags, and once in a moment of absolute desperation – a hoop-type earring.

But the ultimate improvised solution is making one’s own stitch holders. Store bought holders will always be prettier, and will have nicer ends, but in a pinch late at night when the yarn shop isn’t open, these are viable substitutes. In fact I still have and use some of these I made when I was just starting to knit and had more time than money.

Tomaketwo stitch holdersyou need a wire clothes hanger and a pair of wire snips or cutting pliers (the kind with a cutting jaw), plus a pair of some kind ofbending pliers (the kind with either asmooth end or a ridged end for gripping and bending). The hangers that are too skinny to hold anything heavier than a dress shirt are the ones that cut the easiest. The snipping part might leave a bit of a burr on the cut ends of the wire. Nibbling away at the end with the snips will take off most of it, a file or rasp might be needed if you’ve got a really big burr that bodes to catch on the yarn. Wire hangers being so plentiful, and with each hanger supplying raw material for two holders, if my cuts are rough, I toss the snipped part and just try again. Cut one end a bit longer than the other so that you have ample length to fold over to make the hook that secures the holder. The last sketch below shows the stitch holder seen in perspective, so you can see how that end is bent:

Again, these aren’t perfect, but they’re cheap.

And what’s in the knitting gadgetpouch I (almost) always keep in my knitting bag? Here arethe contents of my best-equipped one:

The mid-size stitch holder next to the needles and pins is one I made myself from a coat hanger.

Airline travel is the main reason for not having this or a similar pouch of goodies in my knitting bag. Rather than poking through the thing and removing the banned pieces, I tossa spare calculator,tape measure, a couple of stitch markers and whatever else I rememberin the bottom of my knitting bag, but leave the tool pouch at home.

Have you other must-have tools you wouldn’t be without on a daily basis? Let us know!

More observations on little things that make a difference.

This time it’s plain old needle gauges. Why would I need a needle gauge when every needle has its size printed on the side? Well, some needles do and some don’t. Most of my double pointed needles aren’t marked. While many of my circular needles ARE marked, the labels are teeny, difficult to read, and in some cases, pretty much illegible.

I also have a collection of needles accumulated by regular retail purchase, from yard sales, and that have been given to me by friends and relatives. Not all of them are labeled with accurate sizes (the needles, not the friends or relatives). The older needles in particular can vary quite a bit from their imprints. I’ve got 7s,big 7s, and little 7s. All are labeled 7, but some are spot on to the modern definition of 7 as 4.5mm, and some are closer to modern 6s(4mm), and some are closer to modern 8s (5mm). I find the differences useful, as sometimes to get perfect gauge I can slide over to one of my in-between needles instead of going down a full modern size. Sometimes the difference isn’t readily perceptible if I’m grabbing needles and just moving along, but using a small 7 DPNs to start off a cuff but following that up by a large 7 circular when the project’s circumference warrants can lead to all sorts of mismatched gauge problems. But in order toeither take advantage of minute gauge differences or avoid them, I need to know how my needles stack up against a set of standardized sizes. That’s where a needle gauge comes in, and why anyone who has accumulated more than a few pairs of DPNs or needles of specious size should consider buying one.

Here’s the most common needle size gauge.The Susan Bates KnitCheckis about 5.5 inches x 3 inches,made from aluminium, and in the US is sold just about everywhere that sells yarn. The little two-inch L-shapedslit for measuring stitch and row gauge is very handy.The KnitCheck isalso very inexpensive:

And here are both sides of my favorite one. One side lists the metric sizes, and the other shows the US and the old BWG (British Wire Gauge) sizes. It’s plastic, is about 2.5 x 3.5 inches and is slighty more expensive, but still only a couple of bucks:

Why do I prefer the European gauge from Inox? Because it’s more accurate and more complete. The Bates gauge rates their own needles, and is US-centric. There isn’t as much difference among different companies’gaugestoday as there was in gauges of10 or more years ago, but some small differences still exist. For example, Bates US #6s measure 4.25mm. Other companies’ #6s measure 4mm.

Bates gauges also skip all the interstitial metric sizes that have no corresponding US size.Those extra holes on the Inox aregreatfor measuring my in-between vintange needles and European-origin needles that don’t exist in the modern US scheme of things.For example 2.5mm is between a US #1 and US #2 (2.25 and 2.75mm respectively). The Inox gauge can parse it correctly, but the Bates gauge can’t. The Inox gauge is also smaller, and fits in the box I keep my DPNs. Of course since most of you probably aren’tusing a Glenfiddich Scotch Whiskey box like I do as prime needle storage, this may not be as much of an consideration. Of course ,the Inox model doesn’t have that stitch/row gauge measurement slit or a nifty little ruler down one edge, but I carry a measuring tape in my knitting gadget bag, soneither absence is a big loss.

My only wish is that both of these needlesizers went down smaller than US #0/2mm. I’ve got a stack of DPNs ranging down to 000000 (.75mm) and a gauge that went down that small would be very helpful (of course Bates needles don’t come that small, so they really have no motivation to do so, but Inox needles do). I know there are a couple of brass gauges available on the Web for around $15 US that go down to 0000, but that seems rather pricey. I keep hoping I’ll find a metric wire gauge in a hardware store that’s a bit more reasonable.

While I’m at it, here are some other pix of needle gauges that I found while web-wandering today. The first two are available mostly in Canada and the UK. The Braille gauge is from anAustralian site that specializes in tools for the visually impaired. And the brass sheep gaugeappears to be a specialty product in limited circulation(Google searching for "knitting needle gauge" sheep should turn up the source).

Some people have been curious about the coiled wire Strickfingerhut I mentioned in my post on the Cursed Socks. Here’s a shot of the two most common kinds:

I’veseen mostly these two Inox models, but there are also a couple of others on the market. They are both intended for the same purpose – to assist Continental knitters doing stranded colorwork. Strickfingerhuts hold two (or more) strands of yarn at the same time, allowing the knitterto reach in with his or her needle tip and select the desired color.

I’ve been using one for about six years now, and I can nowknit stranded work in the round at about 90% of the speed at which I can knit single-color stockinette. Before I found my gadget I used to do my stranded work two-fisted, with the dominant or background color being held in my left hand and knit Contiental/picking style, and my contrasting color held in my right hand and beingintroduced in English/American/throwing style.With practice the two-fisted methodwas faster than drop-and-grope, but I never was entirely pleased with my tensioning. I always ended up with puckering as I could never quite get the contrast color yarn to knit as loosely as the main color – especially across the "corners" between DPNs. With this gadget my tensioning is perfect, and even unblocked, my stranded pieces are smooth and unpuckered. I **love** my Strickfingerhut and at this point, detest stranding without it.

After extensive experimentation, I’ve found I the coiled wire version to be better for the particular way I knit. It’s also more comfortable to use. The coiled wire type shapes itself to one’s finger over time. Brand new, it tends to ride a bit further out on the finger than after it has been "broken in." With use the the coils nearer my knuckle expand just a tad and the thing develops an in-out directionality. Although it has a slit in it, the plastic type does not expand overly much, and is too tightfor comfort. The closed end limits the location of the thing on my finger, and makes it feel hot and sweaty.

Comfort aside, in terms of working utility, the way I hold my yarn and needles makes the coiled wire type a clear winner. The coil can be set at any angle. I get the most efficiency by letting the eyelets ride on the front of my left index finger, angled forward so that they’re almost underneath. The two eyelets are offset and separated, giving lots of room for strand selection, and for finagling with the two colors if long floats need to be twisted in. By contrast, the channels of the plastic model must be positioned so that they ride on top of the finger because the little bar that secures them isn’t strong enough to resist bending if the yarn is pulling against it. It holds the yarns flat in the same plane. I find it much harder to both select a strand and to do the weaving in motion over long floats.

Here’s how I hold my yarn and work a normal stitchusing a Strickfingerhut :

In the photo, I’m about to make a stitch with the multicolor yarn. I do admit that in normal knitting my index finger isn’t waving out there so much. I’m holding it further away from the work than normal so that ou can see the separation of the strands.

Now if I were to want to make a stitch with the multicolor yarn but I wanted to strand the black yarn in because otherwise it would be carried over a very long float this is what I’d do:

Instead of just grabbing the multicolor yarn in the most straighforward way, this time I reached up and under the black yarn to retrieve it. Similarly, if I wanted to strand in the multicolor while knitting a black stitch, I’d reach down and under the yellow to grab the black. LATE BREAKING ADDITION: The stitch that’s holding the contrasting color I’ve stranded in will be seated the wrong way. Its leading leg will be in the back of the working needle. I correct the problem and avoid leaving a twisted stitch by knitting into the back of that stitch on the next round.

About the only drawback of these thingies is that it is possible to bend the eyelets and stretch them out over time. The coiled wire ones aren’t as easily broken as the plastic ones with their swivel bars, but I have managed to go through a couple over the years. At this point I keep two. One relatively new one with nice, tight eyelets that I use for sock and sport weight yarns, and another older one with slightly larger eyelets I use for heavier yarns. My only other caution has to do with liking them so much you become dependent upon them. Loss is a big problem, and even though most yarn shops that stock Inox accessories can special-order them, very few keep the wire Strickfingerhuts as regular on-the-shelf stock. When I see one, I usually buy it (they’re very inexpensive, especially for something so totally useful).

What do I do when I can’t find my Strickfingerhut? I admit I’ve never mastered holding two yarns in the same hand without some sort of mechanical aid. If I’m up a creek without my paddle, Iuse a ring with a large stone bezel that I normally wear on my right ring-finger and jam it on that last knuckle of my left index finger. Then I hold my yarns as I usually do, but make sure one strand is on the left of the stone, and the other is on the right. This is much slower than using my Strickfingerhut because the two strands are closer together and aren’t separated by that little angle, but if it means the difference between knitting and not knitting, it will do.

Footnote: Standard disclaimer – no affiliation yadda, yadda…