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Here are some special hints from our friendly customers to help make knitting easier.  If you have a tip for us, please send it to tips@ozeyarn.com and we will list it here for everyone to see.

Starting circular knitting

When starting to knit circular knitting, commence the item using a crochet hook. Make a loop, work a couple of rounds of dc with the required number of stitches in this circle and then divide the stitches evenly on the 3 working knitting needles. This gives a tidy centre and the stitches are easier to manage.

Tip sent in by Del, New Zealand

Knitting in garter stitch

The "trick" is to treat each garter stitch bump as one row of the pattern. On the second row (wrong side), to prevent having floats on the right side, you must put the yarn to the back, knit the stitch, then bring the yarn to the front again each time you change color.

Tip sent in by Judith, Royal Oak, Michigan

The "trick" to two-color knitting in garter stitch

The "trick" is to treat each garter stitch bump as one row of the pattern. On the second row (wrong side), to prevent having floats on the right side, you must put the yarn to the back, knit the stitch, then bring the yarn to the front again each time you change color.

Tip sent in by Judith, Royal Oak, Michigan

To keep baby garments clean

An oldie but a goodie. When knitting baby items, and you have finished knitting for the day, wrap your garment in a clean white cloth nappy. This will help to ensure that your garment stays clean.

Tip sent in by Kathy from Koonawarra, NSW Australia

Substituting yarn

To calculate how much yarn you will need of a substitute yarn, first check to see if the gauge of the substitute yarn is the same or very close to the recommended yarn. Find out how many balls of recommended yarn you need and the yardage of the recommended yarn. You will also need to know the yardage of the substitute yarn.

Number of recommended yarn balls multiplied by the yardage of recommended yarn divided by yardage of substitution yarn = how many balls of the substitution yarn you will need.

Eg the pattern recommends 10 balls of yarn with a yardage of 95m, I want to substitute with a yarn that has a yardage of 110m 10 x 95 ÷ 110 = 8.64 balls of substitute yarn (It is always safer to round the quantity up so you will need 9 balls)

Ozeyarn tip by Juliana, Sydney Australia

Pins for sewing up garments

Hair pins from hair rollers work really well for holding seams together when sewing up. They are longer and thicker than sewing pins so don’t get lost in your work or fall out ready for your foot to find them hiding in the carpet!

Tip sent in by Jean from Perth, WA Australia