Reviews of the knitting tools I use on a daily basis:
- My favorite locking stitch markers
- locking stitch markers can be subbed with saftey pins, but I like the plastic ones for travel (and because they are not sharp). I find them much more versatile than plain round markers since they can be placed anywhere in your knitting or crochet.
- Bent tapestry needles
- the slight bend at the tip makes it easy to get in between the stitches without catching extra threads of the yarn.
- T-Pins- a must have for blocking lace
Transcript of Video
Hey everyone it’s Jenn from Midnightsky Fibers and I wanted to show you some of the knitting tools that I actually use. I mean most of you know I do a lot of sample knitting and production knitting so I am knitting both for myself and for sale and for other people everyday 365 days a year. So I use a lot of knitting tools and I… but there’s really only very few that I actually use everyday. I’m not a big collector of knitting tools that are really unusual or take up a lot of space or literally fancy.
Most of the tools that I like are really utilitarian. They have to be able to knit long hard work and not get stuck on my stitches and in a lot of cases, they have to have multiple uses. So here are the tools that I actually use. First, locking stitch markers. I love these. These are my absolute favorite stitch markers when I’m not using small pieces of thread, safety pins or paper clips which I am very prone to doing even though I have a truly obscene number of stitch markers in all varieties. I actually really don’t like most of the fancy stitch markers with beads on them. The only time when I think they’re handy is when you need to tell apart different sections of a pattern and that tends to be something with lace in which cases I get caught. I really like locking stitch markers because not only can you stick them in your knitting and on knitting needle but you can also use them as stitch holders to hold a few stitches.
You can use them instead of safety pins or pins to hold things in place while you’re seaming together or sewing together your finished pieces. They work in crochet and in knitting and so a lot… you can hook them into your crochet to mark stitch places. Really all around there my favorite stitch marker. They’re the only stitch markers I’ve bought. For all the other plain round circular ones or ring ones, I don’t buy those. I have some of those ones, I never use them. I only use the locking stitch markers. Love them.
Next, tapestry needles. I really like the tapestry needles. I have the blunt but bent edge as you can see in the photo on this one. It makes… the blunt bent tip makes it much easier to really get into the stitches without catching a little bit of yarn or fabric as you run along which is handy when you’re seaming or weaving an end ‘coz you don’t want it to show on the front. Straight tip is fine. Sharp ones depending on what you need to weave in and how you need to weave the ends are also okay. But these are also my absolute favorite. You can usually get them in a pack or two at a yarn store. I really…that’s my primary one today. I always use…I usually have one stuck somewhere in my wallet and I’m always buying these because I’m losing some of my wallets constantly and I like them enough that I’m willing to pay for them even though I have tons of other tapestry and also they work okay. I prefer the shape these ones fast.
T pins of course come in all sorts of different lengths and thicknesses. I like the thick, longer ones better ‘coz they both work 4 ways and for all other pieces while you’re seaming if you’re not using locking stitch markers. And I also use mine for blocking lace which means that the thick longer ones are handy because it means that the lace isn’t going to get caught in them or to go fall off of them when you’re blocking. I block heavily and thoroughly and I pin lace objects out within an inch of their life, pulling them very, very taut and small T pins just don’t stand up to that and just go flying off. Likewise, I don’t use regular pins unless I’m sewing. But these ones show up in your knitting so that you can really see where you’re pinning them and they’re thick enough to hold their place and to hold their own against yarn distorting it too badly which is important when you’re trying to pin things in place and create even seams ‘coz you don’t…the really fine, small T pins just tend to not be big enough when you’re trying to seam together a worsted weight sweater or when you are trying to make sure the edges line up perfectly.
This is part of Knit School on Midnightsky Fibers! If you found it helpful, it would be great if you shared it!
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