More than once I have been out and about stitching, or just being lazy in my chair at home, and needed a tool that I didn’t have in my bag or readily available. In these moments I get creative and use what I have with me.
Most recently I decided that what I was making wasn’t working but I wasn’t ready to rip it yet. I wanted to put it on hold for later but didn’t have any waste yarn with me. I grabbed the other end of the skein of yarn and worked each loop off of the needles by slipping it over the loop I had made on the needle. This took each live stitch off of the needle and onto the “waste yarn”. I also didn’t have a tapestry needle at the moment.
The thing that I improvise the most is stitch markers, open or ring. When I wore a wedding ring I would often use that as a beginning of round marker. Now I just find what I can and use it, often the tail of the project if I’m not too far from the beginning. For stitch markers, if I really need them, I will make them from small pieces of yarn tied into a circle that will fit around the needle. I’ve used bread ties and small pieces pf wire as well.
Scissors, I often don’t have with me but because I am a wool knitter this usually isn’t too big of an issue. I can just snap the yarn and keep going. I asked my hubby for his pocket knife more than once though when I used acrylic.
When missing a cable needle, a toothpick can usually be found. I prefer to use a dpn to the toothpick but hey if it means I can continue to knit…
As I was growing up, an even now I think, Mom didn’t, doesn’t, have a pompom maker. She uses her first two fingers and counts how many times she wraps the yarn around them. With the yarn weights she uses most often, she knows approximately how many wraps she needs for different sized pompoms.
Tape measure subs can get dangerous! I don’t suggest using a sub tape measure for swatching or something that you easily can’t fix later. I have used a standard size piece of paper, note cards, my crochet hook, finger joints and other things. It is to get in the ballpark of how long the ribbing should be or something of that nature. Honestly, if we’re working to gauge or know the gauge we’re working at, a bit of quick and simple math will tell us how many rows/rnds are needed and we won’t need to measure until time for blocking anyway.
What clever substitutes have you used in a pinch to keep stitching? Please share in the comments below.
Until next time,
Happy making!
Azariahs Fibre Arts 