There may be some amongst my followers who pursue the gentle craft of knitting. If so, some of you may know that heart-stopping moment when you have a certain amount of wool left, and wonder whether it will be enough to knit to the end of that row, which is a preferred place to begin a new ball of wool. I used to call this “playing chicken”. Sometimes I won, often the wool did. Then, I was left with the choice of joining the wool in the middle of the row (ugh, it never looks neat), or ripping back and starting a new ball at the beginning of that row. Are you still with me, or have I cured your insomnia?
Well, thanks to the wonders of the internet, I no longer suffer from this demoralising problem, and I’m going to share this happy knitter’s tip with you.
Here’s what you must do, beloved reader/knitter. Simply measure the width of the garment you are ruefully gazing upon. Multiply this width by 4. Now, measure the length of yarn dangling there. If it is greater than the result you had obtained with the mathematical exercise, she’ll be right, mate! (I suppose if you’re into doing complex patterns you’d better add on a bit more, just to be on the safe side.) I can confirm that it worked for me. I’m in knitting heaven! And, I’m hoping I’ll wear the finished project in Italy one day.
There, I’ve broken my blogging drought, and it’s nice to be back.
Hi Yvonne, thank you for the useful tip! It is indeed very frustrating when you run out of yarn in the middle of a row… I also love the colors in this one and I’d love to see the final result!
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Hi, Pete! I just rescued you from the Spam file, dusted you off and put you where you belong. I haven’t got the finished product with me (I’m in Naples just now), but I was very happy with the result, and will get plenty of wear out of it this coming winter.
Thank you for your comment, and for following me.
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This fear is all too real 😄
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I just finished a pair of socks today, with the toes being a different colour than the body of the sock. I held my breath until the triumphant finale!
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Geez I know exactly how that feels I’ve been stash busting lately and keep thinking it’s not gonna be neat if I start in the middle, but this is great advice, thanks for sharing the tip 🙂
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I keep waiting for the occasion to use it!
You’ve got a great blog going, Tyler!
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I used it for the first time this week on a coat I was knitting for a doll I just finished making 🙂 thanks I keep trying to think of new content
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Loved this post haha
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I aim to please! 🙂
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Thank you so much for sharing this tip. I’m a newbie to knitting. I’ve been slowly learning/practicing for about 3.5 years but it’s always been flat work on straights. I’ve just in the last month gotten brave and started doing magic loop and have made some hats.
Right now I’m working on a shawl on circulars.
Since everything I’ve done previously has been handled with one skein of yarn, I had to watch some youtube videos to figure out how to join and I did find myself playing chicken with my yarn LOL.
I’ve never used wool before but someday I’m going to try some out.
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Good for you, launching into the world of knitting. Yes, do try wool, it’s satisfying to work with.
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Hi! Thanks for the tip. If it’s wool (and it mostly is) I usually just Russian Splice it so I don’t have to worry about it.
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Now I have to find out what a Russian splice is. See, you can teach an old dog new tricks!
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As someone returning to knitting after a very long absence, this is an extremely useful tip. So much has changed since I’ve been away, giant balls of wool, self striping colours, circular knitting needles, there’s been so many changes. I have the wool, I have the needles, I have the patterns, I just need to crack on with something!
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Hey, maybe I should start writing a helpful hints blog, eh? Have you decided what your first project will be, Jane? Have fun with your return to knitting. By the way, there are so many videos online for all sorts of things about knitting. I’ve learned a lot from them.
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Thanks for the tip. I’ve knitted a family of snowmen (people?) and a couple of Christmas trees in tinsel yarn, and have started on a tank top for myself. So far, so good (famous last words!)
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I happened upon this while surfing #knitting and I am so glad I did. You saved many of us from agony and frustration!
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I wish I had known this many years ago.
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Thank you so much for that tip as I often have this fear as I’m knitting along!
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You can just fold the yarn back and forth across the garment, 4 times, it’ll give you same result without having to find the elusive measuring tape.
Happy New Year, AJ.
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Even better! I spent all day yesterday knitting a vest and wondering if and when I would run out of yarn! Happy New Year to you as well:)
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I’m playing it right now. Hope I win!
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Well, what happened, Ruth?
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Good to know! It can be very nerve breaking when it comes this close..what a gorgeous piece by the way!
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Thank goodness for online searches, Rustic one. 😊
Thank you for the nice comment on the sweater. It has been in the mid 30s (Celsius), so heaven knows what I was doing knitting then.
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welcome back, Y!
and I do not knit – but I know folks that do – and I have seen some assessing out loud whether they have enough left for certain things.
I also recently just bought a vat of yarn on clearance to give to this little girl who knits.
well I divided the lot up (almost 100 packs) and offered some to two adults. It was so fun
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Wow, that’s a lot of wool, lucky recipients!
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well not all wool – a lot of acrylic and that stuff – a handful of cotton and some wool – a lot of the yearn was the fuzzy playful stuff.
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It’s fair to say you’ve been missed!
Welcome back!
No Venice for us this Xmas, getting ready for a move to Amsterdam!
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Wow!! Now, there has to be a story attached to that decision. Maybe I’ll see you in Amsterdam, one fine day. Very best wishes to you.
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Well, due to Brexit, the EMA has been offered a new home in Amsterdam. Hopefully we can follow (contract issue,have to be an EU Citizen), otherwise it’s off to Oz for us😱
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Is that the European Medicines Agency? Well, you have 2 good options ahead of you, Rob.
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Yep, that’s us!
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California knitter and stealth reader here. Happy to see you back, almost gave up on you. Knit on .
Teri
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This is terrific! And I do like to start a new ball at the end of the row but if I get caught out, I just start a new ball in the middle where the ball ends and toss an turn a little that night 😆🙋🏼
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That raised a sympathetic guffaw, Lou. 🙂
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Me, I just knit faster so I get to the end of the row before the wool has time to run out.
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I’ll give your method a try, toutparmoi. 😊
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Don’t forget those steak knives. 🙂
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Just pop them into the mail, Mark. 😊
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Thanks for posting again! I’m glad you’re back and hope all is well healed!! The sweater looks fabulous. I look forward to posts from Italy.
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Hi! I’ve got itchy feet again, but it might be about March before I head out again.
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You go, girl!
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Good tip. I was always told measure the leftover yarn by 3 times the width of the garment in stocking stitch, but it had to be more if it was any other stitch.
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In the case of my sweater, 3 would not have been enough. I might try it with the next ball change. You know that I will blame you if it doesn’t work. 😊
I’ve had another knitter (aside from you) follow my blog. It’s a knitting grandfather!
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Nice palette. Keep away from Bruce’s farmer Phil
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But, he’s rich! 😆
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🙂
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Yay! Glad you’re back. What a great tip. It almost makes want to get back to knitting. I love the yarn you’re using. Very pretty gradation. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished sweater.
❤️
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Hi, Maxine. I’ve been really slack with the blog, eh? The sweater is going to be mighty warm, and it has a roll neck, as a bonus. 😊
Happy Thanksgiving to you and Tom. 💕
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It looks warm, are you heading for Milan this winter. That’s the only place in which I have been cold, in Italy.
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Brr, I can imagine Milan in winter. Trieste is another cold place, especially when the bora comes to visit. Neither of those places is on my list of places to go back to, Mari. 😊
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Given my heart started pounding as I was reading your post, yeah, I understand what you’re talking about. I once crocheted ants for the kids in my class as a Christmas gift (their favourite song was The Ants Go Marching) and as the last ball of wall shrank steadily while crocheting the last ant, i wondered if I’d make it. I did but I had about 30m of wool left… It was nerve-wracking!
Does this tip work with crochet too do you think? I suppose I could ask Google….
Your jumper looks lovely but how can you stand knitting in this weather? I find the wool gets sweaty.
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I’ll probably also have to go and see if Signor Google knows about crocheting, you’ve made me curious. I’ll bet those kids loved their ants, what a cool idea.
If the air conditioner is on, knitting is okay in the warm weather, otherwise, it sure is a no-no.
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The knitting group I attend at our local library includes a few ladies who crochet. Sometimes I just still my needles and watch them in admiration!
The yarn is (retrieving label which is serving as a book mark), Cleckheaton California 8 ply, 100% wool.
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Welcome back, Yvonne. Great to see you here again. It’s the same for crochet, I never know if there will be quite enough. I think it’s easier to hide a join though. Nice yarn – what brand is it?
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YAY!!! It is SO good to finally have you back, Yvonne! 🙂
I’ve made handmade quilts, machine quilts, all kinds of stitchery (needlepoint, creweling, cross-stitch) etc, but I’ve never learned to knit.
My youngest daughter and my DIL both knit and crochet, so I will share your tip with them! 🙂
I, too, hope you are wearing the finished project in Italy one day…soon! 🙂
BTW: the colors you chose are beautiful together! Soft and peaceful!
HUGS!!! 🙂
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You do do many interesting forms of handwork, it must be a source of satisfaction to you. I admire people who do handmade quilts, they are so labour intensive, so beautiful. Big hugs back to you. 😚
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Ciao Y!! this makes me so happy, on several levels – a) You’re back! b) Naples! c) Unless your knitting style and mine are very different, there is some elbow and shoulder action happening here. And d) oh thank you thank you, as a perennial knitter of coloured squares for wraps, with 4 different colours per square, this is the best thing I’ve discovered today! Baci 😘😘
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Hi, Anne. Well, I have been of assistance to at least one person, that’s good. Yes, Naples to finished the rudely interrupted visit, and maybe some Rome on the way home. We’ll see. Are you in the ancient and wet city right now? 😚😙
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Yes we are! Although tomorrow, in anticipation of a certain American religious observance, we take a train to Napoli & transfer to the offshore haven which shall remain nameless lest it become infested with tourists 😄. But we’ll return here Saturday for another 10 days before we brave the Aussie heat for Christmas.
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I opened my email and saw your name there. ‘Hello World’ Yvonne is back. I was like going down the street for coffee and spying an old friend sitting at the same table as a year ago. I don’t give give a fig for knitting, but I am so pleased to see you again. Now life is returning to normalcy.
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Oh, crikey, now I’m responsible for your normalcy! What a responsibility, John. Thank you for your nice, welcoming comment.
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Now I see you must just have been busy knitting and not lost in Italy or worse, the outback, while having forgotten this little blogging world…
I admire your skills Yvonne—my grandmother was a huge knitter, crocheter, needlepoint—you name it. Mother got in on the act but not to my grandmother’s same level….me, I just like to cook. A button is about as good as I get with a needle and thread 🙂
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I admire your cooking skills! I may have to move next door to you, we can do some bartering.
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you’re on–but let’s do so somewhere in Italy shall we—then we know the food will be divine 🙂
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I’ll remember that next time I knit the potholder, Yvonne. Glad to see you back.
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LOL! Glad to contribute to your flawless potholders, Gez. Helvi must be proud of you.
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So glad!!! And now the lead up to your next sojourn…where are you looking? The dreaming about it is good fun too!
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I need to get back to Naples and do justice to that complex city. You’re right, the dreaming phase is exciting. And, I will be looking for more stemme, just for you.
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We keep debating going to Naples….somehow we always end up back in Florence or Venice…..just not enough time! Bring on the Stemma!
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It’s certainly a different experience, Jane.
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Ah that was so funny Yvonne! Very useful information. Are you in Venice again? 😊
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No, still in Oz. I hope to be in Italy early next year … time will tell. How are you? I see you’re heading for a heat wave in Tassie. Minx says hello, well she would if she were awake. 🙂
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Dare I say that was a pearl – I mean purl? It sounds like you have a modest improvement in movement, or are you just pulling the wool over our eyes? Lovely to hear you blathering on again… !!!
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All I learned about blathering, I learned from you, Bruce Almighty. The student may surpass the teacher …
I wonder who the other 3 viewers from NZ are. (There’s no easy way to make that sentence less clumsy!)
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I wouldn’t be surprised if the 3 other viewers from NZ were the Governor General, the Prime Minister, and the Italian Ambassador.
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YAY – Yvonne’s back! So happy to see you here. I don’t knit but that sweater looks gorgeous, love the colors. And yes, you need to be taking that sweater on a holiday very soon to Italia! xxx
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Hi, my stalker. Yes, I’m quite content with the colours. ❤
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I would be content too….another talent! We’ll miss seeing you in December! Next time, please.
xx your stalker
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Glad for your return Knit no shoe your horse yes
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Now, I have to buy a horse!
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It is indeed nice to have you back. Looking forward to the finished product.
Don’t you just love what you can find on the internet?
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It’s absolutely gob-smacking what lurks online, Michelle.
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YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You’re back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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🙂
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Well, if that is all it takes….. keep knitting! Lovely to see you again!
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Hi, it’s lovely to be back.
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And it’s nice to have you back, Yvonne. Yay! Funnily enough, I had just been looking at your last blog from Naples. I had forgotten that I get your new blogs in my Inbox, but it has been so long since you posted that I diodn’t expect to see anything new (and I didn’t), but when I clicked back to my Inbox, I found your new post. I don’t knit, but your post was interesting all the same. That garment (pullover/jumper/cardigan) looks very pretty.
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Hi! Little did I know what the subject of my return to blogging would be! It’s nice to be back, Bert.
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Great to see you back and what a useful return! I too have wasted time on this dilemma. I look forward with envy to seeing the final garment (on you).
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The wool is soft and warm, just right for the 30 (Celsius) we’re expecting! 🙂
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