Useful To Know - accessories

Useful to know - accessories

Needles and aids

Of great importance in knitting are the needles. On their quality depends largely the knitwear to be smooth, clean and even. Different materials are used to make them - aluminum, plastic, bamboo or other wood.
For proper and comfortable knitting, the needle tip is of great importance. Seen from aside, they should have a well-defined top, but not very sharp, because needles with a pointed top split the thread, making it difficult to knit. Needles with a dull tip are also not preferable because they knit slowly and incorrectly, and they also expand the stitch. Needles should be smooth and polished. Any roughness on the surface prevents the thread from sliding gently, the hairs of the yarn break, resulting in an uneven knitting. According to the thickness, needles are divided into numbers (from 2 to 10), which correspond to the diameter of the needle. For example needles witn a number 2 are 2 mm in diameter, number 5 - 5 mm, etc. The thickness of the needles must correspond to the thickness of the yarn. Otherwise itbecpmes a bad knitting - very tight when with thin needles is knit a thick yarnt, or uneven and lacy, when a thin yarn is knit with too large needles. The basic rule is that the diameter of the needles is twice as big as the thread thickness. Everything said so far applies to all types of needles - two needles, circular needles and sock needles. Bad, low quality needles will spoil your knitting pleasure and turn it into grief. For example, carmakers can not handle poor quality tools. So buy only quality needles.

Let's see now what kind of knitting materials are available on our market.

Aluminum and plastic needles with numbers from 2 to 10, length 30-35 cm. They are mainly used for knitting sweaters, cardigans, scarves, etc.
Aluminum or nickel-plated circular needles with a length of 80 cm and numbers from 2 to 10. They are mainly used to avoid edging when knitting a sweater, for example, knitting garments with round knitted fabrics, baby skirts, etc. It is more convenient to knit with circular needles and when the knitting fabric is made up of large pieces. Especially for the production of neck edgings there are circular needles with a length of 40 cm.

The five (sock) needles may also be nickel-plated or made of aluminum. Their thickness is the same as other types of needles and their length is 15 or 20 cm. They are mainly used for knitting socks, some types of hats and knit dolls. Our grandmothers knit socks using needles with a curved top, but five needles with two sharp tips similar to the usual knitting needles are now available on the market. Our view is that they are far more comfortable. Perhaps it is a matter of habit ... Four of the five needles serve to spread the stitches on the knitting stitch, and the fifth is used for knitting.

The cable needles are little known in our country, which does not mean they are not available on the market. There are two types of cable needles - straight and curved. They are especially suited for the knitting of different cables or similar knitting, in which several stitches should be left in front of or behind the knitting.

The Knitting pin gauge is an extremely practical tool. It can be calculated, for example, how many loops you will need to knit for size 48-50 if the model we are working on is 38-42. It is more convenient to count the stitches and lines of the 10x10 cm sample - the main rule before starting knitting. And another convenience - rarely the hooks and the needles have their numbers written. Once removed from the pack and collected together with other needles, it is very difficult to distinguish them. It is precisely the device for calculating the stitches and there are special holes, which can very precisely determine the thickness of the needles.

To what line of the pattern have we reached? This question can be avoided by using the special pattern tracking template. It is made up of three movable shoulders, which allow the correct fixation of the rows.

Marker rings, needle shields, and row counting ring are additional accessories without which we can do. However, they are designed to make it easier for us to work. The marker rings are of different size and color and serve for easier and quicker counting of rows and loops during knitting, as well as for marking special loops. The counting ring is "strung" on the needle, and the next number is simply set on each row. So at any point you will know exactly how many rows you have made. The rings are also available in different colors and sizes - due to the different needle thicknesses. Especially for knitting with circular needles there are "hanging" rings with a special hook, on which the ring hangs. When you finish the knitting for the day, in some cases, especially when knitting with a large number of stitches, they slip from the needle tip when picking up the knitting. To avoid such unpleasant moments, buy needle shields. Like a plug, they are placed on top of the needle and prevent slipping.

Undoubtedly, for the final appearance of the knitting, a great contribution is given to the assembly of the individual parts. Most often this is done with a regular needle with a larger eye. Special needles are available on the market to assemble knitting details. They are of different thickness, length and size of the eye depending on the thickness of the yarn. Their tip is dull so that the thread does not split as it passes through the stitches.
For the "ruffling" of knitting made with long-haired yarn, special combs and brushes are available. Strange as it sounds, what minor but not insignificant details of the knitting art have foreigners thought of. Because we still have not heard of a Bulgarian producer of such "trifles" yet. 

Care for knitting In order to allow hand-knitted clothes to be used for longer, certain laundry and storage rules must be observed. The first and most important condition is to pay attention to all the symbols on the yarn itself. For example, if there is a symbol, a pot of water and 30 degrees, it means that the knitting must be washed by hand, the crossed hanging garment means that it is advisable not to hang the knitting. Hand-knitted clothes should always be dried in a lying position and never at direct sunlight. Strong sunlight can cause the colors of the yarn to fade or give them a yellowish hue.