Knitting Tips & Trade Secrets

Here is a compendium of clever and creative techniques for solving common hand knitting, machine knitting and crocheting problems. With hundreds of tips on everything from choosing yarn to assembling a garment and organizing needles to the perfect increase, knitters and crocheters will find many solutions to every problem. Selected from Threads magazine's popular Tips column, these useful hints will make knitting fun to do and easier to master.

You'll learn to:

• cast on perfectly
• machine knit a tuck
• make an easy bobble
• manage yarn in multi-colored knitting
• correct an uneven crochet edge
• follow an intricate pattern
• soften an itchy sweater
• reinforce a shoulder seam
• knit a perfect buttonhole

Introduction

Chapter 1 Yarn

Chapter 2 Hand-knitting techniques

Chapter 3 Multicolor knitting

Chapter 4 Garmentmaking tips

Chapter 5 Managing your knitting

Chapter 6 Machine knitting

Chapter 7 Crochet

Chapter 8 Finishing and caring for your project

Knitting abbreviations

Index

Any technique that can make your hand knitting, machine knitting, or crocheting easier, or the results better, will also increase the pleasure and satisfaction you derive from your craft. In Knitting Tips & Trade Secrets you will find a wealth of information that can do just that.

Here from the pages of Threads magazine, you will learn how to improve on the slip-slip-knit decrease; how to prevent a tangle of yarns when knitting more than one color in a row; how to ensure that your cardigan fronts or sleeves end up the same length; how to make an even join at the end of a round of single or double crochet; how to avoid a multitude of loose yarn ends on machine knitting; and much, much more.

Whether you are a beginning or an experienced knitter or crocheter, whether you knit or crochet occasionally or regularly, you are sure to find within this collection tips that will enhance your projects.

-- Mary Galpin Barnes, editor