Craftsy blog posted this post on the 15 most common knitting problems. I concur with them! Most of them are frustrating!
1. Running out of yarn just before finishing a project! To get around this, I’ve always tried to over estimated yarn (my husband hates that I have a box of scrap yarn!). Sometimes, depending on the project, I buy a full skein of excess yarn. That way I know I won’t run out. It has saved my bacon 3 times I know of in the past.
4. Losing knitting needles (or breaking them) and 5. Knitting needles tied up in other projects. I’m clumping both of these together because they basically mean the same thing, you’re out a needle! UG! You either have to buy a new one (in the case of 4) or put the WIP on stitch holders (in the case of 5).
7. Not finishing a gift on time. I’m really bad on this. I have a WIP for my brother. It’s a sweater. I’ve everything done but the sleeves. I meant to have it done two years ago. I have my fingers crossed for his birthday in February!
8. Losing your place in a pattern. I so hate when this happens! I use several tools to help prevent this from happening. On my iPad, I use KnitCompanion. When I use paper I make a copy of the pattern and mark it up to high heaven with pen and highlighter. I also just got a Sirka Counter (I’ll be reviewing it in a few days!) here’s a picture of mine:
9. Not getting gauge. Let me tell you how important it is for you to take the time to do a gauge swatch. It will save you heart ache in the end. BELIEVE ME. I did a sweater without doing a gauge swatch and the sweater is too bulky for me to wear. I spent more than a month working on that sweater, too. The swatch would have taken me about an hour or two to do..
10. PETS! My cats usually leave my WIPs alone, but when I get them on the blocking board, they are fair game to them! My Hattie (our black and white cat) loves to kneed my blocked work to make a bed for herself. What is with that? I can’t believe she likes the feel and the smell of wet wool!
11. Having to frog. This makes me cry. Remember my post on life lines? If not, GO READ IT. It will prevent you from frogging your entire work.
14. Running out of space to store your yarn. Yup. We live in a small three bedroom place. There are the five of us plus two cats, so my yarn space is minimal to begin with. That space is now gon and is presently overflowing into my clothes space… Yeah I’m bad.
15. Tangled yarn. This always happens near the end of the ball. I don’t know why either! It take patience and time to untangle the mess. If you don’t have it, look on Ravelry, there is a group of people there that will do it for you, usually for a batch of cookies and shipping.
🙂 thanks for reading. I obviously didn’t address all that Craftsy did, but, I did most. Go read their page for their entire article. THe link is at the top of this page.