Craft Tips

Sue’s
CrochetAndKnitting.com

Craft Tips

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Cleaning and Restoring:
Vicky writes, “I have an old (55 years or more) hand crocheted cotton ecru bedspread and
tablecloth. I would like to have them restored to their original beauty.
Any suggestions as to the best method to achieve this?”

Angela suggests.... try OxiClean. I used it on a table cloth and a bedspead and it worked
great! Kinda like bleach but doesn’t change the
antiquey look or hurt the fabric a bit. You can buy it at http://www.asseenontv.com. The
stuff works great, I use it on just about everything.

Someone else suggests....

you might try “Oxy-Clean” I can get it at Wal-mart. Really whitens dingy linens.

Recommended Reading

Favourite Crochet & Knit Patterns!

Crochet Graph Pattern Tips.

Cindy in Norris, Tennessee, suggests....
I have had great success in cleaning very stained and soiled quilts with Arm and Hammer
washing soda. This is not Borax! Most of
the large grocery stores have it. I fill the washing machine with warm water and add about
half of a cup and detergent. Then agitate
to mix. Then add soiled item and agitate again, let sit overnight and wash and rinse.

Pamela adds....
Oxiclean is also available at wal-mart, walgreens and sams clubs. It
would work wonderfully. I have used it often with amazingly good
results.

Someone else suggests....

you might try “Oxy-Clean” I can get it at Wal-mart. Really whitens dingy linens.

Pamela adds....
Oxiclean is also available at wal-mart, walgreens and sams clubs. It
would work wonderfully. I have used it often with amazingly good
results.

Help with the Starting Chain in Crochet.
If you have to start with a long chain, as for an afghan, and you lose
your count, here’s a good tip. Keep adding chs until you are sure that it
is more than enough. Then turn and do your first row. Simply pick out the
left over stitches by pulling the yarn tail back through the loops.

Color Change Tip - Crochet

To make smooth color changes - on the last
stitch before you change colors, drop the color you are using before
you pull the yarn through the last 2 loops on your hook, pick up the new color
and with yarn over your hook, pull through the last 2 loops on your hook.

Here’s a tip from Steve concerning my
Crocheted Moccasin Style Slippers Pattern.
Thank you, Steve!

Thank you for such an enjoyable pattern! I showed one of my first tries at
this pattern to my fiancée, and she loved them. However, my first try was
for her, and they look right but were too big. After toying with reducing
the stitches, I wound up making a simple gauge change to a size E hook.
What came out was a tight little boat shape of a slipper (I tweaked it a
little), but they fit her size 6 feet, and she loves them! All I need to do
is put some tatted (shuttle-tatted) lace on them and her initials, and
she’ll be very happy. I wouldn’t go any smaller with the hook, but you can
go down on the ply if you don’t want to change the basic shape.

Converting English Crochet Terms to French.
Sabine had written for help.
She is French and knows how to crochet
and understands English, but
as she says, “the terms for american stitchs and french stitch, are different”.
Therefore she can’t follow the pattern instructions.
She was looking for a
site where the English and French equivalent terms would be listed.
Thanks to Barb in FLA for the following:
The International Dictionary of Crochet Terms.

Knitting Techniques.
These sites have some great Knitting tips:
http://www.math.unl.edu/~gmeister/papers/Knitting/techniques.html
http://knitting.about.com/cs/specialtechniques/
http://knitting.about.com/library/blmosaichowto.htm
http://www.geocities.com/plantldy.geo/knitting.html
http://www.dawnbrocco.com/tech.html

Long Knitting Needles
Kathy writes:
My mother is an avid knitter, amongst many other homemade talents - when I started
to knit many years ago - I turned to her for advice and when I told her that the knitting
needles were too long, she said - cut them off - so my husband immediately took charge
and took off the tips where the size of the needle is printed, sawed off the needle to the
length I wanted and put the tip back on; from then on - no more long, awkward knitting
needles!! One of those ‘taken for granted’ types of information our elders possess in
overabundance.

Alternate Foundation Row Technique - other than the usual long first starting chain (Crochet).
Thanks to Carole for bringing this method to my attention.
Tips ‘n Trix: Try the Foundation Stitch

Learning to knit with short knitting needles.
Elizabeth in NH writes:
I was reading your tip Long Knitting needles…my mom taught my daughter how to knit when she was little by
taking small needles with points at both ends and all she did was take a small cork and put on other end…
my daughter still uses needles today.

Thanks to Ellen for these craft tip links:
http://www.knitting-crochet.com/tip.html

This site tells you what you can do with granny squares such as putting
together to make.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/4054/grannies.htm

Here is a site with tips from other crocheters that may be helpful with
their projects and they want to leave a little help for someone else
http://www.crochetnmore.com/123tips2000.htm

Tips for Beginners.

Thanks to a web site visitor (who wishes to remain anonymous) for these great tips.
i can offer tips for some begginning
things i have done to help me along ....................if you are having problems keeping up with row or round
count i suggest that you
find a scrap pc. of paper and something to write with and each row or round that you finish make a mark
or write the number down so
that when you have to stop for awhile you will know where you left off at (this is really helpful with single
crochet as it is hard to keep a
count of)....................another suggestion is that there are different ways of holding your hook and
yarn and different folks are going
to tell you how to hold each but i suggest that you hold each one the way that is most comfortable for you.......................another
suggestion is make sure you have a yarn needle threader handy, they are really inexpensive and really
help out when you have to use
them in your crochet patterns for hiding the leftout yarn ends...............i hope this will help some.
thanks

Thanks to Tee for these great tips
Re-using cheap store bought slippers to make valuable crochet or knitted slippers with soles that wear much longer.
Heres the idea.....
We have all seen tons of those cheap cheap cheap slippers/slipper socks/scuffs etc sold at Walmart, Target, KMart
and various supermarkets and drug stores (I actually find the supermarket and drug stores to be the cheapest and the
best variety believe it or not!).

No one wants to spend the time and effort (and if you’re using a nice wool yarn, the money) in making a pair of slippers
that will quickly be “walked through” on the bottoms. They simply dont wear so good on the bottoms. Also, the slightest
snag and your in for problems!

So what I do is buy a few pairs of the cheapy scuffs (thats what I call those cheap slippers) and use the brand new bottoms
for my handmade slippers! The ones that kind of curve up and over the sides are the BEST even if its a dollar more…
your custom slippers are WORTH it!

The added benefit is that they will also be waterproof and you can step outside in them! Its not hard to remove them really,
you could even use used ones if they are just for your own slippers and you are not making them for someone else. I find
that the soles dont wear out much in my store bought scuffs since I am just ambling about on carpet for the most part anyway,
and the inside soles wear out faster than the outsole (the rubber part that we want!) do in that case!
Some of them even have that 1/2 inch or inch of foam in them!

You can use a razor (if you are careful) or exacto knife to help dissect your scuffs to use the sole. If your lucky your soles
will be already attached to the new scuff by a simple stitch running along the edge in a sort of “channel” made in the rubber.
You technically wouldnt even need to make a bottom of your slipper in this case (some people dont like the feeling of walking
on crochet/knitted slippers unless the stiches are small and close together, unless they wear socks with them, as I always do.).

Another thing you can do is stitch in some nice fleece for the lining on the inside. You can do the entire inside, or just the bottom.
I also highly recommend using some kind of adhesive (washproof) to keep things from sliding around down there as you walk.
Its not absolutely needed, but the quality of the slipper will increase tenfold with just that extra effort. You only really need it on
the soles anyway. This keeps the wearer from “walking over” the edge of the sole and wearing out the edge of the slipper
if the person has wide feet especially.

To stitch them on, I recommend using the strongest thread you have, or better yet, use a very strong monofilament fishing line.
Then if you would like, you can use a complimentary colored thread (or yarn) over that. I find that embroidery floss can even
work in this case. If there are no holes, you can use a poker of some sort (a safety pin or paper clip) heated up under a candle
flame (watch that it doesnt burn your fingers!) to make your holes. The space between them will dictate how long your straight
stitching will be.

Now, in a whole different ball park.... Your other option is to acutally use the ENTIRE scuff/slipper and then crochet a “cover”
for it and simply stitch it right over the whole shebang! Its actually easier than you think, and you are left with a pair of scuffs
that cost you 2.99, but became masterpieces with a few grannysquares! If you use a grannysquare or loosely crocheted
(or knitted) pattern, its best to choose a color of scuff that will blend in with whatever color yarn you are using. If thats not
possible, then you can always use some spray adhesive (or sew it on) a fat quarter of material that would match your crochet
work. The benefit of doing it this way is that you dont have to even crochet for the bottom of the slipper, you get a pair that are
going to last MUCH longer, and the wearer will have the benefit of added warmth that the extra layer of yarn will give them on
top of the plain scuff!

Just thought i would share this idea with you. I see SO many slipper ideas out, and have made my share, and from
my own experience if the person realllllllllllllllllly loves them, they wear them a lot and wear right through them all too quickly!

Thanks to Kathy from Florida for this great tip.
I’m an avid crocheter and I just wanted to let
you know after searching and experimenting on handmade socks, I finally found the solution for
all of us who knit and crochet socks.

This is the answer to non-skid, non-slip coating for the bottom
of yarned socks. It’s called Super-Grip and it is sold at Ace Hardware. It is a spray, so it’s extremely
easy to use. Or you can go directly to their website and purchase the product.

I bought some different
small stencil sheets at Wal-mart and sprayed the Super-Grip for designs. So dots, lines and squares
are good to use for stencil design. The only downfall is the product is only sold in clear, but I’ve already
spoken with the manufacturer and they are considering adding colors in response. But clear is good.

Another downfall is when I talked to tech support they said the product does wear off quickly after four
or so washes. So I recommend spraying a few more times and let thoroughly dry. The recommended
drying time is 8 hours. So two applications should do the trick.

The other thing that somewhat works is Puffy Paint. It’s not as non-skid but it works ok too.

You have a great website and I enjoy it. I’m a columnist for a local newspaper and I used to write the
craft column. I now get to write about anything I want and I’m going to write about crafts for the holidays.
Would you mind if I told my readers about your site? Let me know ASAP about that. Take care and I hope
this was helpful.

Kathy is a columnist for her local newspaper. She is going to be writing about crafts for the
holiday season. You can read some of Kathy’s archived columns by
clicking here.

The other thing that somewhat works is Puffy Paint. It’s not as non-skid but it works ok too.

Kathy is a columnist for her local newspaper. She is going to be writing about crafts for the
holiday season. You can read some of Kathy’s archived columns by
clicking here.