Smoother Bamboo Needles

If you have a pet chew on your bamboo needles, use this tip to fix the problem.
Use super fine sand paper to get the big bits off and then steel wool to smooth. Finish with a good rub with a piece of wax paper, which will fill the dents. Also, if you need an emergency cable needle for small work, a toothpick rubbed with a bit of wax paper works well, too

Slanting Decreases

An easy way to remember which way a decrease slants is by using this logic. A left slanting decrease is an SSK which has a left slant (the S) in the middle of it. A right slanting decrease is a K2tog which has a right slant (the 2). See: S2 = \ /. Left slant, right slant.

Chart Reading

Reading charts for color work or cabling can be intimidating even for experienced knitters. Part of the problem arises from trying to read the chart as we would read a written page (left to right and top to bottom). Knitting charts are read from bottom to top and right to left for right-side rows, left to right for wrong side rows. If you are knitting in the round then all rows are read from right to left.

To assist in knowing which end to read from and to keep you on track with your pattern, number your chart on the side of the row you need to start from for each row – 1 on the right of the bottom row, 2 on the left of the second to the bottom row, 3 on the right of the third to the bottom row, and so forth.