How do you keep track?

#1

When I knitted my armwarmers, I realized I didn’t have any way to keep track of what row I was on besides tallying it up in writing, so I started ticking off rows with a pen I keep with my pattern… Usually I just do this right on my pattern sheet. Sometimes I lose that, however :aww: so I have to figure out where I am and just hope I’ve got it fully memorized…

How does everyone else keep track of where they are in their knitting? I’ve heard of electronic row counters and such, but I don’t know if I’d be able to give up my little old-fashioned way… I think it’s kind of nice to see where I am at a glance and not have to worry about the battery dying or anything :stuck_out_tongue:

#2

Most often, I will use a Post-It Note that I’ve stuck on the pattern. I will keep track of where I am by using tally marks on that, so I don’t have to mess up my printed pattern at all.

knitcindy

#3

I, too, am a post-it-note user. Just stick it on the pattern sheet under the row I’m working.

I’ve also used a line of safety pins to mark the row number I’m on.

Here is another type of row counter
http://www.clover-usa.com/product/22699/336/_/Kniting_Counter_Kacha-Kacha

I’ve seen these, thought it was pretty creative. haven’t bought one yet, though.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/50704913/petite-snag-free-circular-row-counter

#4

I use a piece of graph paper, where I put the number of the pattern rows as well as the complete number of rows I’ve knitted, and then I just check them off as I finish. I also note where I place buttonholes or begin shaping for sleeves etc. if called for in the pattern. This method has worked for me. It is especially helpful when knitting socks or sleeves, so I am sure to knit the second one the same size. It’s also great to have that as a reference sheet if you ever knit the pattern again. I’ll write notes to myself about small changes I might make. If my pattern has a graph I will copy that part and stick it to the graph paper and use a post-it note to mark the row I’m on. Hope this all makes sense. :knitting:

#5

I have tried lots of methods, but inevitably I end up with the clicker style row counter. I can keep up with it and there is that sound that helps me KNOW I moved it. I use one exactly like the clover one in the post a few up.

#6

I don’t like the clicker type…it’s too easy to forgot or for someone else to pick it up and click it. I end up counting rows on the knitting to make sure it’s correct. :doh:

I’ve used paper and pencil, but my preferred method now is a chain of stitch markers. All markers are plain except the last one which I put a bead or charm. It goes right on your needle so as you go around each row (works for flat knitting, too) you just use your needle to pick up the next loop and drop the first one off. When you get to the end and put the bead loop on your needle you know you are doing row number x.

If you have vast amounts of stockinette you could put ten rings and then when you get to the end you could put a coilless safety pin right on the knitting to note that you’ve done 10. Easy to count that way.

I generally use them though between sections of pattern stitches or cables. If I know every 6th row is going to be crossing cables I put 6 rings (bead on 6th one) so I don’t mess up my cables.

I have them in various numbers since I use this method a lot. :wink:

#7

I, too, use pen and the pattern I’ve printed out, or if it’s in a book, a post-it note serves just as well.

Many times, especially when knitting in the round, I will put a piece of waste yarn at the point they say to start counting, then count ladders up, just to make sure I’ve not missed a tick on the paper.

#8

I use a post-it note and pen most of the time.

#9

If it’s when cables cross I put a safety pin in the row where I crossed them and then count up from there however many rows to then next time I need to cross.
It’s been awhile since I’ve knit something where I have had to count rows, seems like a lot of patterns as you to knit so many inches, because row gauge can vary.

#10

I do not use row counters. I am always afraid that I will forget and then not know where I am… what use are they then anyways?

So with complicated stuff i may mark in a photocopy of the pattern. with easier stuff I just read my knitting.

most often I count the rows and stitches to find out (count from the bottom, from a significant point (increase, decrease, cable, pattern shape etc.) or make significant points by clipping in a row / stitch marker at for example 50 rows or whatever.

#11

I flip the pages of a small desk top calendar the kind that has one page for each day, I use one month as a row count and another to count pattern repeats.

#12

I use the cheap kind that you spin the dials to change the numbers. I have a bunch of them since I usually have a lot of projects going at once.

#13

I usually use a metalic board and movet he magnet if its a long pattern. If its a project like the baby blanket I’m supposed to be working on I just make sure I conplete the WHOLE basket weave before I stop. For my socks flaps…there are 23 rows and I use a tick mark on my hand :roflhard:

#14

Thank you for all the great ideas

tena

#15

I downloaded an app on my Android phone. Just tap the screen at the start of a new row. I’m doing a striped blanket right now with alternating rows of pink and brown, so I have 2 counters going right now, but you can make as many as you need.

#16

I use clicker style but usually on rounded needles so, I just click at the end of each row. Post it notes and a pen are the way to go . Its old fashioned but according to me and apparently most of the other knitters its the method of choice.

#17

depends on the size of the project.

knitted blankets: I have a row counter that i slip on the end of my needle and slide to the middle of the cable needle (prevents me from accidentally knitting in the round as well)

short 30 row repeat? stitch markers (i just leave them sitting on my craft table by the project… everyone but me is banned from my craft room although i have one cat that likes to lay on my feet and another that likes to lay on the other chair i have in here)

complicated pattern that I haven’t made before? I have an index card that I just slide down the pattern (i keep all of my patterns that i’m working on in page protectors) and then just tape it in place and write a short “left off row #” when I go to stop for any extended period of time.

I tried marking on scratch paper, but then when i’d have to frog i got aggrivated. When i was making an irish hiking scarf I just took a stitch marker (one of those split ones) and slipped it onto the row that finished the repeat… that way there I just had to count up how many rows i had finished since i placed the stitch marker.