Row counter preference and how-to questions

This is probably a silly question, but I am a new knitter.

I noticed that there were different kinds of counters and I was wondering what the differences were. One looked like a counter you would just push a button on as you finished a row and it could even be worn around your neck. Then I saw another kind that was round and seemed like it would actually go on your needle. Do they advance numbers on their own or do you have to change it yourself still? Is it done by turning a wheel rather than hitting a button?

Which is the better kind? Does it matter? :shrug:

The ones you slip on the needle have to be turned by hand. You just always know where to find it.

I don’t use one, so I can’t offer an opinion. I never remember if I turned it or not. :oops:

There are probably as many opinions on this as there are knitter. I know people who just keep track with slashes on a piece of paper and people who have the most expensive techno counters. And they all knit just as well! I personally use the ones on the needles because I find I am more likely to count with them. (And yes, it’s a sort of wheel that you turn.)

The one that goes on the needle, the round one, you advance yourself (as you do all of them to my knowledge), and it’s a pain, IMHO I have this one and I love it! Had this one been available at the time I got mine, I would have gotten it instead.
Then there are the clickies like this as well as another one that works in the same way that is rectangular and red.
Oh, there’s also this type. Then there’s the tried and true pencil and paper :wink:

LOL, sorry Amy (horve1) I said the row counter you have is a pain :roflhard: :rofl:

[color=darkblue]It like the Susan Bates “Peg It”.
[/color]http://www.spinblessing.com/item.php?art=077216040489
It can be found for under $3 but this is the best photo I found. :slight_smile:
Susie

[b][color=indigo]I take a long piece of yarn, fold it in half and make knots down it so it looks like a chain (loop, knot, space, knot, space, etc.) I make as many spaces as rows I need. About half way through the first row, I put the needle through the top loop and finish the row. On the return trip, I slip the needle into the second loop and finish the row. (Very inexpensive as I always have bits of left over yarn).

By putting the row counter in the middle of my work, I always remember to advance it. When I put it on the end of the needle, I never :doh: remember to. Whe I use the manual row counter (the one you turn each time you finish a row) I loop yarn through it and hang it in the middle of the row so I remember to turn it.[/color] [/b]

Thanks! This one sounds like the perfect one for me, if I can figure out exactly what you are doing. LOL I am making my first felted purse and I need to make 141 rows. I am afraid I am going to lose count and cannot figure out how to count rows of stockinette stitch!

I use the same method with the yarn! I came across these instructions (with pictures!) a while back and have been using that method ever since. I had previously tried the kind that you have to advance, and I’d always forget.

Thanks. That’s a great one. Now if I could only see it in use so I could figure it out without too much blood, sweat and tears. LOL

(I’m really a smart person but I guess I am a visual learner) LOL

Excellent method, Yarnlady! I need a method that doesn’t let me forget to count!

:happydance:

Rebecca…for the row counter you wished you had gotten…would it work for not only keeping track of your rows, but using one of the buttons to keep track of the number of stitches on the needle? How far up does it go, like to 999, etc?

I have this one and I like it, except I wish it would go higher than 99.

the electronic ones look cool.

[color=indigo]Thanks for finding this. I am using my daughter’s computer and didn’t have the bookmark for it. [/color] :notworthy:

Yes, it’s perfect for that! It keeps track of 3 numbers, each one goes up to 9999. As a matter of fact, I was just looking at it, put it in my shopping cart at KnitPicks so that it will be there for my next order :wink:

I like the Clover Kacha-Kacha counters. I bought the red one first and the little green one second. I discovered I like the green one much better because it has a switch that locks it. The red one doesn’t and sometimes my cats would knock it onto the floor and it would get messed up.

I went out to get the bigger sized needles I needed to continue on with my 141 rows. I used this method to make a 20 hole chain and it is working pretty good. I figured it out as I knit on.

One more dumb question…if I have a chain of 20, should I keep track of how many times I have started over with the chain so that I count in mulitples of 20 until I get to 141 st (7 multiples + 1 stitch) or is there a simpler way that I am missing? :thinking:

Your question reminded me of this tip because it sounded like you wanted to keep track of repeats. Is that the sort of answer you were looking for?

You know, I think that Maggie Righetti had another tip for row counting that involved coilless safety pins… Okay, I just checked the one book I have by her, and I can’t find it so I think it may be in the other one (which of course, I don’t have). I think she linked the pins to count rows, and then attached a pin to the work whenever she completed a repeat. Something like that… it certainly would be easier than threading contrasting yarn, wouldn’t it?

I am just doing straight ST st for 141 rows. You just gave me an idea. Maybe it is what you mean by using the coil-less pins…I guess I could put a open/close stitch marker on each 20th row right on the stitches before I start my counting chain over and then keep going until I get to my 7th stitch marker… I guess whatever works right?

Yeah, I think that was basically her idea as far as marking increments of rows, but I can’t quite remember how she used the links of pins. It know it was very clever… of course, I may not even have the right author… I gotta write these things down when I see them. I always think I’ll remember, but then I never do. :doh: