Nothing calms and helps think like needlework. Someone likes to embroider pictures with beads, someone weaves a floss, but most knit. And knitting today is not only a hobby and a way to relax after work, it is also an additional saving of the family budget, which is important.
Currently, manufacturers are very pleased with needlewomen with an abundance of knitting devices. As you know, the right choice of knitting needles and hooks is the key to a beautifully connected work. But an important detail is related accessories for knitting, which greatly facilitate the work of needlewomen.
Knitting accessories
In addition to the main tools - knitting needles and hooks - there are auxiliary or additional devices for knitting. We are talking about a counter of rows for knitting, tips for knitting needles, needles for stitching finished products, thread dividers, pins and rulers, markers, etc.
Every additional help is indispensable. For example, tips for knitting needles allow you to watch out for loops during a break in knitting. Markers are very convenient when knitting in a circle, when you need to mark the beginning of some pattern or row.
Tools for stitching parts
Special needles for stitching knitted parts help needlewomen to finish their work in a quality way. They have a much larger eye than conventional needles, so even thick and bulky yarn easily passes through it.
Pins contribute to the careful fixation of individual parts. Rulers help to correctly measure the length of the product, the thickness of the yarn, the number of centimeters in one row.
Often knitters use special tools for the manufacture of pompons, cords and tassels. In the old fashioned pompons were made on a piece of cardboard. Today, needlewomen can please themselves with more modern devices that facilitate work.
Row counter
But one of the most indispensable accessories is considered to be a row counter for knitting. Each experienced needlewoman will always advise you to get such an assistant to your beginning colleague in the knitting workshop. Why? Let's talk about this assistant and dwell on the details in more detail.
What does the row counting tool look like?
Row counters can look completely different. They come in two types: mechanical and electronic.
What does the row counter for knitting look like? If it is a mechanical counter, then it looks like a small cylinder with wheels. In the center of the cylinder there is a special field on which the numbers of the knitted rows are marked. There are counters that have only one window. They note only the number of total knitted rows. There are options where the window is two. Such helpers can simultaneously count both the total number of rows in knitting, and a single segment, for example, a sleeve or a shelf.
The electronic row counter for knitting is a box that looks like a small pager. In the center there is an electronic scoreboard, which shows the numbers of the rows. Using it, according to needlewomen, is much more convenient.
The electronic counter of rows for knitting does not go astray, like a mechanical one. It’s more convenient to manage. As a rule, many electronic meters have a special strap that is conveniently attached to the finger or to the main knitting needle.
How to use a row counter
Previously, having knitted a row or pattern repeat, you wrote down everything in a notebook, put a tick (a cross, a stick) and then counted all your hieroglyphs. At the same time, they often went astray, scolded themselves, dismissed half of the product, and started over.
If at hand there is such an assistant as a counter of rows for knitting, then such problems do not happen. It serves you as a notebook, as a reminder, and as a calculator - all in one.
So, you bought yourself a knitting row counter. How to use this innovation? First you need to fix the counter in a place convenient for you. As we already said, it can be a knitting needle or your own finger. There are some models that are worn on a special strap, hung on the neck in the form of a pendant.
We knit a row, turn the wheel or press a button (depending on which accessory you have) and the row is counted. The knitting process is much faster, you no longer stray and are not confused.
The counter is an indispensable thing, even when knitting ordinary socks on five knitting needles. And what can we say about knitting complex patterns, where the rapport is very long and often repeated?
How to choose a row counter
So, we already know what a row counter for knitting is, how to use this device, what types are there. Let's talk about acquiring this assistant now.
Of course, auxiliary accessories for knitting are not so necessary as the main ones - hooks, yarn and knitting needles, but you should also pay some attention to their purchase. If you decide to buy a counter for yourself, then we advise you to do this only in a trusted store. Of course, the prices of such accessories do not frighten with its transcendence, but, you see, a penny saves a ruble.
For starters, experienced needlewomen are advised to decide on the type of counter. Mechanical ones cost a little cheaper, but are not as reliable as electronic ones. The wheel can accidentally spin and knitting will go astray. With electronic options, this does not happen.
Do not be afraid to overpay. Who will appreciate a cheap purchase? Trying to save money, do not forget that you should not do this on quality. And it doesn’t matter, the row counter you buy is either yarn, knitting needles or pins. It is better to invest once in high-quality knitting accessories and use them for many years, than to change bent knitting needles or broken counters for new ones every month.