Divide the yarn and then conquer the pattern that is! I’ve almost finished knitting the teal green seafoam green socks that I started at the end of winter last year which is normal for socks started at the end of winter. I don’t knit much during the summer, somehow knitting and the early darkness of fall/winter evenings go hand in hand in my mind.
Anyways, since I’ve almost finished the current pair, I’ve started getting ready for the next pair. One of my “control” issues with knitting socks is to be absolutely CERTAIN I have enough yarn to finish both pairs. When I first started knitting socks, I would knit from the cuff down to the toe, and I didn’t enjoy knitting socks. I found the process stressful. First I had to estimate if I would have enough yarn left to finish the foot after I guessed at what length to make the cuff. Then I had to tackle the “Kitchener” stitch!!! Just saying the name gives me shivers, it was my most dreaded part of knitting socks.
Somewhere along the way I discovered knitting from the toe up! Oh the relief! Never again would I have to face that stitch at the end of the process! But I still stressed about having enough yarn to finish BOTH socks.
Then I read about dividing the yarn before you start knitting!! WOW, made perfect sense, except how do I know how much to put on each ball? Winding a ball off both ends simultaneously was bound to get me all tangled up. Thankfully a little light bulb went off in my mind and now I do this:
I pull out my trusty postal scale, put the bowl I’m going to use on top, turn it on (without the yarn in the bowl) and set the tare to zero. Then I put in the entire skein, divide that number by two (see the sticky note) and wind down to the necessary weight. This particular skein weighed in at 104 grams, so I’ll wind down to 52 grams. Then I’ll weigh the ball I’ve wound and re-weigh the remaining yarn. If they’re close (within a gram or two), I’ll cut the yarn and wind the second ball.
By weighing first, making two equal balls and working from the toe up I’ve successfully DIVIDED and CONQUERED both my running out of yarn fears AND my inability to do a pretty Kitchener stitch!
WORKS FOR ME!!!!!