Stupid is as stupid does

After my post griping about working nupps in non-stretchy yarn yesterday, Laurie slapped me upside the head sent me an email with a tip on working nupps.

She said that she slips all but the last loop of the nupp to the right-hand needle, knits (or purls) the last loop, and then passes all of the slipped loops over the stitch.

After reading her email, I banged my head against the wall for five minutes. Somewhere in all of the knitting tips I have collected, that was one of them. And I had totally forgotten about it.

Not only that, but I also had tips for two other easy ways to work nupps.

Heh. Where were you guys when I was about to kill myself over those silly nupps?

Fine. Be that way.

Nonetheless, I will share these tips with you. Maybe it will save someone else’s sanity one day.

Second method, from Knitterguy: When you do the yarnovers for the nupp, do double yarnovers instead of single ones. On the next row, slip the stitches one by one to the right hand needle, dropping the extra yarnovers. That makes them nice and loose, and evens out the tension. Then move them back to the left needle and purl them together.

Third method, from Myra Wood’s video: Use a crochet hook to form the nupp in one step. Instead of doing the knits and yarnovers with your knitting needle, use a crochet hook to do the knits and yarnovers. With those loops still on the shaft of the hook, draw up another loop of the yarn and pull it through all of the loops on the hook. Place the new stitch onto the right hand needle. When you get to that stitch on the following row, you just purl it.

Hopefully you won’t be as stupid as I was, and will actually remember these tips when you need them.

On the bright side, this morning I am off to beautiful Alta Lodge at Alta Ski resort for the weekend, for the Rocky Mountain Knitter’s Retreat. Knitting, hiking, eating, drinking… should be fabulous. One of Betsy’s martinis and I’ll forget all about those stupid nupps.