I enjoyed the link from Wendy's blog to her reader's page of knitting tips. I use several of the tips mentioned (like wrapping the yarn around the needle to gauge what length I'll need to start the long-tail cast on and using my circular needles for straights). I really liked Valerie M.'s tip of making a link of coilless safety pins for the sleeve increases (removing one and placing it on the knitting each time you decrease). When you see all the safety pins at once you can then change how you space the increases if you so desire. Now I just have to buy some safety pins.



Here are some of my own knitting tips. I always do the sleeves of a sweater first - that way if your gauge is off even after doing a gauge swatch or you don't like the colors or pattern there is less to rip out. Once I'm past the ribbing and there are too many stitches for double-pointed needles I switch to two circulars. I simply knit all the stitches on one circular (any length) and then knit all the stitches on the second circular. A good tip I learned in Janet Szabo's finishing book is to change the ribbing order so that there are always knit stitches on each edge of ribbing and you can easily seam them using mattress stitch.



I think I've already touched on some of my organizing solutions on this blog previously - a cheap fishing tackle box from Walmart for my accessories and a Circular Solution double-pointed needle holder. I use plastic pencil cases and a three-ring binder for my circulars.



I've tried many ways of knitting socks that are more durable. I once spun up some Navajo-plyed Shetland that wore like iron - I guess it was the three plies that helped. Once I tried using the heel stitch on the entire bottom of a sock. Here is a photo of how the shape of the sock changes when you do that. I still have the socks after about 5 years and I'm extremely hard on socks.