How I Stopped Abusing my Stitches

Like any criminal, I didn't realise that what I was doing was wrong. Not until Lucy Neatby held up a piece of knitting and viciously thrust a whole needle into one stitch to demonstrate how this irretrievably stretched and damaged the stitch. 'It hurts,' she said severely. 'Don't do it!'

Fellow knitters - I have seen the light! I am saved!

I put away my wip (Alef in lovely Rowan yarn) bought £2 worth of Tangerine mohair from the charity shop and launched into knitting the new way. It was like learning to knit all over again. Needles clattered to the floor on a regular basis as I tried to work only at the tips of the needles. It seemed impossible for about a week, but finally, I'm getting the hang of it. And yes, my knitting looks neater. The stitches are more regular and best of all, I no longer hurt my knitting.

I finished the back of the Tangerine Nightmare (whatever happened to Tangerine Dream? Does anyone remember that band?) last night and began the second front. I forgot to change one needle after finishing the garter rib, so there's a tight spot on the bottom 5 rows of stocking stitch. I'm not frogging and reknitting acrylic yarn so it will have to do!

I have been getting out both needles, when I need to change sizes, and putting the second one on top of the row counter so that when I finish the first row and go to change the counter I think: What's this needle doing here? Oh, yes. I'm supposed to be changing sizes from ribbing needles to stocking stitch needles (you can tell I go college, right) Thing is, it sounds so simple but it does work! Because I didn't do it last night, and so I ended up with 5 tight rows because I didn't notice the difference between one fat needle with a red end marked '5' and a thinner needle with a black end marked '4'.