9.19.2007

Bricolage

bri.co.lage [brik‐ŏ‐lahzh] n. tinkering, fiddling, construction achieved by putting together whatever materials happen to be at hand; also : something constructed in this way. bri.co.ler [-é] v. to tinker, to do odds jobs; que'st-ce que tu bricoles? what are you up to? bri.co.leur [-oer] n. handyman, tinkerer, putterer.

Not long ago I butchered the short row heel on a sock I was knitting. The heel was badly offset and had to be ripped out and done over. Since it takes me about an hour to do a short row heel on 40 stitches, and because I really do not like to waste that kind of time, I decided to make some stitch markers to ensure that the job would be done properly on future socks.

There are some fancy stitch markers out there ( flickr, something from nothing) a few tutorials on how to make them (Sculpey.com, Wormspit.com, sheep in the city, knitting by geeks) and even the online Stitch Marker Exchange. But I was not in the mood for fancy, and opted for a quick and dirty solution.

miniPunchSets
These punch sets make holes from
2 to 8 mm, in 0.5 mm increments,
which corresponds nicely to any size
knitting needles I might ever want
to use.
Since I am currently
knitting on 2.25 mm
needles I picked two
punches, a 4 mm punch
to cut the marker (out
of a cottage cheese
container lid) and a
2.5 mm punch to cut the
inner hole.
step_2
Here's the finished
product...
endProduct
...what's left of the
raw materials...
holeyLid
...and voila, the stitch
markers in action.
inAction

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

bricolage...thanks for adding to my vocabulary. i'm going to use that word today somehow!(ingenious stitch markers by the way)

arlee said...

Very cool--now i'd be lacing stuff through the holes of the lid to make more art......:}

Donna said...

great stitch holders! I've used paper clips when desperate but they have a tendency to catch on the yarn at times...

juanita sim said...

Friends, please don't hesitate to ask if you need some cheap stitch markers OR plastic lids full of holes ;-)

Anonymous said...

now you've got me wondering what i can do with those plastic lids with holes.......and silk.....and some dye....