Lil's Knot - In place of stitch holders

Lil's Knot
instructions c2004 Sandra Petit, http://www.crochetcabana.com

Note: I am not the originator of the knot. I only copyright my written instructions of the method. Thanks to Barbara (and Lil and Winnie) for giving me the scoop on this knot.

When you have to leave your work...
Sometimes it is not possible to sit down and create something from start to finish in one sitting. You have to put your work aside and cook dinner, or bring the kids to soccer, or get that load of clothes from the washer to the dryer or any one of dozens of other things. We all have lives outside of crochet. :-)

Have you ever left a project, only to find it followed you? I have! On numerous occasions I put down my hook and yarn, which has inexplicably wrapped around the strap of my shoe, and people start yelling "your yarn!" Looking down I see a long trail of yarn that has followed me down the hall or to the kitchen. Sometimes the hook even stays in it and it clomps along next to me. I have a hearing loss, so I don't hear that clomping. LOL In any case, sometimes I lose some of that hard earned work.

Now most of the time I put a safety pin or stitch holder or paperclip or something to hold the stitch, but if I'm just leaving for a few minutes, I don't take the time, hence my problem.

Even if the piece doesn't unravel, I've stretched the yarn, which is not a good thing.

Well, a very sweet lady (Thanks, Barbara!) wrote and explained a simple procedure which takes only seconds to do, which will prevent your work from unraveling. She learned this from her friend, Winnie, who learned it from Lil, so I have called it Lil's Knot. See how crochet is a sharing affair. This method may not prevent your work from following you though! Hahahaha. You'll just have to pay attention to that.

Here's how to do it. This is similar to making a slip knot, but you're not going to use your hook.

First you pull your loop way out, 4-6" or so, holding it in your left hand. It doesn't really matter if you pull out more than you need. You'll learn how much it takes for you by practicing it a few times	Lay it behind your finger	Then wrap it all the way around your finger, overlapping - just like you were going to make a slip knot
Holding the strands between your thumb and forefinger, remove the circle you've made from your finger. Now you drop the remaining part of the loop behind that circle. Again, similar to when you make a slip knot on your hook, except you're not going to use a hook	pull that remaining part of the loop that you put behind the circle toward you through the circle	Grab that loop you pulled through the circle and pull it up just a tad. It will begin to draw into a knot. To tighten the circle pull on the part attached to the work.
Here's a close-up of that loop as I'm pulling it out - again, you can tighten by pulling on the part attached to the work, rather than the loop you pulled through the circle	When you're finished, it will look like a bow when placed on its side.	When you're ready to continue your work, you just pull on the "single" strand, and the knot will come undone

If there is an official name for this knot, I don't know what it is, but then I'm not a knot expert. I can see that it is similar to the slip knot, however. I am calling it "Lil's Knot". You can call it whatever you want. ;-)

10/31/2009
 

The buttons above were my first at the Cabana. I keep them for sentimental reasons. :-)

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