TROOPS NEED KNITTERS/CROCHETERS

If you want to knit for the troops, this (or socks ) would be a good project. 

Today, U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and South Korea, as well as many parts of the United States, are exposed to winds and bitter cold during the winter months. Riding in open trucks and humvees, they often encounter sub-zero wind chills. The military head gear issued to our troops is made of synthetic material which is not as warm as wool. Just as in WWI and WWII, volunteers are needed to make these wool caps for our troops. The wool head covering which can be worn under the Kevlar helmet provides warmth to the head and neck but does not restrict vision.
According to Dr. Richard H. Garretson, M.D., Crossroads Community Hospital, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, approximately 30 percent of a person’s body heat loss is through the head. It is important to keep the head warm, so the body temperature stays up. The brain controls everything else in the body, the ability to think and act as well as the ability for the body to maintain a particular temperature.
One way to increase the comfort level of our troops in cold climates is to provide knitted/crocheted wool caps, or "wooly pulleys" to them. “The cap is definitely warm. It has certainly been a help, or should I say warmth.” said Corporal Juan M. Perez, Jr., who is stationed in Iraq.
The patterns are available at www.geocities.com/helmetliner. If you have any questions, please contact helmetliner@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 236, Auburn, IL 62615. Completed helmetliners may be sent to Helmetliner, P.O. Box 236, Auburn, IL 62615, where they will be sent directly to our troops.
Donations to help defray shipping costs may be made payable to Helmetliner and sent to the address above.
Other links to helmet liners. The knitting.about.com site gives the same pattern, but the other two offer WWI and WWII helmet liners.


http://knitting.about.com/od/hatpatterns...
http://www.agoodyarn.net/pt_helmet.htm...
http://www.hjsstudio.com/redbala.html...

Beginning Knitters, Big Stitches, and Yahoo Answers

This person had the opposite problem from the one I mentioned earlier. Her stitches were too big. Another Yahoo Answerer, named Sue, suggested she rip out and reknit. I came back with "the rest of the story."

Sue gave an excellent answer. Frog it (rippit rippit) to a few stitches before the bobble, then knit it better on the next try. My Mom always said "If you don't rip out, you don't wear out." meaning "if you don't go back and fix it, you won't want to be seen in public wearing it." I will give you a no-rip solution at the bottom of this message. Sometimes the oops is so far down that you just hate to rip back that far.

NOW -- why did it happen in the first place? It's a matter of tension. You did not control the yarn as it came through your fingers. If you look at an instruction book, it usually shows you twining the ball end of the yarn through your fingers in some manner. This is to put a little bit of drag on the yarn so you can control the amount of yarn you pull through in stitch formation. In this case, you pulled through a lot of yarn and didn't snug it up to your needle enough.

Most beginners have the opposite problem from you. They snug their yarn so tightly they don't leave enough room to slip the second needle in to form the next stitch. Either problem is solved by being aware of the finishing stage of stitch formation and being certain the loop is a regular size -- not too tight, not too loose.

NO-RIP SOLUTION. This doesn't always work, but it's worth trying before you frog. Lay your knitted fabric on a flat surface, such as a table, and find the line of yarn that formed the too-big stitch. Using the point of one of your needles, tug on the yarn before and after the too big stitch to bring it down to the right size. Move left (or right) to the next stitch and adjust it to take up the slack. Keep moving over one stitch taking up slack until you have dispersed the extra yarn evenly through the row. Don't worry that now the entire row looks a bit too loose. When you wash the item the tug/tug of washing will readjust the tension throughout the piece. Check yarn care instructions. Machine washing does more for tension readjustment than hand-washing, but not all yarns are machine washable.