A stitch holder was designed to cater to one and only purpose in a knitter’s life, and that is to hold open stitches when not on needles.
They come in various sizes, which correspond to the number of stitches – more the number of stitches, bigger the holder you use.
I have slowly begun to feel that knitting and crochet to some extent has so many such tiny and large tools and equipment, that do such specific work. They may not be useful for any other purpose other than what they were designed for. Do I really need some of these tools, if not all? Not really. I could, and have, easily used a beading wire, embroidery floss, skewers, spare needles or a stretch of contrasting yarn to hold these stitches. Heck, I have used dental floss at times, albeit not the minty ones.
So why do I feel better when I use these tools, rather than their substitutes? Maybe because of the convenience factor – the tools were designed and made for that job, so of course they are very efficient and time saving. They have gone through years of evolution, and have been adapted to whatever the current demand is. And more than anything, I believe that they spark joy a la Marie Kondo. I would rather see my work in progress safe in the locking mechanism of a beautiful stitch holder, than safe with a grubby floss or not so safe with skewers and spare needles. In this battle of form vs function, I would choose form and function both.
How does one use these stitch holders? Well it depends on what purpose it is being used for.
The first one is when I was transferring the stitches from the back of the apron vest to a holder, so that I can reuse the knitting needles for the front portion.
The second photograph talks about how I transferred the stitches to a holder and set them aside, while I go ahead and complete the right sleeve. Once I got done with the right sleeve, I transferred them to a second holder, picked up the stitches from the first holder and knitted the left sleeve.
There are some other projects that have been abandoned, but I can’t bring myself to rip them out. But I need those needles! So guess who’s hard at work? Yep, a stitch holder. Its holding those live stitches, waiting for the day for they are resurrected.
What do you think? Are there any single-purpose tools that you may think are superfluous, but you feel extremely confident because of them being in use? Let’s talk!