Learn to knit

Japanese knitting stitch books are a gold standard of knitting stitch charts. These books are consistent, precise, and innovative. And they are beautiful to look at, with beautifully lit photographs and muted colours of yarn. A Japanese stitch pattern books is a knitter’s equivalent to a candy shop.

You can use knitting stitches on panels, edges, pockets, or all-over to make your own knitting designs. In this blog post, I show you how to create three sweater designs using a little sketching and knitting stitches from the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible.

Most knitting patterns for hats are written for knitting in the round, either using double pointed needles (dpn’s), a short circular needle , or two circular needles.

But sometimes you want to make a hat on straight needles by working back and forth instead of knitting in the round. Maybe you don’t have needles for working in the round. Maybe you want to knit intarsia (which you can’t do in the round). Or maybe you want a break from knitting in the round and want to knit flat.

Good news! It’s easy to knit a hat on straight needles.

A scarf is a great first knitting project. I mean, it’s basically a big rectangle, and a knitted rectangle is where most of start. And a scarf is a practical layering item that you’ll actually use, or that you can gift to someone. In this post, I'll tell you how to knit your own scarf.

Stash Busting. If you're new to yarn, then this term might sound weird to you. (Not to be confused with Stache Busting, where a bunch of guys get together and groom each other for Movember.)

I wrote a little post about lace blocking, and forgot to mention which lace stitch I used for the sample.

Last week I brought up that old conversation stopper: blocking. You know how it is. A group of knitters is chatting amiably, and one suddenly announces, "I never block." And the room goes quiet. Someone else chimes in, "Me neither, unless it's acrylic, then I iron it." You shift nervously in your chair, and then loudly, awkwardly, change the subject.

It's time for The Talk. I know, how awkward. But I want you to be informed so you can make the right decisions in your adult life.