If you’re subscribed to our newsletter or frequent our forum, The Knitalong Hub, you’ll know that we’re working really hard behind the scenes preparing for the launch of our newest project. We cannot wait to tell you all about in a very short time. But while we wait, I thought it might be nice to have a peek into our two flagship books, A Year of Techniques and Boost Your Knitting. I call them books, but really they’re more than that … they’re self-contained programmes carefully designed to help you sharpen your knitting skills. So while there’s beautiful patterns by talented designers, to be sure, there are also in-depth, stepwise photo tutorials + video tutorials that will teach you new techniques. Our mission is to empower knitters to unlock their full knitting potential, and these books are really at the heart of that endeavour.
The idea behind A Year of Techniques and Boost Your Knitting is the same — twelve achievable projects, from twelve designers, featuring twelve techniques giving you twelve chances to dip your needles into something new. With projects designed to be achievable in a month or less (for the most part), each book gives you an opportunity to embark on a year of knitting-related learning, though, of course, many choose to dip in and out of the programme. A Year of Techniques kicked off in March 2017 and Boost Your Knitting in March 2019, and since then, there’s been nearly 3,000 projects cast on from the books — and that’s just the ones we know about from people creating projects on Ravelry!
Each book features a real mix of techniques. There are what I tend to think of as blockbuster techniques — types of knitting you might never have tried before, like helical stripes or intarsia from A Year of Techniques, featured in the Hyacinthus Armwarmers and the Brambling Shawl:
Jen’s Hyacinthus Armwarmers. Photo © Jesse Wild.
The Brambling Shawl by Bristol Ivy. Photo © Jesse Wild.
… Or brioche or double-knitting from Boost Your Knitting:
The Flying Leaves Scarf by Carol Feller. Photo © Jesse Wild.
Jen’s Peaks and Troughs Hat. Photo © Jesse Wild.
Then there are the projects and tutorials that focus on techniques that you might absorb and use every day in your knitting. Things like learning a new cast on or how to turn a heel or gaining confidence in reading cable charts or fixing mistakes in your lace knitting.
The Antirrhinum Socks by Rachel Coopey from A Year Of Techniques. The accompanying tutorial takes you step by step through the process of turning a heel. Photo © Jesse Wild.
Joji Locatelli’s Sterlyn Shawl from Boost Your Knitting is not only beautiful, but gives you a chance to practice fixing mistakes in your lace — a skill that will stay with you well beyond the project! Photo © Jesse Wild.
Then there’s a third category of techniques: ones that you might only want or need to use only occasionally, but when you do, you’ll be awfully glad you have a reference that shows you how to do them. I’m thinking of things like the pinhole cast on — a really handy way to start a bit of circular knitting. Or garter stitch grafting. Or decorative patterns like tuck stitches or dip stitches. All things that I, thanks to AYOT and BYK, in theory know how to do, but don’t do regularly enough for them to be part of my knitting muscle memory. Which is why I find myself frequently referring to my A-C Knitwear library!
Alex the Mouse by Ella Austin. Photo © Jesse Wild.
Even though I’ve not yet gotten around (yet!) to knitting Alex the Mouse, I have used the pinhole cast on tutorial from A Year of Techniques so many times. I’ve used the video: Pinhole Cast On (YouTube link), but I also really appreciate having the book’s photo tutorial to refer to … some techniques I understand better when I can examine photos and text!
Similarly I learned a lot when knitting Nancy Marchant’s Bramen Cowl, but would definitely need a refresher before I tried another tuck stitch project!
A handshot from the stepwise tuck stitch tutorial from Boost Your Knitting. Photo © Jesse Wild.
Our motto is there’s always something new to learn …. so whether you’re looking to try something completely new — perhaps your first steek? — or hoping to add some new metaphorical tools to your knitting tool belt — like how to join in your yarns to minimise finishing — our Big Books have you covered. And if you’d like to give one a try, at time of writing, they’re each on sale. You can grab print copies at 25% off or, if you prefer, ebooks only at 40% off.
Try your hand at steeking with the Oorik Tank Top by Mary Jane Mucklestone from A Year of Techniques. © Jesse Wild.
A peek into my well-thumbed copy of Boost Your Knitting — the tutorials on joining in yarns have revolutionised my knitting!
And if you’d like to be the first to hear about our new Big Book project, do make sure you’re signed up to our newsletter! Newsletter subscribers always get first dibs + exclusive discounts … we aim to email about twice a month (though around a big launch, you might get an extra email or two!).