It seems hardly a week goes by at the moment without a news item on the uptick in interest in crafts like knitting. Over the last 18 months, so many people have found or returned to knitting … what a wonderful thing! We often get asked to suggest books suited to beginners, and today we’ve collected those recommendations together. So if you are learning to knit and looking for help, or have a loved one who is, this post is for you!
Read moreThe Best Gifts for Knitters
Somehow, it’s mid-November! Where I am, twinkle lights have started appearing in the town square and festive music is playing in the shops. I don’t know about you, but usually, the holiday season sneaks up on me a bit. This year though, I’m determined to make my preparations early, so I can avoid any Covid-Brexit-posting stress and enjoy a relaxed lead up to the holidays. To help you with your own holiday prep, we’ve put together a special “Gifts for Knitters” section of the online shop.
Read moreA Look at Our Books: A Year of Techniques + Boost Your Knitting
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.
Read moreBaby Knits to Stretch Your Knitting Skills
My finished Sooper Sweater, knit in shades Strawberry and Sky of Something to Knit With 4ply.
I recently finished the Sooper Sweater from Boost Your Knitting which got me thinking about how useful baby knits are for learning and perfecting new techniques. Like (grown up) accessory patterns, they are small enough to be achievable quickly — a perfect canvas on which to try new skills. Today, I’m taking a look at other baby knits that are great for learning new skills.
Read moreMore Patterns for Experimenting with Colour
The Skystone Armwarmers, designed by Felicity (Felix) Ford as August’s featured Boost Your Knitting pattern, are the perfect canvas for practicing this month’s technique, choosing colours for stranded colourwork. The pattern calls for three background and five foreground shades of Jamieson & Smith 2ply Jumperweight, giving you lots of room to capture the subtleties of your inspiration source — be it a bouquet of flowers, a mossy headstone, or a towering mountain! But if you’re casting around for more patterns to bring your newfound confidence in choosing colours too, here are a few ideas!
Read moreThe final three: afterthoughts, colour dominance, and nail-biting steeks
The final three A Year of Techniques projects for winter were all about demystifying techniques that some knitters find particularly intimidating.
Read moreWood Warblers among the Ruschias and a Wag(tail)-ing Pup
The Autumn A Year of Techniques patterns were a great excuse to spruce up cold weather wardrobes with fun accessories while also learning some fab skills. Let’s have a look at some of the brilliant projects AYOT knitters whipped up!
Read moreHeel flap, flapper hat and a flapping reflector
One of the great pleasures in what we do is the location photoshoot. The photos for the summer projects from A Year of Techniques were taken in Bath, in the kitchen of my brother’s house and on the banks of the River Avon.
Have a look back over the summer techniques and patterns.
Read moreHow helices, intarsia and a mouse enthralled knitters across the world
Back in 2017 we launched our first book, A Year of Techniques (AYoT), and we really had no idea at all whether anyone apart from us would think it was a good idea. Happily, lots of you agreed with us, and what followed was a year of glorious sharing of knowledge and skills, with twelve knitalongs and hundreds of projects completed. We were totally gobsmacked at how many of you decided to work through the entire book, completing everything, and really honoured that you would choose to dedicate so much valuable knitting time to A Year of Techniques. Lots of people popped in and out and worked on the months that inspired them most, and that was amazing too. The projects were always designed to be self-sufficient, so whether you joined us for one or two, or all twelve – thank you all!
Read moreOorik Tank Top KAL
Have you chosen your pattern? Found some yarn? Swatched? It must be time to kick off the final Year of Techniques knitalong, and this is a great one! I know SO many knitters who are fabulously accomplished, and yet haven't tried cutting a steek in their knitting. There's a fundamental feeling that taking your scissors to something you've spent so long knitting must be a bad idea, but honestly, with the right yarn (and this is KEY), it's a piece of cake.
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