Re-sharing this tip I shared last year, in case it can help alleviate some holiday gift-knitting stress for anyone else!

My solution to avoiding unappreciated hand knits, worries about fit, tendinitis-inducing deadlines, and general “knitworthiness” stress: I gift a cute swatch that my loved ones can redeem for a custom hand-knit piece we design together. They get a one-of-a-kind custom knit that fits perfectly, we both get quality time learning their preferences together, and they still have a cute little physical token to unwrap on Christmas day. I think having something tangible makes it feel like more "real" (also this year I used a silk i-cord with a pearl charm as the wrapping, which can actually be worn as a cute charm necklace!)

FAQs from when I shared this last year:

- "what do they do with the swatch?" - the swatch is basically like a gift card for the finished knit. So the recipient is welcome to give it back to me when they want to begin their custom design project, keep it and use it as a coaster / art / clothing patch, or throw it in the trash. Up to them!

- "could you do this with other crafts?" - yes def!! A little clay coin for a custom ceramic piece, a felted token, a hand-drawn ticket, a miniature sewn item, whatever you can think of probably has some "swatch" equivalent!

- "what if the person is too self-conscious to redeem it" - idk, I emphasize that this is a joy for me too because I get to spend time doing my hobby with a person I love so I'm really excited to work on it with them. I guess use your best judgment on who you give it to!

- "what if the person doesn't want a knit item" - personally I've only given this to people who have already asked me for a knit piece, so they've been psyched to get to design their custom one! If you give it to someone who didn't end up wanting it, then I guess at least you've saved yourself the time and heartache of gifting a finished knit they wouldn't want either.. If the person isn't very imaginative or knowledgeable about gifts, you can also totally give them some prompts or like a menu of different types of things you might offer.

- "does the swatch have to be in the yarn or stitch pattern of the finished object" - no not at all! You can do that if you already have a yarn in mind so they can feel the fabric, but personally I like to give a fun/cute colorwork, lace, or cable swatch. You could also make a mini version of the object you intend to give if you already know (a mini sock or sweater for instance)

Would you ever give a swatch??

Hi! Sorry if this is the wrong flare.

I'm still pretty new to knitting and I wanted some advice on my scarf :)

I don't think I'm twisting anything and the tension looks good...?

My edges are folding in but thinking blocking will help with that in the end.

I'm self taught, YouTube mainly. I have a friend that gives me advice thru texting but idk if she's just hyping me up or not lol. She's been knitting for a few years now.

Thanks!

Edit: https://sirdar.com//en/products/sirdar-jewelspun-with-wool-chunky-200g Shade: Mother of Pearl

Here is the yarn!! Thanks for all the kind words y'all :)

Edit 2: I think I'll be sewing the scarf in half to stop the curling. It's a wool blend so I'll still try blocking first (also practice doing it because I've never blocked before!)

Why do we need to buy a special purse to hold our fiber projects? * It is expensive (Etsy lists them as $40-100+ apiece) * It is high consumerism, especially one for each of your 5+ WIPs * Most are mass-produced just like fast fashion, which is destroying our planet

I understand wanting one bag that you make yourself, or buy a handmade one at a local market. But if we're going to beat consumerism we have to remember "reduce, reuse, repair, recycle".

For your 10+ other WIPs, might I suggest one of the following?

• Cotton tote bags (I cut mine in half and added zippers to make perfect knitting pouches. I handsewed 4 in one evening!)
• Old bags (purses, laptop bags, beach bags, lunch coolers, drawstring bags)
• Sweaters that have felted
• Burlap bags (coffee, rice, feed)
• Jeans

So many of you would benefit from making life lines habitual. I set them every repeat on patterned work and every 10-20 rows on basics.

My mind wandered and I lost count? Each one is row 1 or a multiple of 10 or 20.

I made a weird mistake or dropped a stitch that's in a cable or lace bit? No big deal, I don't have to overthink or drop too far back.

I use unwaxed dental floss bc it's cheap and easy to fit in the little hole in my interchangeable circulars. Carry to the end of the round (pic 1 is in the round) or row (pic 2 is knit flat). Pull it when you're done and if you wind it, you can reuse it for a long time.

Edit: pic 1 is https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sanibel-2

I'm sure people do this all the time, but I just remembered that binding off with a crochet hook is an option (I'm doing Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off). I was getting so frustrated because stitches kept slipping off my needles, and then I was like "If only there was a tool that had something to grab the yarn with at the end! Wait, I own one of those." It feels blasphemous, but it works.

Hey all, I'm getting started in this hobby, and I'm curious about any tips and tricks for keeping my place when knitting. I've found a few patterns that I printed up from PDFs, but I'm struggling with figuring out how to keep my place while knitting it, in terms of what row I'm on.

What all do you guys use for this? I've started with just trying to use a highlighter when I finish a row, but that's become extremely cumbersome, especially because I'm not very good with the needles and my coordination yet.

Are you using anything like a magnet board or some kind of app, or some other way of solving this problem? If so, how well does it work for you? I see that there are some apps available, but the reviews seem mixed.

We rarely get snow here in North Alabama, but we got 5 inches of soft fluffy powder today! Taking advantage of the opportunity to snow wash! My knits smells so fresh and wooly now.

If you're unfamiliar with snow washing, let me explain it to you: lay your knits on fresh, clean snow. Lightly cover with snow and gently rub it into the wool. The ice crystals act as micro scrubbers and get the funkiness out of the wool fibers. Flip the garment over and repeat. Let the sweaters lay in the snow for 15-20 minutes as the cold really helps kill the stink that may have built up. Gently shake the sweaters out, and lay flat to dry! Now you have freshly washed sweaters that will smell clean and wooly without having to do a full wet wash! They dry so much faster.

I’ve been knitting for 5 years or so and I’ve had this set since almost the beginning. Sometimes I notice that the needles get “grippier” and I do not like that. I clean them up with my t-shirt usually and they go back to normal (most of the time).

I’m guessing that oils in my hand, or not washing my hands before I pick up the needles are to blame here. If not, what could it be?

My question: do you have a way to clean them and make them smooth? Or you just clean with a cloth (or your t-shirt lol)? Today I cleaned them with a bit of hand alcohol and I don’t think it helped.

Did a mid-project block to understand how the fabric will stretch and flow (100% hand-dyed alpaca) + to figure out if it’ll really look like doodoo because I can’t knit loose OR if it truly will block out.

The before/after as I continued knitting is kind of stark; thought I’d share given all the posts on here about what will and will not block out 😊

Looking for advice on how to progress my knitting… I’ve been knitting exclusively for stress relief for just over 15 years but have kept it very very simple, too simple. Because stress relief. We’re talking garter stitches and the odd rib or seed stitch scarves and baby “blankets” almost entirely.

The most complex thing I’ve ever knitted is a fat stack of these 14 point dish cloths. But I hate sewing ends together, can be rather shite at counting stitches (AuDHD) and don’t think I’m super good at it understanding the anatomy of stitches enough to sew ends together.

I’ve also tried cable knitting but kept twisting my stitches and got frustrated with how tight my stitches felt (not ordinary an issue anymore).

I am now beyond ready to get proper into it and want to start knitting actual things, like a cardigan or even a pixie hat. Some socks or a stuffed bunny would be nice… but I am paralysed with both indecision and a lack of confidence.

I’m a fairly clever person, but have always imagined someone will one day just sit down and show me how to do this stuff, but it ain’t happening.

Are there any knitting bibles for someone like me? Tutorials you swear by? Any other resources?

Edit: I knit English (Throwing) style and use the Norwegian style (long tail) cast on method.

For me, I wish someone had told me how important fiber choice is for what you’re making. Like, they’re not interchangeable. (For example) your socks can’t be 100% cotton and you expect them to fit snug. But it’s perfect for dish/bath towels.

EDIT: I didn’t expect anyone to desire the pattern/stitch. It is (I think) garter slip stitch and the pattern is Modern Wash Cloths** **by Emily Bolduan

I don’t know if others do this but I came up with this method for carrying my yarns when knitting on the go (particularly for multiple colours).

I wind my yarns so they’re centre-feed then I cut little holes in the bottom of an IKEA (other brands are available) sandwich bag.

This way I can just chuck my yarns in whatever bag I’m carrying, they don’t get tangled up at all, they don’t get dirty, and I can knit without removing them from the bag!

I thought I’d share because until I came up with this method I kept getting my wool all tangled when I took it out and about/on flights or whatever so this has been a real game changer for me!

Seriously- look at this neat K1P1 ribbing! Look at it!! And pretty on both sides. Patty Lyons is a freakin’ genius 💚💚💚

As ever, I’m on a mission to find more ways to prevent stocking stitch from curling without adding a distinct edge (because sometimes an obvious border of garter/rib stitch would just look naff). To this end, I present a single row of crocheted knit stitches…that’s it. One row of single crochets worked into the ‘V’ of each bound-off knit stitch on a slightly smaller hook (I used a 3.5mm hook and 4mm needles for the knitting). It isn’t completely invisible; it’s slightly thicker and you can see that there’s an edge there, but it’s tolerably subtle and super quick and easy! Happy days ☺️

Yarn is WYS Elements in 1102 Cool Aloe; the pattern is my own

Hello fellow knitters,

I wanted to share a modification I made to my Chiaogoo needle case to allow me to more easily store and access my knitting cables. I saw someone on TikTok mention using an A6 binder with a business card insert to organize his cables, and while I loved the idea I didn’t want to carry another thing with me. So I used light bulb safety pins to act as the clips to hold the inserts in place. Make sure to catch the lining fabric only so you don’t see the pins on the outside. I searched for A6 zippered pocket inserts on Amazon to find the first insert type and A6 double pockets for the second. The case still zips beautifully and while this mod does add extra thickness to the case it’s not very noticeable.

Enjoy!

Last year, I decided to teach myself how to knit. The idea was to use up yarn I'd gotten as gifts, make a bunch of 6" squares, and in the process, learn every technique I possibly could.
This post is about German short rows.

I read the above-linked tutorial, and the thing I noticed, despite short rows being a technique for adding curves and shapes, was that the demonstration piece was flat(ish).
"Oh," I thought to myself, "how curvy can we make our short rows and still have a flat 6" square?"
Using a nice gradient yarn (sorry, I do not have the yarn information handy! It was somewhere around sport-DK weight, wool blend), I tried it out.

As you can see in example 1 (and as is made more evident by the gradient), you can indeed make some very complex tiger-stripe patterns with short rows.

"But wait," I thought to myself, as I admired my work, "we have some very short short rows in this square. What's the shortest short row one can do? And further, can we use this technique to convert gradient yarn to color-block fabric, by just turning our work back and forth a lot?"

The answers are:
- No, you cannot neatly do this kind of bastardry in stockinette stitch (see examples 2 and 3). You get all kinds of nasty lumpy loops and holes in your fabric.
- You can hide your sins using a stitch that's already bumpy, like seed stitch.

Please review example 4. I was not militant about color blocking, because I liked having a bit of a wavy edge in between colors. But, as you can see, I have successfully separated the colors of my yarn into distinct zones.

To drive home the point, compare example 4 to examples 1 and 5, which illustrate more normal gradients using the same yarn.

My example ain't the most beautiful piece of fabric, but it is unusual - I could not find other examples of people doing this. So I thought I'd share. Enjoy!

I accompanied my partner getting surgery at the hospital, and brought knitting to pass the time in the waiting room. It’s a scarf I’ve been slowly working on over 4 years. I started it the month I learned to knit, so all the stitches are twisted. By the time I realized, I was already 50 rows in and I didn’t mind the effect, so I decided to continue the scarf that way. I now have over 4 feet done with all my stitches twisted—accidentally at first, but now on purpose.

So while I’m knitting away in the waiting room, an elderly lady walks up. She compliments me on it, then says “Can I give you some advice?” I say sure, expecting her to say something about my twisted stitches. But instead she says “Don’t do too much.”

Huh? “I knitted for years. Embroidery too. Now I’m here getting carpal tunnel surgery.”

Not what I expected at all, but kind of sweet and kind of funny! Anyway, I’m taking my break now and stretching my wrists.

Just blew my own mind with this knitting hack! I'm so glad I finally found a use for this broken vintage kettle I've refused to get rid of lol.

I just wanted to share the results of a little experiment I tried in case it helps anyone else.

I saw that some people have tried to use purple shampoo to cancel out the yellow undertone that white yarn can have but haven't seen anyone document the whole process, so I decided to give it a try.

I first tried a swatch. I mixed the purple shampoo with slightly cooler than room temp water until it was completely dissolved. I didn't want to accidently create a speckle effect by leaving chunks of shampoo unmixed. I added enough purple shampoo so that the water was a really light Lavender color (picture attached). Then I dunked my swatch and let it soak for 20-40 minutes. When I went to look at it I could see there was a lot less purple in the water, assuming it entered the yarn instead. The yarn still looked pretty yellow though so I repeated this process a couple times until I felt like it was cool enough but not so far that it was turning purple. Really had to trust my instincts here.

I rinsed my swatch and let it dry and I was surprised at how big of a difference it made! I compared it to the original unwashed sweater in a couple different lightings (pictures attached). I decided to follow the same treatment plan for my sweater and took before and after photos of that too, but I feel like it's less noticable because the pictures were taken in two different lightings. When going through the process of washing the sweater, it helped to wet the swatch as well so I could compare wet to wet to get the same shade on the sweater that I got on the swatch.

I think the benefits of using the purple shampoo over using acid dye is that if I totally botched it and ended up with a purple sweater, I knew that the shampoo was semi-permanent. So with enough washing it'd hopefully wash away. Where as if I botched with it the acid dye, my sweater would be permanently purple. The other advantage to the purple shampoo was that it didn't require any heat or special tools. So it's probably more accessible to people that don't have the space or capacity to do actual dying. The downside being that the purple shampoo is semi-permanent. On human hair that usually means it'll last 6-8 weeks, but since I won't be showering with my sweater I'm hoping it'll actually last longer.

Either way, I'm happy with the results and hope this helps somebody else!

The sweater is the Cecil sweater by Moreca Knit made using Knit Picks Swish Worsted in White held together with Lang Lace in 01 Snow.

I used Bumble and Bumble Illuminated Blonde Shampoo. It's a pricer price point for sure. Not sure how a cheaper purple shampoo will fair. I just used what I had on hand.

Just saw this on another popular sub and was surprised how helpful it was when I plugged a few into ravelry ✌️🙏

So… I finished my rabbit and now I’m supposed to go back to my unfinished cardigan. There’s literally one sleeve left. ONE.The funny thing is, I only started the rabbit because I didn’t have enough yarn for the sleeve and needed a small project while waiting for the extra skein to arrive. Well… the yarn arrived.And somehow I now completely lack the emotional strength to care about that cardigan anymore 😂

I genuinely think knitting this bunny may have altered my brain chemistry a little bit. Because after several days of making tiny ears and sewing on a little face, going back to 400 rows of cardigan stockinette suddenly feels spiritually wrong.

Yesterday I actually caught myself thinking: “Well, summer’s almost here anyway… do I even need a wool cardigan before September?”

So now I need outside intervention. What do I do:

* finish the cardigan like a responsible adult

or

* immediately knit this bunny a tiny dress?

PS : The cardigan design is my own creation. Yarn used for the cardigan: Drops Kid Silk + Supercash Loro Piana

The rabbit design is by u/Polushkanunny; yarn: Cascade220