Lately I have been seeing a lot of interest in circular knitting machines and knitting patterns to use with the Addi and Sentro circular knitting machines. Whether you have one of these machines or are just thinking about getting one, I thought it might be useful to pull together some circular knitting machine FAQs. Please add your questions in the comments and I’ll keep building on the post as we go. What is a circular knitting machine? Circular knitting machines are circular, plastic machines with a set of pegs around the inside of the circle. The machine has a yarn feeder and tension guide ..read more

When it comes to knit garments, I think pants are probably the most overlooked project out there. Pants are a big project, much bigger than a sweater, and they will take a long time to knit. But knit pants are also super comfortable, and they can be made exactly to the fit you want. Add more ease in the legs, make them longer or shorter, whatever you want! I’ve knit a pair of leggings in sock yarn, and I love them, but the Sierra Pants by Safiyyah Talley have a looser fit in the leg that would also be nice for lounge pants. These are worked from the top down with a folded over elastic waistban ..read more

I don’t have a lot of experience with spinning yarn, and I don’t really think you could learn it from a book. There are so many variables and the learning curve is so much lower if someone who knows what they’re doing can watch you and guide you along the way (especially when it comes to spinning with a wheel). So I wouldn’t say that you can learn to spin form Pam Austin’s book Hand Spinning: Essential Technical and Creative Skills, but looking through and reading this book might inspire you to want to try. It covers the basics of learning to spin with a drop spindle (which you maybe could fig ..read more

If you’re feeling impatient for real flowers to bloom, you can always knit your own! This collection of flower knitting patterns will bring color into your home that never fades. They make great gifts or decorations for gift bags, too. This sweet little daisy from Linda Dawkins is easy to knit in DK weight yarn, and you could make them in lots of different colors to be different kinds of flowers if you want. The pattern is on Ravelry, and she also has an ebook of knit flowers if you’re looking for a bunch of different designs. Daffodils are so cheerful, and this pattern from Love Fibres on Ets ..read more

One of my favorite basic colorwork patterns is houndstooth, and I’m honestly a little shocked I’ve never done a houndstooth knitting pattern roundup before. Now’s the time, thanks to my coming across the Rakish Shawl from The Lamb & Kid Designs recently. This pattern is free on Ravelry and it looks so cozy. It’s worked in worsted weight yarn and uses mosaic/slip stitch to make the design. Speaking of cozy, the Hennessey Houndstooth Cardigan from Knit One Purl One Design looks like the kind of sweater I would want to wear all fall long. This one uses DK weight yarn and stranded knitting to ..read more

Last month I told you a bit about the continuing saga of me knitting an argyle vest, which has given me lots of opportunities for writing tutorials about different skills that were used in making it. That particular post was about duplicate stitch, which is essential for making the diagonal lines that are what makes it look like argyle. It also gave me a chance to write about picking up stitches, because it had just about every scenario in which you might need to pick up stitches in one place. The vest has a deep scoop neck, so there were places to pick up stitches that were straight horizonta ..read more

A basic triangle shawl is a great project to have in your arsenal. If you’ve never done shaping before, you’ll get a lot of practice with increases (in this case, yarn overs). And once you understand how knitting a triangle works, it’s a basic shape and project that you can make over and over again in different ways.  This basic triangle shawl pattern from Mirella Moments is worked from the bottom up in DK or light worsted yarn. It has garter stitch borders and the body is worked in stockinette. Though it’s knit flat, you’ll want a circular knitting needle for ease of holding all those s ..read more

Helen Kennedy says her shawl pattern, Always Be Brave, came about because people shopping at a local yarn fair were drawn to heavily multicolored yarns but didn’t know what to do with them. She designed the shawl to use a wild multicolor yarn along with a high contrast solid color yarn, using a slip stitch pattern and reversing the colors midway through to make a different effect in the fabric. The original version of Always Be Brave was made with sport weight yarn and was published in Knitty for Deep Fall 2019. Helen has reworked the pattern and released a new version using fingering weight/s ..read more

If you’re on Instagram and you knit, you’ve probably seen some of Summer Lee‘s colorful and fun socks. As you might imagine, when she wrote a book all about sock knitting, it, too, was colorful and fun. The Sock Project includes 25 patterns and tons of step by step instructions to help new sock knitters feel comfortable with the craft or to give those with some sock knitting experience some new techniques to try. It opens with a discussion of materials and fit. All of the patterns in the book have four adult sizes, as well as sizes for toddlers and bigger kids, so you’ll be sure to get a good ..read more

I visit Ravelry pretty often to see what new knitting patterns are being released, and a few times when I’ve visited recently it has shown me Annette Corsino‘s Emotional Support Chicken knitting pattern. It’s a cute pattern worked in garter stitch with short rows to give it shape, and it uses worsted weight yarn in a few colors to add all the details. The project has been made more than 1,000 times, with people giving theirs fun names like Henriett, Iris Henfel and Henny Styles (the original was named Lindsay LoHEN). The pattern is a modification of one designed by Bev Galaskas and I think eve ..read more