How-Tos

One cold windy day in Portland, I realized I was just like the shoemaker's children who had no shoes. Only for me, it was

In defense of swatching as a practical, spiritual, and deeply creative knitting enterprise all its own - with free patterns to get you started.

As a proud resident of a state whose temperatures can stay below freezing for up to half the year, I am very well-versed in

How do you keep that spark alive? You know, the one that drove you to knit in the first place, that still makes your fingers

The day I completed my first sock was a day of liberation. For years I'd been mystified by socks, never daring try them on

Most knitters have been taught from day one not to tie knots in their yarn—or, at a minimum, not to do so mid-row. We've learned to

Blocking is one of those intensely personal things, like swatching and even knitting itself. Some of us have a laissez-faire, spritz-and-stretch attitude that suits

Are you new to socks? Did you finish the How To Knit Socks tutorial and are you ready for your next pair? For new, reluctant,

What on earth could a kitchen scale have to do with knitting? A lot more than you may think. Take a look at your stash.

We've seen them before, those sad and lonely balls of yarn from projects that were abandoned, frogged, and eventually discarded. These yarns often occupy a

This very easy hat pattern from The Knitter's Book of Wool offers a perfect vehicle for sampling different sheep breeds. It requires only 120 yards of

Pattern by Amy Ripton Clara's Note Colorful hand-dyed yarns are fabulous to look at on the skein, but sometimes can be a little tricky to knit.

Fingerless mitts pattern excerpted from The Knitter's Book of Yarn This pattern was designed with gorgeous artisanal yarns in mind. You know, the kinds that

Pattern and introduction by Jane Cochran Like many knitters, I love to knit socks. They're a portable project that’s good to have stashed in a

I'll let you in on a little secret about triangular lace shawls: Most of them follow a very easy basic formula. Once you get

It is extremely easy to make your own circular needles. Your first pair will probably take you much longer to make, but after that,

Finished knitted lace may look brain-staggeringly complex. But lace is essentially composed of two simple elements: increases and decreases. Once you're familiar with those,

Who says you can only knit with yarn? The truth is, if you can wrap it around your needles and make stitches with it,

Every once in a while I stumble across a technique that makes knitting fun again. This time it came from adding bright, beautiful beads

A common misconception is that all yarns are alike, and that substituting one for another is merely a process of swapping needle sizes until

If you're a fan of quick-knitting projects or enjoy unusual textures and color combinations, why not consider stranding your next project? I don't mean

You don't need to wear a mask or use toxic chemicals to experiment with dyeing. Simply pick a few packets of any standard powdered

Step 1: Casting On If possible, cast all your stitches onto one needle. You can put a tip protector or rubber band on the non-working

Remember when your favorite sweater got lost in a load of laundry, and the next time you saw it, it had shrunk into a

The same instinct that tells you not to wash your hair with laundry detergent applies to yarn as well. Such harsh soaps can be