Resources for Knitters

Techniques, Tutorials, and Tips

On Socks and Feet and Fit

Foot Size Table: An excerpt from my sock book, a full list of US, UK and EUR shoe sizes with both foot length and foot circumferences.

On sock size and fit: what this negative ease business is all about

On picking up gusset stitches and avoiding a hole: It’s entirely possible you’ve been picking up that last stitch in the wrong place

Socks Without Ears: a detailed, illustrated tutorial on solutions for better top-down sock toes. How to improve a Graft – or avoid it entirely!

Grafting Genuis: One Cool Trick to make it easer, Another Cool Trick to make your sock toes look better.

Tweaking the Fit of a Short-Row Heel: Because heels named after fish are popular, but they don’t always fit.

Flap and Gusset Heels: Why, and How to Do One Top Down

A Toe-Up Flap and Gusset Heel: Yes, you can go the other way! A recipe.

Making Socks That Last: On reinforcements – things you can do while knitting, and things you can do after the fact.

On Different Needle Configurations For Sock Knitting: DPNs, Magic Loop, Two Circulars, Flexible DPNs, tiny circulars, etc., etc. So many options, how to make them work! 

DK Weight Socks: A recipe and some guidelines for working socks at other gauges. 

Tidy Afterthought Heels

Getting the Foot Length & Heel Placement Right for an Afterthought Heel

Other Topics

Colourwork

Intarsia: The other type of colourwork.
Stripes in the round: an explainer and tutorial for jogless jogs and helical striping
Keeping your Stranded Colourwork Loose: The Loose Moose

Tips for Working from Colourwork Charts

Colour Dominance: What is is, why it happens, what to do about it: demystifying it!

Working Colourwork One-Handed: for those who are just dipping their toes into colourwork, aren’t great with the other hand, or want to investigate alternate ways of working for better fabrics

Finishing Skills
On Moths: Be Afraid. How to identify that you have them, and what to do about it. How to make sure that you don’t get them again.
Chock-A-Block: Tips for Blocking – dispelling some myths, and a handy downloadable chart!
Grafting Genuis: Part one! One Cool Trick to make it easer, Another Cool Trick to make your sock toes look better.
Grafting Genuis: Part two! How to use what you learned in Part One to graft other fabrics, like garter stitch and reverse stockinette stitch.
Socks Without Ears: a detailed, illustrated tutorial on solutions for better top-down sock toes. How to improve a Graft – or avoid it entirely!
A quick refresher on pick-up-and knit
A clever way to seam: working mattress stitch on the inside!
Tie or Die: On joining yarn. Including the appropriate use of knots.
Weaving in Ends: solutions ranging from the quick-and-dirty to the still-not-terribly-time-consuming-and-entirely-passable.
The Pick Up Artist: a detailed, illustrated tutorial on this important task! Special focus on picking up stitches along curvy necklines!
On Making Buttonholes: a detailed, illustrated tutorial. And yes, (yo, k2tog) is an excellent and simple solution. And yes, I clarify which side they’re supposed to go on.
On Sewing on Buttons: a detailed, illustrated tutorial, featuring my lousy hand-sewing.
On Zippers In Knits: to help with The Wild One Motorcycle jacket pattern specifically, and zippers in knits generally
Why Try Seamed? A calm and rational presentation of the benefits of seamed garments, and why they’re worth doing. It’s not about never doing seamless, it’s about understanding when the two different types work best.
Weaving in the Ends at the Start and End of Rounds: Because it’s hard to make them look tidy!
Casting on and Binding Off
Cast-on Casting Call: Which to use, when. Not a complete list, but good for most projects!
Bind Off Loosely: How loose is loose?
Stretchy bind-offs: some hints and tips with videos and stills.
Skill-builders: Two great cast-on methods. Bonus tips include a clever twist on the backwards loop cast-on, and a so-easy-it-almost-feels-like-cheating increase.
The Crochet Cast-on Method: Useful as both a standard and a provisional cast on!
Tubular Cast on and Bind Off: Not as difficult as you might have feared! Videos and stills.
The Garter Tab: The why and the how.
Working in the Round
Working Tiny Rounds: Tips & Tricks for Knitted Amigurumi and Toys! Videos and stills.
On Ladders and How to Fix Them: A few solutions for a common problem when working in the round.
On Joining the Round: including how to fix a twisted round!
Brioche
Fixing Brioche Mistakes: Picking up a dropped or missing yarnover wrap
Tips for Working Brioche in The Round, and One-Colour Brioche
Fixing Mistakes
Skill-builders: Fixing Mistakes Part 2 – garter stitch
Skill-builders: Fixing Mistakes Part 1 – stockinette stitch (and reverse stockinette stitch, even!)
Increasing and Decreasing
Skill-builders: Decreases. Taking k2tog and running with it!
Skill-builders: Increases – on the “make 1” family of increases, and ways to remember which is which (or not need to!)

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Faux Amis: on look-alike stitch pattens, for the Sweet Georgia Make and Hue blog.

Alterations and Garment Fit and All That Goodness
Assessing the Degree of Difficulty for Alterations – a key piece of the puzzle when choosing a garment pattern
Alterations Part 2: Adjusting sleeve fit

Alterations Part 1: Adjusting for a different row gauge

Evenly Across: Dealing with the number puzzle… Part 1, Part 2.
Short Rows
Short Rows part 1: A high-level explainer. Short Rows part 2: Making substitutions
Cables
Skill builders: Cables.
Cabling without a Cable Needle: Quick, fun and impressive at knit-night!
Other Goodness
Skill builders: Slipping stitches

Tips and Troubleshooting for Cables: How to count rows, how to read the instructions, tidying up sloppy stitches; a mnemonic

Entrelac Explainer!
Skill builders: Customizing a plain hat.

Skill builders: On the key fabrics: yes, stockinette stitch will always roll, why moss and seed stitches get confused, and what it means when it says “knit the knits and purls the purls”

On Charts and Charting Conventions: Answering the age-old question ‘Whaddya mean the symbols change meaning?’
Yarnover: All the variations – left-hand, right-hand, between knits, between purls, after knit before purl, after purl, before knit – and how to make them even and tidy.
Fully-Fashioned Shaping: On Decreasing: Different types of decreases and where to put them.
Fully-Fashioned Shaping: On Increasing: Different types of increases and where to put them.
On Counting Rows and Rounds: The definitive answer on whether to count the cast on row & loops on the needle; did you know there’s a purlwise Long Tail cast on?
Slipping Stitches: the Whys and Wherefores. When To, and When Absolutely Not To

On Mitten and Glove Gussets: an excerpt from the new book

Chart Reading: a basic tutorial, including details on how to handle repeats.

On Repeats in Patterns: * and () and [], oh my!

On SSK: Three little words that make me tense…

WiseKnit: Knitty Techniques Video Column

Stretchy bind-offs: some hints and tips with videos and stills.

Working Tiny Rounds: Tips & Tricks for Knitted Amigurumi and Toys! Videos and stills.

Provisional Cast Ons: 3 and a half methods. How to do them, and how to undo them!

On Hat Knitting: Getting the right size, choosing the right yarn.

On Yarn Substitution: How to use all the info in the pattern to identify a good yarn choice.

On Garment Knitting: Measurements, Blocking, Washing, Moth Prevention, Toast Eating. Really. It’s all about making sure that your garment turns out to be the size you want, and what it really mean when it says “work even until piece measures 10 inches”.

All About I-cord: Plain, cast-on, bind-off, edgings, and a clever cheat for a tidy shawl edge. 

All About Cables

Working with Non-Wool Yarns

The Long Tail Cast On: How to make it loose, ribbed, and two-color versions.

Short Rows: Wrap & Turn, Yarnover, German and Japanese Methods

Grafting: For Stockinette, Reverse Stockinette and Garter

On Colorwork: Stranded/Fair Isle, Intarsia, etc.: A gentle intro and explainer for the two key methods of working with two colours.

On Slipping Stitches: When to slip knitwise, when to slip purlwise, what on earth wyib and wyif means; slipped stitch color patterns.

On Seamless Garment Knitting: considerations, how to choose the right size, reinforcements

Working in the Round: Working on magic loop, two circulars and DPNs; a stress-free way to join in the round; how to fix a twisted round

Tips & Tricks for Lace Knitting: An overview of how lace knitting works, using a lifeline to prevent mistakes, blocking

Working with Bulky Yarns: the crochet cast on, keeping your bind off relaxed, working with ridiculously thick yarns without making your hands hurt

A free Craftsy class: the Fall 2016 KAL. 

A terrific introduction to working cables, lace and colorwork.