Knitting

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Giveaway: Knitting Know-How

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Knitting know-how giveaway

Congratulations, Heidi!

It seems like people are always interested in general knowledge books about knitting. Whether we are new knitters (or knitting hopefuls!) or people who have a lot of knitting skills but want to know if there’s a better way to do something, I think most knitters have a few reference books on their shelves. The Internet can tell us a lot, but sometimes it’s nice to have a book close when you need to know how to make a short row or turn a cable.

The book Knitting Know-How: Techniques, Lessons and Projects for Every Knitter’s Library by Dorothy T. Ratigan and Judith Durant is a good reference for knitters of a variety of skill levels. It’s a big book, but at 270 pages it isn’t so big that it’s overwhelming. It also includes a lot of large pictures, which make it easy to see what’s going on in tutorials and swatches.

And it covers a wide variety of things a knitter would want to know, from the basics of yarn and needles to reading patterns, forming stitches, casting on, binding off, shaping, working flat and in the round. It also looks at a variety of color knitting, cable and lace techniques, knitting with beads and how to plan and design garments. There are also eight project lessons that help you use your new skills as you read.

I’m giving away a copy of this book this week. If you’d like a chance to win, leave a comment on this post by the end of the day Sunday, June 19. I’d love to know what skill level you consider yourself, whether complete beginner or truly advanced. (I’m pretty advanced, but I still mess up when I try to knit lace, pretty much every time.)

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing, and good luck!

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Comments

  3. I would love that book. I have been wanting to learn since forever, my mom tried to teach me once, but she is left handed and it didn’t went very well.

  4. I have been knitting for 52 years, so I consider myself an advanced knitter, but like you I still do make those mistakes. I think we all do.

  5. I am a complete beginner so this book would help me a great deal! Thanks for the chance.

  7. Would love to win this book, I consider myself somewhere between intermediate and advanced (depending on the technique)

  8. I’m somewhere between a beginner and an intermediate. Your review of the book is great so I’d love to add it to my craft book library. Thanks for another wonderful giveaway.

  10. I consider myself an advanced beginner when it comes to knitting. Would love to add this book to my library of craft books. Good Luck to all

  12. I have the barest of basics. I would love to increase my knitting skills. Y’all are so generous to off up this opportunity! Thanks!

  13. I think I’m an intermediate knitter. I can do certain things but not everything yet!

  16. Awesome book! I think i am a confident beginner, but this book may tip me over to advanced beginner!

  17. I would love to win this book to extend my skills. I am probably someplace between a beginner and intermediate level.

  18. I’m probably an advanced beginner, thanks for the chance to win this awesome book!
    Kim R.

  19. Me gustaría ganar el sorteo del libro, hoy es mi cumpleaños y es un buen regalo para aprender filas cortas y encaje.Soy principiante.Gracias.

  20. I’m a beginner to intermediate crocheter but I’m not a knitter. I have however held a couple of needles before (way before I started crocheting) and I tried making an earwarmer, which wasn’t going anywhere good so I frogged it. This would be a much needed help and boost to pick the needles up again

  21. I would to have this in my knitting library, i consider myself an beginner but with a little bit of knitting knowledge lol

  22. I would really love this book. I’m advanced at lace & cables but feel like I’m barely beyond beginner at garments.

  23. I’ve been knitting for a long time but nothing very elaborate. I love seeing and trying new ideas so would enjoy this book.

  24. I’m totally a beginner, but I know how to make simple cables!! 🙂
    I’d like to know to make lace.
    Thank you for the giveaway.

  26. I consider myself an advanced knitter, but there are always new things to learn!

  29. I am an intermediate knitter. I have 3 WIP/UFO’s. ???? It really brings me joy to see someone wearing what I made for then.

  30. I am a learner and Wish to learn fast with good skills….I want to be the best knittwe
    With awesome practise but it will require time. This book will giveaid to my aim.

  31. I consider myself an intermediate knitter. I’m sure I could learn a lot of good tips from the book.

  32. I’m an intermediate, I guess. My ‘issues’ include not being able to tell what exactly went wrong in a mistake (other than a dropped stitch), usually. I just rip and start over. Thanks for the opportunity.

  34. I am a beginner, I’m still working on my first real project. I have knitted stuff but it was just practice and I unravelled it afterwards.

  36. I think that I am either an advanced beginner or intermediate. There are so many things that I do not know how to do.

  37. I’d say I’m intermediate. I am comfortable with some techniques, but still have challenges with a couple others

  38. I am a newbie,I would love this book to advance my skills! Always looking to become better at my crafts!

  41. I would say I was an intermediate knitter. I will have a go at anything. You can never have too many knitting reference books. New patterns coming out all the time.

  42. I am an intermediate knitter, I do some advanced but it takes a few tries (ripping out stitches)

  43. I’m an intermediate knitter, but sometimes I still mess up with basic stitches or counting and have to rip out several rows… but I always try to notice why or where I failed to be aware next time! (although the reason is usually that I’m not paying enough attention)

  45. This sounds just like the sort of book I need! I’m a beginner these days (did knit a little many many years ago) as can be seen by the square I’ve re-knitted at least three times as there were slipped stitches, holes or raggedy sides ….!! so it sounds as though this book would be wonderfully useful!

Have you read?

Fun Halloween Cowls to Knit

One of the fun things about knitters is that we will use a holiday theme on any kind of project. From Easter bunny socks to Christmas sweaters, there’s no combination of holiday motif and knitwear genre we won’t combine. 

Case in point: Halloween cowls. 

This fun cowl from Sweet Vireo Designs features large carved pumpkins and little cats and skulls. It uses two colors of DK weight yarn and I love the multicolored yarn for the background color on this one. And the braids! So cute. 

Spooky Season by Jocelyn Tunney (also on Ravelry) uses fingering weight yarn in two colors to make a design with crescent moons and eyes. There are two circumferences and two heights available so you can make it a neck hugger or a slightly bigger project if you like. 

Make more moons with the Broom Riding Cowl from Vanessa Ewing Knits. This two color pattern looks extra fun with a multicolored yarn for the colorwork, but you can use a solid as well. It calls for DK weight yarn but there is also a fingering weight version if you have some yarn in your stash you want to use. 

Jinx Made has another fun Halloween cowl, this time covered in skulls. South Philly Skulls uses DK weight yarn and comes in two lengths, and there’s also a matching hat pattern, both of which can be found on Ravelry. 

The Ghost Stories cowl from Melissa Knit Wear is a two-color cowl with ghosts of different sizes on the body. It uses DK weight yarn, and average sized skeins will allow you to get two cowls out of two skeins. It also calls for stitch markers to help you keep your place in the chart. 

Or stitch up a cowl with a giant bat on it. The Nightling Cowl from Jen Immer uses DK weight yarn in two colors and has moons and a large bat on it. This pattern can be found on Ravelry. 

How about spooky trees? The Weirwood Cowl from Andrea Krüß-Anders is inspired by the weirwood trees in the Game of Thrones books, and is worked in two colors of fingering weight yarn. You can find this free pattern on Ravelry. 

If a bandana cowl is more your thing, try Cowloween from Tellybean Knits (on Ravelry). This colorful design is worked from the top down and features pumpkins, ghosts and candy colored stripes, and is worked in a light fingering weight yarn. There are kid and adult sizes available.