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Giveaway: Knitting Never Felt Better

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knitting never felt better giveaway

This one goes to Chrystie!

In more cleaning out my office giveaways, I present this classic from Nicky Epstein: Knitting Never Felt Better.

This book from 2007 is a lot of fun and covers a lot of knit and felt projects, including shibori (using objects to keep parts of the knit article from felting), felting flowers, making slippers, bags, home decor items and more (you can see some of the projects on Ravelry at the link above, or check out a preview at the publisher’s website).

And like many of Nicky’s books, it includes many example swatches showing how different patterns and techniques look before and after swatching, which is invaluable if you want to design your own felted knitting projects.

If you’d like a chance to win this book, leave a comment on this post before the end of the day Sunday, Jan. 15.

I’d love to know what experience you have with felting your knitting and what sorts of projects you have made. I love making felted bags, and I have a giant felted blanket from my felting book that is one of my favorite felted projects, too.

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

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Comments

  2. It has been some time since I felted a project. I have made two or three bags one of them was a back pack.

  4. Honestly I have never felted anything from my knitting yet. I would love to learn how to do it though.

  5. Nicky Epstein is a great designer. Love her original and creative projects. Have her book on scarf and would like to add this
    to my collection. Always looking for unique pieces to try.

  7. I’ve never felted anything on purpose.
    I have, however, felted a sweater by mistake, before becoming fiber smart..lol
    Love Nicky Epstein…great designer!

  12. I’ve felted two purses- one a darling red, but the other I overfelted. I’m still trying to figure out what to do to amend it. But it was fun!

  14. I have save several patterns for felted bags, but have yet to jump in and try the felting technique.

  17. I’ve felted 2 bags. One adorable little purple bag made from Lopi wool and a big messenger bag with Brown Sheep wool. You mentioned a blanket. Felting one has been on my list of projects for years

  19. I make a lot of felted slippers. I’ve also made several bags and hats. I love to see that end result when I pull items out of my washer. Pretty neat.

  20. I have done needle felting with wool fibers before but have never tried felting with a knitted project. I have seen many beautiful designs so it is something I have wanted to try

  22. I haven’t felted anything yet, but have a cute purse to try. Looks like some great projects

  23. The only felting I have experienced was done accidentally by my son-in-law. He washed socks I knitted for my daughter in hot water and dried them. However, I am interested to try felting on purpose.

  26. I have felted sweaters before for projects but never knitted my own felting project. I’m ready for the challenge!

Have you read?

Book Review: The Wandering Knitter

Knitting and travel are two hobbies that are highly compatible. Travel often involves waiting or time spent on planes, trains, boats, etc., time that can easily be filled by knitting, a portable and productive craft you can do most anywhere (and yes, you can take your knitting on a plane most of the time). 

Krista Ann combines knitting and traveling regularly and ended up visiting every continent in 2022 with her knitting needles along for the ride. The Wandering Knitter explores travel, knitting and learning new knitting skills no matter where you are. 

This isn’t a book for beginners, but if you’ve wanted to learn techniques like brioche, cables, lace, colorwork, mitered squares and short rows, there’s a set of more beginner level patterns followed by ones that are bigger, more detailed or required a little more skill. For example a brioche washcloth is the beginner pattern, while a brioche sweater (with unexplained exceptionally long sleeves) is the stepped up project. A basic mesh lace scarf becomes a more complex lace kerchief. A giant mitered square cowl graduates to a mitered square tote bag. 

Interspersed among the patterns are essays about traveling to different continents and what she saw there. There are also tips for traveling with your knitting and tips for reading charts, but no tutorials for knitting skills (other than a written explanation of how mosaic knitting works). 

Some of the projects would be useful to have when traveling, such as fingerless gloves, a warm headband or a colorwork hat. The travel angle is an interesting hook for a book, but I would have enjoyed essays more about specific incidents or shopping for yarn in a different country or something more than the general essays about things she’s liked and places she’d like to go back to. 

Still, if you’re looking for a skill building book that doesn’t focus on the basics but gives you some wearable, attractive accessories, this book is a good one to check out. Just maybe make the sleeves shorter if you knit the sweater. 

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 20 patterns. Published 2026 by Quarry Books. Suggested retail price $24.99.