Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Knitter’s Magazine to Cease Publication

by

Knitters magazine ceases publication.A note from Benjamin Levisay, CEO of XRX, Inc., says that the 32-year-old Knitter’s magazine has ceased publication with its Winter 2016 issue.

The magazine published 125 issues, but Levisay says they have stopped producing it because of financial strain based on “the major shift in the marketplace from paid-print to free-digital content [that] required different approaches” to publishing. He says “key members of our publishing team” recently retired, allowing the company to shift focus to its fiber-related events (the company puts on the STITCHES shows), the “occasional” book and a new online experience.

Our newest “pub” will be on-line, free, and cross-craft, extending beyond knit, crochet, and other fiber and fabric crafts—creating a space big enough for all we love to do, all we love to make. We’re cycling back to our beginnings with energy, passion, and, we hope, you.

It’s unfortunate to see traditional publishers close down publications and have to shift focus, but it seems inevitable in the current environment where so much is available for free or individual patterns are so easy to purchase online.

What do you think? Did you subscribe to Knitter’s? I’d love to know your thoughts.

Next Pattern:

Comments

  1. I am not surprised. It was a vibrant and interesting magazine that published lots of innovative, fun, and wearable patterns. However it transformed over time into a one-voice trumpet. I am sad to see the demise of an outlet for designers’ work, but I do note that there hasn’t been something in Knitters I personally wanted to knit in over 8 years.

  2. I canceled my subscription about two years into Rick Mondragon’s mandate. I started buying the odd edition but have never liked it enough to subscribe again. Since then so many good resources have come available that I didn’t miss it. They needed to retool to stay relevant.

  3. I cancelled my subscription about 2 years ago. I started collecting in the 90s, but eventually found their focus changed to more “scrappy” projects. I wouldn’t make enough out of the magazines to justify buying it, and wasn’t getting inspired by the rest of the content.

    I also really enjoyed going to the Stitches events, but since they moved the venues far from me, I haven’t pursued them either.

    It is a shame that such a legacy will be gone, though. They published some great patterns in their day and solid tutorials, which are still relevant today.

  4. The magazine got really uninteresting after Mondragon’s seat at the head of the editorial table. Cancelled my subscription several years ago. Vogue Knitting got better and better and Knitters got worse and worse. Nothing in it that I remotely wanted to knit.

Have you read?

Knitting Stylish Stuff from Your Stash Book Review

Every knitter has a stash. Some of us have a neat little basket. Some of us have a “please don’t open that cupboard too quickly” situation. So a book called Knitting Stylish Stuff from Your Stash already feels like it understands the assignment.

Written by Erica Berntsen, this book is all about turning leftover yarn, odd skeins, and those slightly mysterious yarn purchases we were definitely going to use “one day” into stylish, wearable projects. The book includes 20 scrappy knitting designs and focuses on making the most of what you already have, with a practical zero-waste approach. It’s published by Landauer Publishing and runs to 168 pages.

What I like about this book is that it doesn’t treat leftover yarn as second-best. Instead, it leans into the charm of mixed colours, textures, scraps, and creative combinations. That’s where stash knitting becomes fun rather than just economical. You’re not simply “using things up”; you’re making something with personality.

The projects are aimed at knitters who want fashionable, useful pieces rather than another pile of tiny odds-and-ends projects that never leave the craft room. It’s a good fit if you enjoy relaxed, creative knitting and don’t mind experimenting a little with colour and yarn pairing.

This would suit knitters who:

  • have too much leftover yarn and want realistic project ideas
  • enjoy scrappy, colourful knitting
  • like sustainable craft projects
  • want stylish stash-busting patterns
  • prefer practical makes over fussy novelty projects

I’d say this is especially appealing for knitters who already have a little confidence and enjoy making creative decisions as they go. If you are the sort of person who likes everything to match perfectly, scrappy knitting might make you twitch slightly. But if you love a good “let’s see what happens” project, this book will probably be right up your alley.

For anyone working through this book, it’s worth sorting your yarn stash first by weight, fibre, and colour family. A digital kitchen scale is surprisingly handy for checking how much yarn you actually have left, and a few clear storage tubs or yarn bags make the whole process much less chaotic. The book itself is a natural Amazon book recommendation, and Mary Maxim is a useful place to look if you need extra yarn to pull a stash project together.

Knitting Stylish Stuff from Your Stash is a clever, practical, and refreshingly useful book for knitters who want to stop saving yarn scraps for “someday” and actually turn them into something wearable. It’s creative without being wasteful, stylish without being intimidating, and a lovely reminder that your stash probably already has more potential than you think.