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Knitting Stuff Giveaway!

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Part of cleaning out my various knitting baskets/boxes/rooms/stashes… involves finding things that I currently have no use for. A lot of these things are new, some slightly used, none will be damaged. They may or may not include books, patterns, needles, yarn, gadgets, whatever I find and throw in the box by Dec. 31, 2008 will be shipped off to a lucky commenter!

So comment away, just be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win!

Slipper/boot update. I felted the first part last night. Something went wrong, part of it felted beautifully, part of it  not. Remembered I changed yarns halfway through the foot, so tonight, I’ll cut that part out, and sew in another piece, knitted and felted from the same yarn as the rest. Also the fuzzy white yarn at the top? Yeah, not so good. So I’ll maybe spin some white yarn to replace that, or maybe not, depends on how ambitious I get. Stay tuned for more updates!

Don’t forget to comment!

Comments

  3. Good luck with the felting! I’ve been wet felting some dreadlocks for a project and the merino wool isn’t cooperating.

    I hope I win the stash – I gave most of mine away in the move out and I’m just barely starting over.

  5. I love knitting.
    I don’t care for felting. I hate seeing all the hard work and beautiful stitches get smooshed.

    I am working on my own stitch design for a baby – car seat afghan. I like reversible stitches – where both sides of the item looks nice.
    Sheryl

  8. Win or lose, I’ve really enjoyed the posts you’ve given us since taking over this little gem on the Internet.

    Felting. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. They should call it animal fleece-based karma experience, don’t you think?

  11. I always find that getting rid of things I no longer use always energizes me, for some reason. Count me in for the giveaway. I’m not a knitter…yet, so if you have anything that could get a beginner started…pick me.

  15. I use so many leftover pieces of yarn as I do picture knitting (intarsia) and make up cushions and wallhangings. At times you really only need a small amount of a colour to finish up a project but have to go out and buy a full ball to do it. I would love to take up your leftovers and they would be put to good use.

  17. A mystery giveaway – involving fiber goodness – what better way to start the new year? Thanks!

  18. I sympathize with the felting not working! I just ripped out (3rd time) a cowl/hood for my mother-im-law! This time it will not be twisted, too tight, or too stiff!
    I’d love to get some of your excess knitting stuff- please enter me.
    Thanks and luck.

  19. yippee! yay for fluff! our family has moved cross country 3 times in the last6 months (lotsa. moving. yep, military.), and i have not been able to find a good yarn shop yet. i would LOVE to get what you don’t need, as i am currently suffering from new yarn withdrawal. thanks for the chance at this!

Have you read?

Book Review: Patty Lyons’ Knitting ER

Patty Lyons is known for teaching knitters the how and the why of knitting skills. Her Knitting Bag of Tricks helped knitters learn how stitches work, why we do things the way we do and what might be better alternatives. 

Patty Lyons’ Knitting ER aims to do the same with a particular focus on fixing mistakes in your knitting both before and after you bind off. She has deliberately made mistakes (and tons of accidental ones as well) to teach herself the best methods for fixing everything from a misplaced increase and a dropped edge stitch to faulty cable turns, messed up lace and brioche knitting disasters, to name a few. 

The book starts with a foundation of understanding how stitches work, how to read them, and the basic methods we use for fixing mistakes in knitting: frogging (ripping out several rows at a time), tinking (removing stitches across a row one stitch at a time) and dropping a stitch or several stitches on purpose to fix a mistake and ladder it back up. 

It talks about the most basic mistakes like accidental yarn overs and slipped stitches and how to fix them, as well as tips for using lifelines or slipping a smaller needle into your project to hold the stitches before you rip. 

Then we move on to more complicated fixes like picking up a dropped edge stitch, fixing a dropped cast on stitch, removing the twist from a circular knitting project (which you can only do after the first round is knit; this is an ER not a miracle station), fixing ladders in a project, tinking when you’re worked increases or decreases (or what to do when you forgot to add them) and fixing dropped stitches at the edges or short rows.

After that is the specialist’s office, which covers fix-it techniques you might not ever need, or only rarely, but it’s nice to have a place you can find the solution if you ever do need it. We’re talking fixing mistakes in a lace pattern, dealing with miscrossed cables (and counting rows in the cable so you when when it’s the right time to work it again), colorwork issues and brioche blunders. Some of these diagrams are sure to give you pause if you’ve never done something like dropping down a single cable for 20 rows and reknitting it, but again, it’s nice to know you can do those things if you need to. 

Even if your project is done it’s not too late for the doctor to do some good. You’ll also learn how to use duplicate stitch to make knit and purl stitches on the surface of a knitting project, which allows you to do things like fake a decrease you forgot, add a purl you missed in a textured stitch pattern, even fix mistakes in lace, stranded knitting, brioche and cables. 

There’s also tips for dealing with too tight cast ons and bind offs and floppy necklines, pieces knit too long or too short and very detailed instructions for grafting in probably any situation you might encounter, as well as approaches to major surgery.

A lot in these later chapters is kind of mind blowing, and if you’re not getting it from drawings, there are QR codes to videos that cover a lot of the problems and allow you to see the fixes in another way. And there are cute illustrations on the theme of knitting ER from Franklin Habit, too!

If you’ve ever wanted to know how to fix mistakes, minor or major, without having to rip out all of your knitting, this is the book you’ll want to have on your shelf for ready reference and reassurance throughout your knitting career. 

About the book: 208 pages, paperback, published 2026 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.