Kookaburra Wins, Hands Down!

Kookburra Wool Wash is the latest product to fall victim to my use and abuse list. I like to try these things myself, without reading all the hype, so I can realistically make up my own mind about the products.

Kookaburra did not disappoint! I really liked the delicate smell, and how soft and fluffy the newly spun yarn was directly out of it’s wash. My hands were soft, and didn’t feel stripped, as if I’d washed with soap. I was concerned a bit with how dirty the water was. Did it remove too much of the good stuff? After hanging and drying my skeins, I went back for an initial “feel”. They were so soft, just begging me to start knitting.

Ok, so I like the stuff, I’ve decided, now to read the “hype”.

I was very very pleasantly surprised to read that this formulation is all plant based, biodegradeable, and natural. I’m a big fan of natural. I love natural. So this means I love Kookaburra right? Right! After reading about the formulations and ingredients of this product, my initial concern was unfounded.

All of the components of Kookaburra Wash are biodegradable. Kookaburra Wash contains no enzymes, phosphates, peroxide, or alkali and is Colorfast and is safe for septic systems. Kookaburra products contain nut oils, lanolin, and Austrailian tea tree oil.

This wonderful poduct is the baby of ABL Development Co, Inc out of Colorado. You can read more here.

http://www.kookaburraco.com/index.php?cid=79

Mmmmmm smells so good, one of these days this here internet will come with smell!

Progress charts: Mossi Cardi…75% done
Helsinki Scarf…. just barely started
Roving Spun for Helsinki…60% done

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.

Have you read?