The Key to Understanding How Knitting Works

August 15, 2023 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

I love sharing educational information about knitting with you all. Sometimes I write it, and sometimes I find good posts from other people to share. This time it’s sharing a post that gets really deep into what is happening when you make a stitch and how yarn turns into knitting. This basic understanding of what a stitch is (that it’s just a piece of yarn, and how we manipulate it determines if it makes a knit or a purl) helps you understand that knit and purl are just the front and back of the same stitch.

You’ll want to read the whole post over at 10 Rows a Day, but I think it’s really important for new knitters (and others who might not have learned this when they were newer knitters) to understand what the stitches look like and how they’re made.

We call it “reading” your knitting, and it’s essential for noticing and knowing how to fix mistakes. It also helps you when your knitting pattern says something like “knit the knits and purl the purls as you see them.” If you don’t know what you’re looking for (or what you’re seeing) then you can’t follow this instruction.

Also once you intellectually understand that each stitch is a little piece of yarn, it feels a little less daunting to fixed a dropped stitch or another mistake in your knitting. And honestly, once you have the power and the confidence to fix mistakes — even if you have to rip out your work to do it — that’s when you start to gain the confidence to try new things, whether a new to you technique or a garment you’ve never knit before.

What helped you gain confidence or a deeper understanding of knitting when you were getting started? Have a tip you wish you knew when you were getting started? Let’s talk about it!

[Photo: 10 Rows a Day]

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Christmas Stocking Knitting Patterns for Your Pets

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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