Best Knitting Tips

Friends of Sheep & Shawl, here are some of my favorite websites for knitting tips (and other) tutorials. Please check them out.

WEBSITES for TUTORIALS

VeryPink – Many videos of techniques and project-based tutorials, including her slo-motion ones. Great index provided.

Tin Can Knits – Beginner knitting with free patterns, lace, intarsia, cables, over 70 different topics, and a lengthy glossary (plus a new app they’ve made that you can download). Great patterns.

Modern Daily Knitting (MDK) – Short rows, all things socks, nearly 200 different topics, as well as inspiration, with articles by guest designers. And a new youtube site (and phone app and book) called “Skill Set: Beginning Knitting.”

Churchmouse Yarns – Cast ons, bind offs, Kitchener stitch, etc. Great patterns.

Purl Soho – From basics to decorative stitches and finishing techniques, plus a full yarn shop.

Patty Lyons – Excellent teacher, likes to tell you the how and why, also featured on MDK, and has a book: Patty Lyons’ Knitting Bag of Tricks.

Kate Atherley Excellent teacher, likes to tell you the how and why, also featured on MDK, and has several books.

Nimble Needles – Excellent teacher, and a knitting “nerd” about giving you the how and why and extra tips (such as, what if the technique doesn’t work for you). Some of his tutorials are 30 min long and are worth it! Unfortunately he doesn’t have an index, so use the search, and browse through all of the menu folders on top.

Roxanne Richardson – Excellent teacher, and a knitting “nerd” about giving you the how and why, with short technique tutorials and often in long “vlogs” or video podcasts. You always learn something new.

SPECIFIC TIPS

CASTING ON – My go-to cast on forever has been “cable cast on” (see 1, 2), similar to the knit stitch. But now that I know how to cast on without estimating length for “long-tail cast on” (see 3, my favorite tip!) and can also use a “knit on” version with the thumb method (see 4b) I like to teach that to beginners also.

Slow motion cable cast on for starting a project from VeryPink Knits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWvaU5H3BMs

2. Cable cast on when you need to add stitches in the middle of knitting (such as at the underarrm when picking up stitches for a sleeve, or when picking up stitches for a mitten thumb)
https://www.purlsoho.com/create/cable–cast–on/

3. Long tail cast on method without needing to estimate tail length!!:

www.cocoknits.com/blogs/knit-tutorials/how-to-long-tail-co-without-estimating-tail-length

4. Long tail cast on, as a) sling-shot method and b) thumb method:
https://www.purlsoho.com/create/long–tail–cast–on/

5. Special Moebius Cast on – Cat Bordhi Intro to Moebius Knitting – cast on and first rounds

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVnTda7F2V4

BINDING OFF

Binding off circular knitting with a smooth last stitch.

How to neaten the last bind-off stitch in flat knitting from Patty Lyons:

https://pattylyons.com/2014/01/tuesday-tip-better-bind-off/

COLORWORK

Tips for working in stranded colorwork knitting from Andrea Rangel:

https://www.andrearangel.com/tutorial-blog/7-tips-to-improve-your-colorwork