I keep a fairly small library of knitting books, with mostly history and stitch libraries. I find that my local library has most of the other knitting and spinning books I like to look at occasionally. The below are affiliate links (and I may get a small amount if you buy through them), but your local yarn store and library probably have the classics. You can also view all the books in one place here: knitting library.

History Books

I love books that explain the history of textiles, and there are some really beautiful ones out. I don’t have much space to store books, but I hang on to my history ones for the inspiration.

A History of Hand Knitting – as Clara points out in a review on Knitters Review, this book isn’t light reading. Best if you are interested in the history of knitting and aren’t looking for patterns.

Traditional Scandinavian Knitting – good for both a bit of history and traditional scandinavian charts. (If you like colorwork, Traditional Fair Isle Knitting and SELBUVOTTER are also good.)

Everyday Knitting – a great book for the history of what people wore based on what the author found sorting through rag piles. Annemor Sundbø also wrote Setesdal Sweaters and Invisible Threads which also live in my library (it was dangerous working in a yarn store with a great book selection!).   

Poems of Color – 3 or 4 colors per row? Check. Not for the beginning knitter, but the patterns are pretty and the history of Bohus Workshop interesting.

Reference Books

Sweater Design in Plain English – I have an old version of this book from the 1990’s, good if you want to design your own sweaters.

The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns – a great jumping off point with basic patterns for different styles of sweaters. The series also has a book for basic patterns and top down sweaters.

Knitting Languages – now that google translate exists this book is maybe not as necessary, but I hold on to it anyways.

Stitch Dictionaries

Norah Gaughan’s Knitted Cable Sourcebook – My favorite knitting book that has come out in the last few years (though it may be tied with the stitch dictionary below), the cables are fantastic.

Heirloom Knitting – this book may be hard to find (and currently copies are expensive!) but has a great collection of Shetland lace charted patterns. The Art of Shetland Lace also has lace patterns and is more readily available (though much smaller).

Barbara Walker Knitting Treasuries – worth getting at least the first one (there are 4) if you find yourself subbing in your own stitch patterns.

Japanese Stitch Dictionaries

Most of these pattern books are charted and have numbers to the side to indicate the pattern repeats. Somewhere in the book there will be basic illustrations explaining what each symbol means and how it is worked. This Knitty article is helpful.

Clear & Simple Japanese Knitting Symbols Translated – this is one of the less expensive Japanese stitch pattern books. A good book to get to see if you like this style of stitch library.

Treasury of 260 Couture Knitting Pattern –  (aka Knitting Patterns Book 260) currently my favorite stitch dictionary.

Treasury of Couture Patterns 250 – interesting combinations of lace and cables.

Knitting Patterns 500 – as it says, 500 stitch patterns.

Favorite Knitting 200 Pattern – has a fair number of relatively intricate patterns.

1000 Knitting Patterns Book – a bunch of the patterns are actually crochet, but there is a huge variety of options.

Pattern Books

Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac – includes my favorite Pi Shawl, which also makes for a great baby blanket.

Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitting Workshop – has all the classic EZ patterns: Baby Surprise Jacket, Tomten, the Pi Shawl, etc. This is my favorite EZ book. If you are a newer knitter, a copy of Knitting Without Tears is also a great addition so you have a bunch of knitting tricks all in one place. While you are at it, Knitting Around is another EZ favorite for the bog jacket, fair isle pullover, and mitered mittens.

PS- If your library doesn’t have the EZ books, they are very much worth getting at least one of two of them. You can often get used copies at Amazon starting at $3-4. I find my library has all her most popular books though! Take a look at the Ravelry page for EZ and see what patterns are included. For example, the popular (and one of my fave baby gifts to make, tied with baby booties) Baby Surprise Jacket is in both Knitting Workshop and The Opinionated Knitter.

Knitting Lace Triangles – Classic Evelyn Clark lace triangles in mix and match patterns. Not for the beginning lace knitter, but not difficult.

Sweaters from Camp – A book from my yarn store days (and a reminder some days of how much fun it would still be to work in an LYS). If you like knitting colorwork sweaters, this is a great resource.

Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting – I’m not sure what happened to my copy of the first book, but if you like knitting lace in the round these are fun books. I like using worsted weight yarn and big needles with these to make blankets and giant cozy shawls.

Folk Shawls – Out of print, but if you don’t want to knit shawls just in laceweight this is a fun book.

Latvian Mittens – I went through a huge colorwork mitten knitting phase awhile back (pre pinterest), and this was a favorite for browsing through for design ideas.

Spinning/Weaving Books

The Intentional Spinner – I have the book version, but now that there is a kindle version available I may have to switch over to that. If you prefer learning from a book instead of videos, this is a classic spinning book.

Foundations of Weaving – a holdover from having my last loom, I didn’t keep much in the way of “how to weave” books after getting rid of my last loom (hopefully temporarily, I hope to have a more space efficient loom in the future!).

PS- This post contains affiliate links, which may give me a small commission when you buy through them. It helps keep me stocked up on yarn. If you have a local yarn shop near you, look for these items there!  You can also see the list of knitting tools all in one place here: knitting tools.

Needles

Addi Click – I got these when I was still working in a yarn store, and they have been going strong for 6+ years. I bought extras of my favorite size needles and extra cords. I have a bunch of the 16” cords since my set doesn’t come with it and I knit mostly hats. I can magic loop with the 16” cords and the regular needle tips, but it is hard to do with the long lace tips.

I usually use Addi Rockets when I need a needle size smaller than what my interchangeable set has. When I travel I often switch to a wood circular needle and I always use wood double pointed needles (which I prefer anyways to metal since they feel warmer, despite breaking them occasionally). I keep all my circular and dpns in a needle case, though I have yet to find one in a pattern I am totally in love with. At some point I will probably switch back to just a zipped pouch for all my circs and a separate case for my dpns since my circs all tend to end up in the bottom of the tool drawer instead of in the case anyways.

Tools

Pom Pom Makers: My favorite are the Clover Pom Pom Makers which have a deeper channel cut cutting the yarn. I mostly use the large sizes (I like big pom poms!), though I have all but the largest size. I find the extra small size Clover ones to be fiddly and often not “puffy” enough. I also tried the plastic disk style makers (not this set, but look like this) and found them difficult to cut neatly. When I have extra yarn I make a few pom poms to keep on hand- they are often just the thing I need to top a hat!

Tapestry Needles: I always keep one of the bent metal tapestry needles in my wallet for weaving in ends on the go. They work for all but the absolutely bulkiest of yarn, and I have yet to break one (I tend to lose them first!).

Stitch Markers: most of the LYS (local yarn stores) near me carry my favorite locking stitch markers. I just wish they came in more colors! I like “french bulb pins” which are thin metal pins shaped like a gourd. I buy these 100 or 200 at a time on Amazon or eBay since I also use them to attach tag to things I am donating.

Scissors: I use a pair of nail clippers to cut most yarn ends. They live in my wallet along with a tapestry needle and extra stitch markers! When I need to cut lots of ends or when I am making pom poms I use a pair of scissors I keep just for crafting (currently these scissors, which are pretty small but very, very sharp).

I also find a seam ripper to be very helpful, especially when I unravel sweaters for the yarn. I don’t usually skein- I just wind directly on the ball winder and start knitting from it!

Wool Wash: I don’t use a specific wool wash. I use a dash of whatever castile soap I have on hand, which is also what I use to handwash delicate clothes.

Storing Yarn: I store yarn in large storage ziplocks or the smaller vacuum seal bags. I find it hard to tell what I have with the really big bags, especially single skeins and small lots of yarn. Partial skeins are stored combined with others in a ziplock of the same yarn type. Most smaller leftover bits live in a large glass storage jar until I have enough of the same type to make a stripey hat or another small project. Any yarn that I thrift or buy from an individual gets frozen for a couple cycles in my freezer (yarns from LYS too when I have space) since I am a bit paranoid about moths and bugs.

I don’t keep all my pattern samples I make, but I do keep most of them. Once they are photographed and the pattern published I store items in sealed bags in the same area I keep my “secret” stash of handknit items I keep on hand for gifting.

Blocking

I use 2 sets foam mats to block knitting on (currently these ones since I wanted a solid color). I used the regular straight blocking wires for years, but switched recently to flexible ones from Inspinknity and have been kicking myself for waiting so long. Unlike the straight ones, you don’t have to fight with kinked wires or try and store cords that are intent going ten different directions. Get extra T pins. You can never have enough, and they seem to mysteriously disappear.

Ball Winders

I recently got a larger ball winder. My old smaller one worked fine for most skeins of yarn, but wasn’t big enough for skeins I am making on my giant electric spinning wheel bobbins. I almost got one of the NNN ball winders (someday I want one of the electric ones!), but for now price and storage space won out. My search for the perfect swift that also works as a yarn winder continues, but in the meantime I use a wood one that clamps to my coffee table. People laugh, but my rule is that my furniture needs to be multi use and work well for my craft needs. So my side tables have tops I can clamp a wall winder or bobbin winder to, my coffee table is actually a bench, and and nightstand drawers actually hold my knitting tools.

GAL 2016

Join in the Gift-A-Long KALs (you can win prizes!) and see the other designers here: GAL Group on Ravelry.

View the patterns on Ravelry: GAL 2016 Bundle.

From November 22 – December 31 you can win prizes by participating in the knit-a-longs and other contests in the Ravelry group.

Let’s get a head start on gifts! Use up some stash and knit some hats!

I finally sat down and woven in ends on a whole slew of hats over the last couple weeks, pulling out many of the remaining hats from my last rounds of donations. 

Simple cashmere hats made from recycled cashmere yarn left over from other projects. 

Simple textured hats- the blue is in one of my favorite yarns, Shepherd’s Wool Worsted. It’s a beautifully soft yarn that really shows off texture and cables wonderfully. 

A fringed wool scarf, made from fabric similar to lightweight dress pants. I made it extra wide, ala a blanket scarf. 

Question: how many hats can you get out of a skein on Eco +? Answer: 6, if you use the last bit up with some other leftovers for stipes. (4-5 if I had done longer fold up brims)

PS- those brown hats below? Also Shepherd’s Wool Worsted.

When I went to Turkey I found a couple of yarn stores, so of course picked up a bit of yarn! Most of the yarn was acrylic or acrylic and wool blends and were made in Turkey.  I picked up some plain yarns and a few self striping fun skeins as well. A couple skeins of the yarn I picked up had metallic thread running through it and was quite fuzzy. I held these yarns together with leftover wool yarns from my stash to tone down the sparkle make thick warm hats.  Still looks a bit like a unicorn threw up on them, but hopefully in a fun and not overwhelming way.

Several of these hats are variations on the Elevation Hat.

A small baby gift for a friend.

Socks– made up the pattern as I went along,  leftover sock yarn in a circle pattern formed with knits and purls.

Mittens– quick baby mittens in Baby Ull

Booties– I made these from some felted cashmere (gray) and some 100% wool felt (cream) using the Purlsoho Felt Baby Shoes pattern. These are a fun project to cut out several pairs of at a time. I made a handful of these in both solid wool and 100% cashmere, adding contrasting stitches or small shell buttons to some of the pairs.

Stonebridge and Crackling are stranded colorwork hats with corrugated ribbing and easy repeating designs. Each hat uses less than a skein of Cascade 220 Sport for each color. Work these hats in anything from highly contrasting colors (black and neon pink, bright green and orange) to nearly matching neutrals (cream and camel, shades of gray) for a more subtle look. Or go traditional with hats in red and white or green and gray.

Elevation is a quick one-skein hat with deep ribbing and just a bit of garter stitch- perfect for travel and gift knitting! Knit in MountainTop Chalet, a chained alpaca and bamboo yarn that comes in lovely natural colors. This yarn is very lightweight, so perfect for people who don’t like the feeling of heavy hats. (Feel free to sub in other bulky yarns!)