Follow along and discover your next inspiration as we cast on for projects we love, explore new techniques, and dish about the latest and greatest from Knit Picks.
Meet the team »
As of today we have 250 knitting
& crochet
patterns in the Independent Designer Program! Our lucky #250? The new
adorable pattern by Yvonne Boucher that she created especially for us!
The Knitting
Knit Picks Mice! How cute are they! It’s the perfect little pattern
for any knitter in your life!
I love to volunteer and I love to be outside, and those two things
coincide a lot in Oregon. Every year we pick a volunteer activity for
Earth Day, and we also did the SOLV Spring Beach Cleanup this year!
I
wasn’t ever really a big fan of the beach, growing up along the Jersey
Shore. There was sand and water, and that was kind of boring I
guess.(not to mention me + sun = OW) But then I moved to Oregon and was
entranced by the treacherous, rocky, geologically amazing coastline. I
also loved the fact that, for the most part, there wasn’t anybody out
there. It was so peaceful, or as much as a violent ocean against a
volcanic coast can be! I felt like I needed to give something back, so
this March I volunteered for my first Beach Cleanup. Each year,
thousands of volunteers comb the Oregon coast for industrial and
household waste that washes up on shore. We chose a fairly small stretch
of beach at Ona Beach State Park and went to work.
Kelley chats with designer Nina about a free online design-your-own-sweater class that Nina taught. Kelley also reviews books with great sweater-weather projects.
Books Reviewed
Knitting 24/7 by Veronik Avery
Brave New Knits by Julie Turjoman
If you live anywhere near the northwestern United States, you know
that spring has come later than normal this year. Fortunately, over the
past couple of weeks, the sun has decided to shine a little bit and the
flowers have (hesitantly) started to bloom. In honor of these little
breaks from the dreary gray skies, I have decided to share a few spring
pattern ideas with you that will brighten up any day – sunny or not!
The Rachel’s Bag pattern by Cassidy Clark
definitely tops my list of fun, fashionable must-haves this spring.
The bag is fashionable, practical, and adds a certain flair to any
outfit. In other words, it’s the perfect accessory!
Sorry for the delay for this class! We had some technical difficulties – ah, gotta love technology 🙂
And now for some more info about the stitches. Here are some snapshots
that will help closely illustrate some of the concepts I cover in the
video – directional decreasing, yarnovers, and nupps vs. bobbles.
Kelley talks about when you’re just not feeling right about a project
and switching to a new pattern.
Books Reviewed
Take Along Knitting
Toe-Up Socks for Every Body by Wendy D. Johnson
One of my favorite things about working with the Independent
Designers is finding new projects for myself! So when we started up the Crochet Along,
I immediatly choose Lauren
Osborne‘s beautiful Adva for my project, as I’ve been eying it since we recieved it. Lauren
has many beautiful patterns, both knit & crochet and I am so
thrilled she is in IDP.
Pam Daley is one of our most prolific IDP crochet
designers – she has 5 so far in the program with several more on the
way. And all are super cute! We enjoy getting the samples of her
designs & ooing and ahing over them – oh and putting them the KP
babies!
(that’s baby Ella, the newest member of the KP team, wearing Pam’s Sweet-Heart
Hat)