Oct 1, 2020
There are some great knitting sites available and I often forget that not everyone has discovered them yet. That was the case this week during a discussion on the Shinybees Podcast Community, when I shared the new Knitty First Fall publication, and found that some people had never heard of Knitty! So, this week I have shared some of my favourite knitting sites that I come back to often, specifically to help those new knitters that have started listening tot the podcast during lockdown, or that have started listening after returning to the needles. Knitty is the first example. It's been running since 2002 and has a great mixture of free patterns, articles and tutorials for all levels of knitter. Run by Amy Singer, it's a treasure trove of pattern inspiration and is where a lot of new pattern designers go to cut their teeth designing. Anyone can submit a pattern to Knitty, and there is some good guidance about what a new designer needs. to bear in mind when doing so. Next up is the Craft Yarn Council, where you will find lots of industry standard information about things like sizing, conventions etc. There are also plenty of downloadables for icons and other paraphernalia to use on your patterns. Guidance for the new designer is plentiful and aimed at helping you make good design submissions. Yarnsub will help you find yarns to substitute in for the yarn a pattern calls for. Knitting History Forum has a large array of resources and reading lists for learning more about historical aspects of knitting from all over the world. Tin Can Knits have very kindly provided not only a massive array of knitting patterns, but also a pattern collection specifically designed to facilitate teaching knitting - The Simple Collection. They also have tutorials on their website for every technique used in their patterns as well as pretty much everybpther technique going. Music for this episode is Adam and the Walter Boys with I Need a Drink, available on iTunes Full show notes at www.shinybees.com/158