Anna

Knitsplaining

Ladderback what???

My first encounter with the ladderback jacquard LBJ technique was back in 2023 during one of my weekly dives, deep into the wierder and wonderfuller end of the not-very-dark web where knitty geeks post videos of cool techniques they use to make their knitting better. I watched a video which showed a woman with burgundy …

Product highlights

In our Good Books

There are times on my long scrollings through Ravelry in search of a just-right raglan for a customer, that it’s tempting to ask if there’s any room for anything new anymore. Hasn’t everything been designed already? If you’re slipping into a similar jadedness there’s no better antidote than a rifle through the new releases from …

What I'm thinking about when I'm knitting

Threads of learning

The women arrived together and their chatter had that slightly nervous excitement that comes of being away from work, as they entered the training room. It was 1998 and I was working on the 13th floor of an unlovely old office block on Bree Street in downtown Johannesburg. I was a web developer for an …

What I'm thinking about when I'm knitting

Will Anyone Notice?

“Will it show? Do you think I need to rip it back?“ Ask me how to do a neater left leaning increase, or why you need to do those k1 sl1 setup rows on a tubular bind off, or what difference your gauge will make to the size of your sweater, and I’m your person. …

Pattern round-ups

Unbuttoning the gloom

“The weather is always rubbish at this time of year. What do you expect? Of course it’s grey and rainy. It’s February. This is the deal!“ She was a little harsh, but probably also fair. Mostly, my friend explained, she was just fed up of listening to everyone moaning about the last 6 weeks’ lack …

What I'm thinking about when I'm knitting

A Tale of 3 Sweaters

It’s a pattern of behavior which knows no logic or expediency: I am never so productive with knitting as when there is something else that needs to be done. The more urgent the other task is, the faster I knit. No surprise then, that this year’s HMRC double whammy deadlines of Annual tax and Quarterly …

What I'm thinking about when I'm knitting

if you want to knit it, you will be able to

Is it going to be very difficult? Do you think I’ll be able to manage it – I’m really not an advanced knitter. It’s a straight forward enough question and it’s totally reasonable to expect me to be able to answer it. Ravelry even has a difficulty rating bar on the pattern details page. So …

Pattern round-ups

9 picks for 26

It’s a rarely-spoken about hazard of being a knitter, that we have a far harder time packing for a weekend away than our non-knitting friends and relations. They only have to check the weather, choose appropriate footwear and a paperback and they’re good to go. The knitter meanwhile has so much else to think about: …

Knitting Stories

2026 Pick-up-sticks

It’s a mark of just how crazy the memory of the last shopping days of December had got in my head, that I was almost surprised not to find some post-hurricane like chaos of wool, when I pushed the shop shutters open last week. Thankfully, the shop was as I’d left it on Christmas Eve: …

Life in the day of a wool shop

Through the window and beyond

There’s just a couple of days to go until we shut the wool shop door and flip the closed sign round for the final time this year. It’s also my cue to invite you to put down your knitting for a moment, take 5 minutes out of thinking about all the things that still need …