I try really hard to be sure that you don't need anything too weird for my patterns. But some of these little things really do benefit from having a bit of structure imposed on them. And for that, you sometimes need some unexpected things. If you need something unusual, I'll always tell you in the pattern description. In the pattern itself, I'll always do my best to tell you both what I actually used, what function those things are serving, and what other things you can use instead. So I might say 'I used the cap from a shampoo [...]

I love charts. They’re a great way to present a lot of information in a small space. But as much as I love them, I realize that they can seem a bit daunting if you’re not used to them. Once you get to know them though, they’re easy. The most important thing to remember is that charts show you a stylized picture of the right side of your work. Keep that in mind, and you’re halfway there! The easiest way to get to know a chart is to work through a few examples. I'll walk you through one of [...]

I get the same two questions about needles over and over again. One has a super quick answer, the other takes a bit longer. Let's start with the quick one! Do I have to use DPNs Nope! If you don't care for DPNs, you can absolutely use one or two circular needles instead. And if you've found something that's some sort of hybrid between the two, you can use those too. The only thing I ever care about is that you use needles that let you knit in the round. I happen to love DPNs and have [...]

Weaving in your ends can feel a bit daunting under the best of circumstances. And on a lot of the tiny things, you don't have access to the back of your fabric once you're done knitting, so it can feel extra tricky. But don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds! Minimize ends The first step is to minimize the number of ends you have to weave in on the front of the fabric. To do that, be sure to weave in your cast on end (and any other ends you can) before you close up [...]

A lot of my patterns are for tiny things that need to be stuffed before they're finished. I've tried a lot of different materials over the years, and I've talked a bit about how I stuff things in individual patterns. But I wanted to put everything in one place so it's easy to point folks to if they have questions. Plastic pellets Plastic pellets are my very favorite way to fill tiny things. I got a big bag of the weighted pellets and have filled an astonishing number of projects from it. They give my knits a [...]

I truly believe that just about everything you knit will benefit from blocking. And yes, yes this totally includes tiny things. The tiny things block pretty much the same way as bigger things (just faster), but there is enough confusion out there over how to block stuff in general that it's worth taking a bit of time to talk about. I'm more or less obligated to start any discussion of blocking with a disclaimer right up top that says blocking doesn't always involve stretching/pinning. Sometimes it does, most of the time, especially for small stuff, it does not. So I'll break [...]