You saved my LIFE

Believe it or not, it's really nice to see this video of gloomy skies! We are currently at 100 degrees and counting- hello from overly sunny West Texas❤

The basis of your calculations is a small swatch. I found time and again knitting the actual garment gives different results sometimes quite radical ones. Knitting something that is say 20” wide and weighty is very different to a 4” swatch. I just sized up a vintage pattern with an open stitch pattern. I made a swatch for both the pattern and stocking stitch for a width of 20”. Knitted up the width was 22”. Swatches are at best only a guide. Far better to start a sleeve and see how it goes.

Thankyou very much!

I usually use magic loop for doing sleeves (DPNs for socks). Any tips for preventing ladders? Thanks!

Oh my goodness!! You've done what I thought was impossible: you made the magic loop make sense! I am accrocheter of over 50 years who is determined to learn to knit socks and since I don't have dpn's or itty bitty circulars my option left for knitting in the round is magic loop. I have tried for hours to get it right and just hadvsuch a problem understanding other teachers who say/show top/bottom needles. It never occurred to me to do left and right instead. It may seem obvious to a seasoned knitter but all the how to videos talk about top/bottom needles. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU 👍👍👍

Thank you for a very helpful tutorial

Impossible! I have tried this and broke down and purchased a swift 😒

This is so useful, thank you 🧶

I adore West Yorkshire Spinners‘ Fleece that is BFL, I‘ve now used it for four cardigans. It pills badly but I just shave it when necessary, that doesn‘t stop me using it. I do avoid single plied yarns sfter realising how badly they pill (Malabrigo!!) even though they‘re very soft snd the colours are gorgeous. Higher twist helps a lot. To me, normal pilling snd regular care are just part of it, tho‘.

So from this videos I garner that not all yarns will pill in the long run? Or are we simply talking about the extent of the pilling?

I’ve got loads of pilling on a cashmere type wool cardigan I knit. Very disappointed ☹️

Hello I'm knew to your chanel but I got a question I'm making a pair of socks and it is happening to me help.love your videos.

I try to avoid but on the occasion that I have the pilling issue, I trim the pills regularly until the piece becomes a scrappy around the property functional item not worn for show.

Enjoying your new series! I really appreciated your point about price - I'm always surprised when I see people leave negative reviews on cashmere yarn because it's so expensive and still pills, but that's the nature of cashmere with the short fibers that make it so soft! I tend to avoid single ply yarns since those can be more prone to pilling, but otherwise I use a Gleener to de-pill my knits when needed, and just think of it as a normal part of my handknits maintenance, like washing them. I think having a good tool that you are comfortable using helps so it doesn't seem like such a hastle. I like the Gleener but there are lots of options out there!

nice to see you again. Hope the dissertation is done and dusted. Namaste

Glad you are back!I hadn’t seen any new videos from you in a while.

relatively beginner knitter here, finally accepted swatching and realised just how much my knitting loosens once i get into the project. im a size 12 and two of my projects came out more like a size 20!!!!

Excellent video! Easy to see exactly what you are doing. You cover any questions I may have. Thank you ❣️

So glad you're back and feeling well. I found your channel and binged all your videos while you were gone, so happy that you're now able to get back to making videos! Take things as easy as you need :)

Very informative video! I agree that you have to appreciate the effort of swatching as it can help develop more knitting skills and knowledge as I'm always substituting yarns for projects I want to make. 2 years ago, I self-designed my first knit sweater for myself (made with chunky yarn and done in stripes), and swatching was definitely what made the sweater have a better fit (a lot more effort was focused on getting the shaping right at the shoulder and sleeve caps). I also have to be careful when swatching because I do know when to cut my losses if things aren't gonna work out! I'm currently working on your Red Brick Socks in some self-striping sock yarn from my local yarn shop.

Lovely channel. I just swatched for gauge in the round for first time ever. Learnt a method whereby the yarn is uncut so it can be reused. Which got me thinking… is it important to make a physical collection (aka Swatch Mtn 🗻) for future ref or is it good enough to simply make cracking notes and take a few pics so I can frog said swatch and save space/waste less yarn. All thoughts and opinions will be gracious received. ❤ Do you love and look back fondly at your swatches? Will I regret frogging mine? Maybe… thanks! The knitting newbie.

I so glad you are back! I really missed you. I also missed you saying all things beautiful and useful 🤭 i love this catchphrase ❤ Can’t wait for more tips!

So glad you are back! I discovered your content about 6 months ago, and now I recommend this channel to new knitters. Your professional presentation and clear technical explanations accelerate the learning curve. Well done.

Lovely to see you back making videos Anushka. Sorry you've been poorly but glad you're better. A really interesting and thoughtful video. Also, a shout out to your designs. Last year I knitted the Sisymbrium sweater and the Hawthorn Tincture shawl, both of which have had a lot of wear and a lot of compliments. Bernadette x

It's a very complex problem and you've addressed it in a well-structured manner. One of the big parts of the problem, in particular for a less experienced knitter, can be the categorisation of yarn weights. Most people will rely on the length per 50g of a specific yarn to class yarns, at least initially. However, the fact that terms like lace, fingering/4ply, sport, dk and worsted a/o aran are so popular can be very misleading. Each category has a wide range of lengths possible and also overlap, and they'll vary according to the fibre content and type of spin, too. In addition, Danish yarns like Knitting for Olive or Holst have become extremely popular and while marketed as fingering weight, they are vastly finer at 230-250m/50g compared to more classic fingering weights coming at 180m/50g, catering to the Danish/Scandinavian habit of combining 2, 3 or more thin yarns - not only the addition of a laceweight mohair that has become so popular in recent years. Even winding the yarn to count stitches per inch can be unhelpful - it will depend how tightly you push the strands together, so it's just not a perfect art. Then there is the idea that 2 strands of laceweight equals fingering, or two strands of fingering equals dk etc. which definitely only works in a percentage of cases! At the end of the day, in addition to trying some of your tips, there only remains trying multiple swatches and trial and error. Your swatch may be perfect but your gauge alters depending on whether you're knitting back and forth or in the round... or any number of other shifts. I think it's something a lot of us will always struggle with. Personally, it often doesn't matter if I use 2, 2.25 or 2.5 mm dpns, I'll always have the same gauge with a fine fingering yarn, I will never achieve a 36 st gauge, while my knitter daughter quite easily achieves it on a 3mm, for instance! (Incidentally, the yarn you show as an example shows the ballband to claim 9st/inch, which would be a 36 st gauge.) I find it to be exactly as you say and with experience, we find our favourite yarns and discover our favourite gauges for various projects if we stick with those. For the more adventurous, it seems swatching will still be required! By the way, I found out years ago that if I use eastern purl when I'm continental knitting, I get much more even knit/purl in my garments, so combined continental has become my go-to. Perhaps that's something you'd like to try out of curiosity...

I have this problem too! I pretty much just accepted I will usually have to use a needle a few sizes bigger than in the pattern, better to do that than to try and knit looser and risk the project coming out too small! Definitely agree with the stress thing though, I have returned to projects in the past that I was making during times of stress and ended up with e.g. two noticably different sized socks 😂

Looking forward to seeing your new video after all this time. Very sorry to hear of your ill health. It’s wonderful that you are so much better now. I hope knitting was a good distraction and helped you during convalescence. My very best wishes going forward ❤

I'm super curious if you've found a way of dealing with this knitty problem yourself? It's certainly not straightforward. Drop me a comment and let me know 🤗 Welcome back to The Crimson Stitchery, this is the first video I've made in 10 months. I had to take this extended break due to ill-health. I'm really happy to be returning now that I'm finally better! I noticed whilst editing that I appear to have become camera-shy and struggled to look directly into the lens for this video. I know, as a teacher, that this isn't ideal and I appreciate your patience whilst I find my bearings again and ease back into video-making. Remember to send me your knitty questions via the form (linked in the video description above). Thank you as always for watching! -Anushka

what to do if the yarn already tangled? im gona cryyy

Love the colour way of the green wool , useful method thankyou

Everyone I know has broken bamboo dpns. I use the prym ergonomic dpns now and don't ever want to use anything else. They are all the best bits of bamboo but without the breaking! 😊

Hi, I have a pattern to make a newborn baby sweater and want to make it in a 3 or 6 month size. How do you take that original pattern and make it larger? Thanks

Swatches, yes! I’m just now learning the value of swatches after years of intermittent knitting and crocheting. Knitting instructions commonly said “weave in the ends” or “finish by sewing the pieces together,” not helpful of course. Only recently heard of the blanket stitch for sewing pieces together. There are these new tools for weaving in the yarn ends, they look like tatting shuttles or tiny weaver’s shuttles where you just push the yarn through, it’s one large ‘eye.’

I just gave up….. when are going to get down to changing the figures on a pattern. Wow

Do you think 55% bfl & 45% silk 4-ply yarn would be good for socks?

That's EXACTLY how I wind hanks of yarn. I use a sofa cushion or 2, since I'm too old now to use my legs like that.

This just came up on my feed at 3 years old, but I fully agree sock weight yarn is the best bang for your buck. My best tip for getting affordable yarn besides shopping online during sales is to buy other people's destashes. I'm currently knitting a raglan sweater with 10 balls of filcolana arwetta sock yarn that I got from someone for $5 each. I think a few weeks worth of knitting to end up with a custom sweater made with yarn I can't even usually buy in my country for $50 is a pretty good deal! There are lots of Facebook groups and marketplace listings out there.

This was super helpful! I've put off sewing on the 25 buttons of the cardigan I finished a few months ago, and this made it seem less daunting.

Venetian is a stunning color. Using it not in a Vertices Unite shawl by Stephen West. After watching your video, I plan to buy lots more Holst. Great job you did. Thanks so much.

Thank you SO MUCH for this video. For the first time in my life, I just wound a ball of yarn from beginning to end without a single tangle or any tears or curse words along the way, because I was following your guidance exactly. I REALLY appreciate the difference!