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Knitting on the Web

What's here is just a small percentage of what you'll find on the Web. These links are our favorites and will provide you with an excellent starting point for more fiber-related Web exploration. Enjoy!

- Associations and guilds
- Favorite links from Knitter's Review forum participants
- Charities seeking knitted items
- Fiber resources
- Learn to knit
- Publishers and online communities

And also, read our reviews of select shops around the U.S..



Associations and guilds
Craft Yarn Council of America
By the folks who bring us the annual Knit Out events, this site also has good links if you're interested in becoming a certified knitting instructor. Also has links for crochet.

The Knitting Guild of America
Has an active bulletin board and Members' Only section. Also offers the Master Knitting and Learn to Knit programs as well as for-fee downloadable correspondence courses. I encourage everyone to join, not just for the magazine (Cast On) and Members' Only access but also so we can show the world just how many knitters are out there!

Fiber resources
Wool.com
The world of wool is at your fingertips. While the main site is intended for commercial manufacturers, the Living with Wool section provides helpful background information on wool and other fibers. If you can filter through occasional marketing hype, there's good meat here.

National Fibers Info Center
Kindly provided by the Texas Food and Fibers Commission, this site has some excellent links to information sources in the cotton, wool, and mohair industries. If you're researching for a project, curious about the industry, or considering entering it yourself, you'll find this site helpful.

Learn to knit
Common Threads Free Online Classroom: Beginning Knitting
Absolutely remarkable! Provided by Common Threads, a fiber shop in Encinitas, California, this site features an online knitting class. I'm not talking about simple printed instructions, I mean actual video clips of your teacher walking you through each technique.

The bulletin boards let you chat with fellow students and ask your teacher questions. You'll learn how to cast on, knit, purl, and cast off. You'll need to have RealPlayer installed on your machine to view the lessons, but they provide links and instructions on how to do it.

LearntoKnit.com
As the name suggests, this site (provided by the Craft Yarn Council of America) covers the basics about yarn and tools, followed by step-by-step instructions on how to get started. Once you're comfortable with the basic stitches, you can move to the Project Ideas area to find easy patterns for your first project.

Animated Knitting Techniques
This is actually a section of a site that offers free knitting patterns for toys. The beauty here is that you can see animated images of different stitches as they are made. There are currently 10 stitches shown: Purl into Back (Pb), Cast On Double Method, Kinc (increasing from right to left), Kbinc (increasing from left to right), Making an Increase (working an increase between 2 stitches), Working CAST ONs at end of row, Icord single method, Binding Off 2 pieces together, Pickup Stitches along side of edge, and Pickup Stitches in slipped stitch edge

Better Homes and Gardens Knitting Basics
Here you'll find clear, beautifully laid out instructions on the basics of knitting. This section covers information about needles and the gauge notations in patterns before teaching how to cast on, knit, purl, make slip-stitch decreases, knit two stitches together, increase stitches in the middle of a row, and work with colors.

The Knitting Guild of America Educational Programs
TKGA offers fee-based correspondence courses for hand and machine knitting at a variety of skill levels. You must be a member of TKGA before you can take any of these classes. The Learn to Knit program is particularly helpful because you actually have your finished swatches reviewed by the instructors.

Other courses include New Aran Sweater Design; Professional Finishing Technique; Traditional Ganseys; Machine Knitting--Getting Started; Mosaic Knitting; Basics, Basics, Basics; and a Certification Program for Knitting Judges.

And for the truly bold, you can embark upon TKGA's Master Knitting program.

About.com's Knitting Abbreviations
So you've picked your first project, bought the yarn, and sit down to start knitting. You read the pattern and see a bunch of bizarre abbreviations you don't understand. Help!

Don't despair. This link takes you to a comprehensive list of commonly used abbreviations, with explanations and links to other resources. Be prepared for at least two pop-up advertisement windows when you click through. 


Publishers and online communities
About.com Knitting
A sleek, commercial site that serves as a good starting point for knitters—especially those seeking free patterns. The only drawbacks: use-at-your-own-risk free reader-submitted patterns and flashy pop-up ads.

BellaOnline.com Knitting
Giving About.com a run for its money, BellaOnline.com is an online community created specifically for women. The knitting section features everything you'd expect—chatty articles, free hand- and machine-knitting patterns, and plenty of links.

Creative Knitting Magazine
A new print magazine with loads of stylistically classic and cheerful projects for family and home. Published six times a year.

INKnitters
Published four times a year, this print magazine serves both the hand and machine-knitting communities. (The machine-knitting content comes from a recent acquisition and merger of Machine Knitters Source within INKnitters.)

Interweave Knits
The knitterly equivalent of National Geographic magazine, Interweave Knits is a fantastic all-around knitting publication. Under the thoughtful guidance of editor Pam Allen, this magazine covers everything from patterns to technique, plus articles ranging from moth prevention to knitting in other countries to in-depth details on how specific fibers are processed into yarn. Patterns are also first rate.

KnitNet
An online knitting magazine published six times a year and available by paid subscription. They do give access to a free sampler area where you can check out some sample content and see if you like it. There's also a yarn store.

KnitReviews
Holds a large collection of reader-generated book and pattern reviews. The site owner also runs The Knitting Pages, which provides one of the best link compilations I've seen.

The Knitting Universe
Brought to you by the same folks who publish Knitter's Magazine and bring you the Stitches conferences. You'll find a community section, an online marketplace (plus a separate bookstore where you can buy XRX Books), a few archived articles and free patterns for download, a forum where you can send feedback for the editors, and other information. Occasionally you'll encounter error messages here and there, but be patient.

Knitty
This lovely new online-only knitting magazine brings a fresh, edgy voice to knitting, with inventive patterns, helpful articles, tips, links, etc.

Rebecca
The wait is over: Germany's hip, sometimes over-the-edge knitting magazine is finally online. Not only will you find a clean, attractive layout, but you'll also find... drum roll please... several free patterns! Site/patterns available in German and English.

Socknitters.com
Non-knitters just laugh disbelievingly when I tell them about this site. There's a whole (huge) universe of sock knitters out there, and this site is your way to get hooked into the community. The site has tons of resources, and the mailing list is very active.

Vogue Knitting
An online companion to the venerable magazine, with pattern corrections and updates as well as an online shop.

WiseNeedle.com
If you're a member of the KnitList, then you've certainly heard the name Kim Salazar. Since 1996, she has maintained a site of reader-submitted yarn reviews. In February 2001, she relaunched her site as WiseNeedle.com. You'll find a database of reader-generated yarn reviews, some more detailed than others, plus free patterns and helpful information about knitting. Prepare for pop-up ads.

Woolworks: The Online Knitting Compendium
As a non-commercial, volunteer-run site, this is unquestionably the best of its kind. It's also the oldest collection of handknitting information on the Web. You'll find oodles of links, patterns, discussions, shop reviews, you name it. Sometimes the links may be a bit outdated, but that's only to be expected for such a large resource.

Yarn Market News
Recently relaunched, this is the official trade magazine for yarn store owners, yarn manufacturers, and anybody else in the business. The first issue was shipped in June 2005 and it looks excellent!