What knitting rules do you follow without question? I used to have a few. Never tie a knot in your knitting. Always weave in your ends. Link Serious knitters have to knit complicated things. You must follow the pattern exactly.
The first time I wore a knit piece in public without weaving in the ends, no one stopped me and told me I couldn’t wear it. It was a shawl that matched my outfit perfectly and I didn’t have time to weave in the ends before we had to leave. What’s a knitter to do? I taped the ends down with clear packing tape on the backside and threw that sucker around my neck!
It was super cute and I was proud to have my handmade finishing touch on the outfit all day. My shawl taught me that you can actually do whatever you want. The Knitting Police aren’t coming.
From then on, I started looking for other rules I could break. On my Car Eyes Hat pattern, Link I tied knots instead of weaving in the ends on the colorwork eyes. I figured, I’m the one writing the pattern, I’ll do what I want! The backside of that section ends up completely enclosed, so who cares what it looks like?
I used to think that if I didn’t use complicated stitch patterns, I wasn’t a “real” designer. My Share a Pair Link handwarmer pattern has lots of texture because I wanted to prove that I could work shaping around a stitch pattern and still have it work.
Eventually, I realized that I wasn’t actually wearing everything I designed and knit. They were beautiful, but they weren’t me. Because I love stockinette stitch. Sure, it can be a little monotonous to knit, but I love the look of it so much. When someone says something is knit, stockinette is what you picture in your head. So I embraced it. I design things I love and actually wear. Who’s going to stop me?
Why do we feel like we have to prove ourselves by knitting complicated things? You can love a garter stitch scarf just as much as you can love a wedding ring shawl. And there’s nothing wrong with either one. Maybe we don’t want people to think our knitting is just a silly hobby. Maybe we are comparing our knits to knits we see on social media and we feel like we don’t measure up. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can knit a thousand wedding ring shawls, just make sure it’s because you want to do it.
It’s so much fun to have an idea and run with it. To combine parts of different patterns into something uniquely you. To knit something up just to see how it looks and then rip it out without shame if you don’t like it.
You are knitting for your enjoyment, not to please gatekeepers. It doesn’t matter if your sweater looks like everyone else’s. It matters if you had fun knitting it. It matters if you love it and actually wear it. I have found out that trusting your taste and being willing to experiment are what make you a great knitter.
The best thing about knitting is that we can test all our weird ideas. We can make whatever we feel like. We can trust ourselves. If we want to wear a sweater for 6 years before we weave in our ends, no one is stopping us. If we want to knit nothing but garter stitch scarves and dishcloths for the rest of our lives— we can enjoy ourselves while doing it!
The most confident knitters aren’t the ones looking over their shoulders for the Knitting Police. They are the ones who know what they want and decide to make it.
Kelly Spenhoff 