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Welcome to KnittingBrain.com. We’re here to keep you up to date with the latest in the world of knitting. Everything from gorgeous new knitting yarns to the latest knitting books.
Our aim is to review knitting products and knitting books, share tips and ideas for making your knitting progress more smoothly, help you with your yarn substitutions and to generally share our love of knitting. If you also love crochet, check out our sister site CrochetBrain.co.uk.
Try our knitter’s personality test to find out your strengths and weaknesses, plus get tips for branching out based on your personality profile.
There is a cautionary tale about things that will eat woollens and other animal fibres, complete with pictures of what to look out for, see our knitwear care section for more details.
 FREE Knitting Patterns
Brighten up your winter wardrobe and bring some colour into your knitting with our free ‘Greek Tea Beanie’ knitting pattern. This stranded colourwork beanie hat is an ideal project for learning how to do stranded knitting.
Don’t forget our other free patterns. There’s the simple 1 row lace scarf, easy 3 stripe ribbed beanie and a basic ribbed hat pattern.
Our quick and simple free patterns are ideal for the beginner or impatient knitter.
Free 3 stripe beanie-pattern
Free lace scarf pattern
Free simple ribbed hat pattern
New Yarn Snob Quiz
Are you worried you may have become a yarn snob? How well do you know your yarns? How well do you treat your yarn stash?
Take the test, find out if you really are a yarn snob or a yarn yob.
Latest Knitting Goodies
John Arbon Appledore
Knitting with John Arbon yarns feels like a connection to knitters of the past. Perfect for knits that will be loved and worn for years to come.
The Appledore range comes in 20 shades and is available in Lace, DK, Aran, or Tops. It’s a gorgeous blend of 40% Devon Closewool / 40% Romney / 20% Exmoor Blueface.
Each breed contributes a different quality to the yarn. The final yarn has a slight sheen, making it ideal for special projects and luxurious gifts.
Knitwear Fashion Trends
Although fast fashion and hand knitting may not seem compatible, there are plenty of ways to stay on trend with your knitted creations.
Oversize & Blanket Scarves
Capes were seen in many of the catwalk looks recently. This has inspired the trend for oversize and blanket scarves. These have the advantage of being more versatile and not as liable to look dated quickly. They are also an easy project for new or impatient knitters.
Brioche
Vertical stripes, from the machine knit equivalent of 2-colour brioche, have been used by designers such as Calvin Klein and fashion brands like French Connection. Brioche gives a plump, double-sided fabric that is ideal for hats and scarves. Many knitters find that once they get the hang of this technique it becomes a firm favourite.
Saddle Shoulders
The trend towards shoulder pads and more tailored looks is making knitwear designers look at the less utilised shoulder styles. Saddle shoulder designs fit perfectly in this trend. Boden has combined this with colour-blocking and other designers have used cables to highlight the shoulders.
Fair Isle, Argyll and Colourwork Yokes
Argyll designs fit perfectly with the more tailored trends, plus they are a style that keeps coming around, so your knits will be a real investment.
Fair Isle and colourwork yokes are featured heavily in designer and high-street knitwear collections. If you don’t want to invest the time into a full Fair Isle yoke knit then try a Fair Isle cowl.
Another cheat that works well on yokes is to knit stripes with 2 strands of yarn held together, blurring the colour changes by knitting with 1 strand of each colour during the transition between 1 colour stripe and the next.