Category: Blog

  • Best Knitting Patterns for Beginners

    Best Knitting Patterns for Beginners

    So you’ve decided you’d like to try your hand at knitting your own sweater, but you’re a beginner and don’t know what to start with. I hear you. When I first started knitting, I spent months and months just knitting blankets and scarves. I decided I didn’t need to knit anything else. But after some time, I was like you know, maybe I’ll try a sweater. I ordered a Simone cardigan kit from We Are Knitters and whipped that out in fairly decent time. It had a whole bunch of techniques I’d never tried before, but I did it. I was so pleased! After getting a few more kits from multiple sites, I got frustrated. They were all rated easy or beginner, but I nearly cried with some of them when I couldn’t figure it out! After that, I decided to try out my hand at designing my own. I had all the basic skills down, I now knew how to seam and shape sleeves. My first ever sweater pattern, the Kyla cropped pullover, was a success.

    My designs have all been knit with basic skills. I wanted to implement more of the yarn and color choices over difficult techniques. You can knit a beautiful sweater without any tears! The funnest part is choosing the colors! I give you an easy pattern, you pick your favorite colors to knit it in. Make it yours!

    Over the years of designing and selling patterns, I’ve had many people ask what’s the best for a beginner or tell me after they’ve knitted a pattern, that they’re a beginner and this was perfectly easy to follow and they had no problem. It’s the best feeling to finish your first sweater and be in love with the result! And then when you start getting compliments on it in public, you’ll be on cloud nine!

    Here are my top patterns to try if this is your first sweater! You’ll need just the basic skills and you’re good to go!

    1. The Kyla Striped Pullover Sweater Might as well start with my first ever sweater! You’ll need to know garter stitch and stockinette stitch, increases, and seaming.

    2. Winter Blues Pullover Sweater. Big needles, big yarn, basic stitches as well. This one is a top favorite of many. You can do stripes if you want, color block, whatever your heart desires!

    3. The Cropped Striped Winter Sweater If you’re not comfortable yet with doing stripes on your own accord, scoop this pattern up! It will take you absolutely no time at all! P.s. a famous singer from the UK knit this sweater pattern once!

    4. The September Dreams Cardi Big, cozy, wearable with everything. I love this sweater! Basic stitches plus a little extra techniques to broaden your horizons. If you want a good piece for practicing your stockinette stitch, this is it!

    I will just add in that almost every single pattern I have, has been knit as a first time project for somebody. So if any of these aren’t what you’re looking for, there’s many other options!

    I hope you enjoy! And remember to subscribe to get exclusive discounts plus be the first to know about new patterns!

  • My 5 favorite knitwear pieces for summer

    My 5 favorite knitwear pieces for summer

    With summer pretty much in full swing, I thought I’d share my fav summer go to knitwear pieces! These are the ones that get the most use and are so perfect for all the summer things. Morning coffee dates, farmers market shopping, garage saling, evenings out on the porch, and travels! That’s my favorite time to wears knits. A little something special for a special trip! The feeling of sipping that morning vacation coffee in a cute cozy sweater you made yourself is an experience we all need.

    1. The Inez summer sweater. This one is a fan favorite! So many people have messaged me to say that they get so many compliments wearing their Inez sweater! It’s easy, breezy, and just has the good summer vibes. Make it using your favorite cotton yarn in some gorgeous colors and you’ll be accepting the compliments in no time!

    2. The Bring Me Coffee cardi. Super chill, airy, and cozy. This is the ultimate for enjoying that summer coffee. Slip it on with a tank and shorts, and you’re ready for all the coffee feels.

    3. The Mustang tank. The ties on the shoulders, the drapey silhouette, this one deserves to be made in many different shades! It’s your basic tank with a pretty and feminine twist. I’m already starting another in red!

    4. The Summer Daisy Sweater. Big and oversized with lots of fun stitches, colors, and the little “flower” details on the sleeves, make this a perfect throw on and go piece! Wear it over your swimsuit after a long day of swimming while you chill around the fire.

    5. The Freya Summer Sweater. Another top with tie details. Can you tell I like them?! I love how easy and fun they are. This top features an open shoulder, perfect for those cooler times of day.

    Click the shop link in the menu above to shop these style patterns! Make sure to share photos of your finished pieces with me on Instagram or via email.

    Love, Bethany

  • Knitting Needles 101

    Knitting Needles 101

    Happy Saturday guys! I figured I’d put together a little guide here to the knitting needles that I use in my patterns. I often have people asking where I get my needles, what length they are, etc. I’m hoping this will help everyone out!:)

    There are so many knitting needles out there that it’s super easy to get lost in a daze of what in the world you should purchase. Many patterns will vary on whether you are going to need circular or straight needles. On the plus side, if a pattern calls for straight needles, you can use circulars and simply use them as if they were straights. I don’t often use circulars. Very rarely.

    Wool and the Gang 25mm needles

    I’ll start with the 25mm needles and work down. US these are a size 50. When I first started knitting, I ordered all of my yarn and needles from the Uk. I tend to call my needles by the mm sizing instead of the US sizing.

    These needles are 12” in total length and have 11” of workable length.

    These needles are typically my go to needles for my super chunky knits and my best selling patterns, The Lost Road Trip Cardi and The Winter Blues Sweater. You can actually fit quite a few stitches on these needles!

    The best part about knitting with 25mm needles, is they make a project go super fast! You can seriously knit a sweater in no time at all. The reason I choose to use them for my chunky knits, is they show off the softness of the super chunky yarn. When you use smaller needles, the yarn is more compacted and hence, a bit more firm. I’m just not the biggest fan of that.

    They do take a bit of practice to get used to but once you do, you’ll be in love with them!

    My circular pair can be purchased from Loopy Mango here.

    The straight pair can be purchased from Wool & The Gang here. I will also add, Wool & the Gang does also sell circulars in this size now.:)

    We Are Knitters 15mm needles

    My next favorite for chunky knits is the 15mm needles. I don’t knit big yarn with any size smaller than these. I sometimes use 12mm for ribbing, but not the main body of the sweaters. This is about the smallest size you can go and still keep the cozy soft feeling of the super chunky yarn.

    These needles are 14.5” in total length, with 13.5” in actual workable length. Their website states differently, but I like squishing stitches as far as I can. 🤣

    These needles are the ones I use for my All Smiles Tomorrow sweater and Feelin Like Fall Jumper patterns. They too also make for a quick knit!

    My 15mm needles can be purchased from We Are Knitters here.

    Wool & The Gang 12mm needles

    Next up is the 12mm knitting needles from Wool and The Gang. These needles I tend to use mostly for ribbing. The Winter Magic sweater uses these needles for just a few rows. I believe my only full sweater knit with these needles is my Bring Me Coffee Cardi which kind of makes for the same concept as using my 25mm needles with the super chunky yarn. The texture and softness just shines through!

    These needles are 13.75” in total length and have 13” in workable length.

    You can purchase these needles from Wool & The Gang by clicking here.

    Wool & The Gang 8mm needles

    My 8mm, US size 11, straight knitting needles are one of the two sizes I use for knitting smaller yarns. I love using these needles for We Are Knitters petite wool, they’re the absolute perfect fit. I also love using an 8 with cotton and having them knit up a bit quicker and have more stretch and an airy feel to them.

    These particular needles are 12.75” in total length and 12” in workable.

    A couple of my designs using these 8mm needles are the Vintage Princess Cardi and the Candy Hearts Pullover.

    We Are Knitters also sells size 8mm needles.

    You can purchase these ones from Wool & The Gang by clicking here.

    We Are Knitters 5mm needles

    Almost every cotton design I knit is using these 5mm, US size 8, knitting needles. They’re the perfect fit for making cotton sweaters! Although they’re currently the smallest size needle I’ve used and take the longest to work up, the result is beautiful.

    These needles have a total length of 14.5” and a workable length of 13.5”. You can easily fit many many cotton stitches onto these!

    My favorite designs using these needles are my Zoey cardigan and Lorraine tie back tank set, as well as my Inez Summer Sweater pattern! Those are my summer staples and best selling cotton patterns.

    You can purchase these needles from We Are Knitters here.

    I hope that helps you out! I’ll update these page with other needles I use when/if I use others.:) Have a super fabulous weekend!