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Write to our accomplished Q&A experts and have your tricky
knitting queries and questions answered in no time!
ASK THE EXPERTS
Kirstie McLeod
Editor
Queen of socks and gadget hoarder,
Kirstie has many years of knitting
knowledge to share.Jen Bartlett
Technical Editor
Stitch expert and technical whizz,
Jen likes to tackle the trickiest
of knitting problems.Sophie Jordan
Deputy Editor
Product expert and Fair Isle fanatic,
Sophie loves talking about the latest
trends and cool colour combos.Debbie Bliss
Knitwear Designer
Famed for her effortlessly stylish
knit creations and extensive
knowledge of knitting.BUSINESS TALK
Q
I’ve toyed with the idea of starting
my own knitting business, do you
have any tips on how to make it work?
Deb, Manchester
First of all, you need to acknowledge that
you are unlikely to be able to knit fast
enough to make it profitable charging
high street prices for your items. The key
is to find your own unique market. The
artisan world is buzzing right now with
people looking for unusual, stand-out,
top-quality items to spend their money on.
Try to marry your creativity with a search
for yarns that are hand-dyed to order, or
yarns that come from an unusual part of
the world. You could also consider yarns
that are 100% certified organic, to appeal
to another growing audience. It’s always a
lot easier if you marry your unique sellingCONTAC
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KNIT
guru
points with your own loves and ethics, these
will help drive your business. As far as the
knitting goes, design and make items that
are reasonably quick to knit and don’t take
up huge amounts of yarn, such as hats,
headwarmers, mitts and cowls. If you’ve
written up your own pattern, even better,
these can be sold on websites such as Etsy
and Ravlery to boost profits. Sophie
MACHINE KNITTING YARN
Q
I’ve bought some coned machine
knitting yarn in a car boot sale and
I’m not sure whether I can hand knit with
it. Will it be ok for garments or have I just
wasted my money?
Wendy Hill, email
Any yarn can be knitted or crocheted by
hand, and machine knitting yarn comes in
all kinds of weights, from incredibly fine to
chunky. Cones of yarn are often treated with
a waxy substance in order to flatten any
fuzzy bits – this can affect the tension of
your yarn, which might be different before
and after you have washed your knitted
item. Making sure you knit a swatch, wash
it, then measure it to help you to get a more
accurate fit or result. If you have picked up
a yarn too fine for your normal taste, you
could have lots of fun combining it with
other yarns from your stash to create your
own unique fabric. The only rule you need to
check is the fabric’s washability. Again, the
best thing to do is to knit swatches in your
combined yarns, watch how they behave
and calculate your tension accordingly. It’s
probably best you avoid mixing dry-clean-
only yarns with non dry-cleaning yarns,
however you could always swatch and wash
and see what the results turn out to be. Jen
QUESTION OF
THE MONTH
Starting your own craft
business can be both
rewarding and profitable
IM
AG
E:^
GE
TT
Y
Machine
knitting yarns
come in many
different
weights
Hunt down unique yarns
for your shop knits