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The Skein Almanac

Knitting and crochet, written down and dated

Knitting and crochet, one dated entry at a time

Craft advice ages badly when nobody can tell how old it is. Every page here carries the day it was written, and stays where that day put it: under its month, under its year, newest first.

The entries answer one question each, in plain language, with the arithmetic shown when there is any. Start anywhere. If you have never held needles, start with the yarn to buy first.

Entries
37
Years covered
2
Last entry

2026

33 entries, February to September

September 202623 entries

  1. Buying yarn online: what to check first

    Dye lots, gauge, weight and yardage on a yarn product page, plus when a real shop is still worth the trip before you order a sweater's worth.

    Yarn Beginners 8 min read

  2. Coasters, cosies and mats for the drinks table

    Which yarns suit a drinks table, how to stop a knitted coaster slipping, and what one evening's leftovers will make. Plain notes from a yarn shop.

    Household Gifts 7 min read

  3. Knitting Races at Fairs: How Contests Work

    How knitting competitions at fairs are timed and judged, what makes a contest fair, and how a first-time entrant should prepare wool, needles and gauge.

    Technique Beginners 9 min read

  4. The Knitting Notebook as Archive

    A knitting notebook is a working archive. What to write down, how regional patterns travel between hands, and what makes an archive usable for a beginner.

    Pattern Beginners 7 min read

  5. From Fleece to Needles: A Local Wool Clip

    How a fleece becomes yarn, what changes between a local clip and a mill blend, and what to ask about a breed before you buy.

    Yarn Beginners 8 min read

  6. Knitwear on a short shoot: continuity and spares

    Practical notes on keeping knitted costume pieces consistent between takes, why a duplicate matters, and which stitches read best on camera.

    Technique Care 9 min read

  7. Knitting aboard ship: ditty bag and watch projects

    What a sailor's ditty bag held, what fits in a short watch, and which knitting projects survive a moving deck and a small bag.

    Technique History 9 min read

  8. Wartime knitting appeals: socks and balaclavas

    What First World War knitting appeals asked for: socks, balaclavas, mittens, yarn weight, needle sizes, tension, and how parcels reached the front.

    History Pattern 9 min read

  9. Pattern leaflets, booklets and books on a knitter's shelf

    What a pattern leaflet holds that a book does not, how a booklet stays open on the table, and what belongs on a knitter's reference shelf.

    Pattern Beginners 8 min read

  10. Knitted Work on a Gallery Wall: Texture, Scale, Repetition

    How knitted pieces read at wall scale, what repetition does to a single stitch, and how to look at textile work in a gallery without rushing.

    Pattern Technique 8 min read

  11. Hand knits for bottling day

    Bottle carriers, covers and cloths for the homebrew shelf: which stitches hold glass, which yarns survive spills, and how to wash them.

    Technique Household 8 min read

  12. Knitting for brew day: what fits in a mash rest

    A mash rest runs 60 minutes or more. Here is what you can knit in that window, which hand knits belong on a brewing shelf, and how to keep wool off the wort.

    Technique Household 8 min read

  13. 1980s Knitting: Leaflets, Acrylic Yarn, Oversized Knits

    A practical look at 1980s knitting: synthetic fibres, bright colours, pattern leaflets and magazines, and what today's knitter can still borrow from those

    Pattern History 8 min read

  14. Warm hand knits for cold-weather horn players

    What brass and hunting horn players wear on cold mornings: yarns, stitches and sizing for wrist warmers and fingerless mitts that fit under an instrument.

    Technique Beginners 8 min read

  15. Leftover yarn, loose fibres and the pets who find them

    Which scraps may stay in reach under supervision, which must be put away, and why the lid on the box matters more than the fibre inside it.

    Household Yarn 9 min read

  16. The knitted headcover: a small tradition riding on a golf bag

    Where knitted headcovers came from, which yarns survive a full season on a bag, and what the numbered tags on the covers actually mean.

    Gifts Pattern 8 min read

  17. Pinning a flower on hand-knit: what the fabric will forgive

    A pin between the stitches or a magnet through the cloth: what a hand-knit forgives, and how heavy a wearable flower may be.

    Finishing Gifts 8 min read

  18. Buying yarn where the vegetables are sold

    Single-flock skeins beside the eggs: the ball-band questions asked out loud, and how a fibre share works from spring to shearing.

    Yarn 8 min read

  19. The old dog beside the knitting chair

    Stiffness shows in small ways first: the signs worth noting, the supplement labels worth reading and the room to set up for an ageing dog.

    Household Care 9 min read

  20. Knitting to a session: old-time rhythm and steady hands

    A slow session is a metronome with a social life: which tunes keep an even tempo and what a first jam expects from a newcomer.

    Pattern 8 min read

  21. A knitting project that travels between two houses

    Small, self-contained and written down: what packs well for a two-house week, what to duplicate, and how a child's knitting stays alive in both homes.

    Household Pattern 9 min read

  22. What an evening of knitting does for the heart

    Rest, not exercise: what a slow hour does to the pulse, how much walking the week still owes and the three numbers worth writing down.

    Household 8 min read

  23. A collie beside the yarn basket, and the medication note worth keeping

    A herding dog in a wool household needs one written page: which common medicines its MDR1 status makes risky, and who must be told.

    Household Care 9 min read

August 20261 entry

  1. What a yarn label tells you: weight, fiber, yardage and dye lot

    Five pieces of information sit on every ball band, and together they decide whether a project works: the weight category, the fiber content, the yardage, the recommended gauge and the dye lot number.

    Yarn 11 min read

July 20261 entry

  1. How to fix a dropped stitch, one rung at a time

    Secure the loose loop first, then climb the ladder with a crochet hook. The same movement works several rows down, in stockinette, in garter stitch and on the purl side.

    Repair 8 min read

June 20262 entries

  1. How to knit mittens on double-pointed needles

    Joining in the round without a twist, keeping the needle changes from leaving ladders, shaping a thumb gusset, parking it on waste yarn, and closing the tip with paired decreases. The arithmetic works for any hand size.

    Technique 12 min read

  2. What to expect at a beginner knitting class

    How a first session is usually run, what you take home from it, what to bring, and the three errors a teacher spends the first hour catching.

    Class 9 min read

May 20262 entries

  1. How to knit socks on double-pointed needles

    Cuff, leg, heel flap, heel turn, gusset, foot, toe. Where each stitch count comes from, and why sock gauge is deliberately tighter than sweater gauge.

    Technique 13 min read

  2. How to read a knitting pattern, line by line

    Asterisks, brackets, size columns, stitch counts in parentheses, and the gauge statement that quietly governs every instruction underneath it.

    Pattern 10 min read

April 20262 entries

  1. A gallery of knit and purl fabrics, and the easy scarf they make

    Garter, stockinette, seed and rib, side by side: what each one does to the edges, to the width and to the yarn. Then one scarf pattern, worked the same way on every row.

    Pattern 9 min read

  2. The best yarn for a first knitting project

    Smooth, plied, pale and medium weight. Why those four words matter more than the fiber on a first project, and what is better left on the shelf for now.

    Yarn 8 min read

March 20261 entry

  1. How to block a hand-knit sweater

    Soaking, squeezing, pinning to the schematic and drying flat. Why wool answers to water, why acrylic only answers to heat, and what heat does to it permanently.

    Finishing 10 min read

February 20261 entry

  1. Crochet or knitting first? What actually differs for a beginner

    One live loop against a whole row of them. That single difference decides the speed, the fabric, the yarn consumption and the cost of a mistake.

    Comparison 8 min read

2025

2025 : The Skein Almanac: dated knitting and crochet how-to

4 entries, September to December

December 20251 entry

  1. Knitted gifts you can actually finish in time

    Count the stitches instead of guessing the hours. A way of working out, before casting on, whether a gift will be ready on the day it is needed.

    Gifts 9 min read

Read the four entries from 2025, month by month

Eight notebooks consulted while writing

  1. Cincinnati bop and swing

    Cincinnati Bop and Swing Dance Guide keeps the bop, the shag and the social floors of the Midwest on record, from a first lesson to the club archive.

  2. mending and garment care

    Get Real Clothes publishes working guides on choosing fabrics, judging clothing brands, and repairing knitwear so it stays in use for years.

  3. life with a golden retriever

    Golden Retriever Atlas Australia follows daily care, health markers and responsible acquisition, with one dog observed day by day.

  4. herding dog competitions

    Herding Dog Competitions explains the outrun, the lift, the fetch and the shed, the USBCHA and AKC classes, and how a first trial is entered.

  5. hip dysplasia in shepherd breeds

    Hip Dysplasia Shepherds covers recognition, OFA scores, surgical options and the non-surgical management of a dysplastic shepherd.

  6. the merle gene, handled safely

    Merle Breeding Safety explains the SILV variants, cryptic merles, merle-to-non-merle pairings and the BAER hearing screen.

  7. fly fishing the Appalachian creeks

    Mountain State Anglers keeps a field notebook on small-stream fly fishing: reading current seams, high-water pockets and riparian conservation.

  8. how broadcast radio works

    The Mast Log explains the technical life of American radio: microphone distance, loudness in LUFS, the FM multiplex and the emergency alert.