It’s All About Understanding the WHY: My Favorite Questions & Tips from Ask Patty
Do you have a problem you’d like me to tackle? This is a question I ask A LOT. I have been happy to answer your knitting questions (sometimes even not knitting related) in classes, tweets, on my education platform, and my advice columns—”Ask Patty” on Modern Daily Knitting—for quite some time. I enjoy helping us (yes, including myself) to conquer knitting puzzles and catch the a-ha moments. I love sharing my tips with you and teaching the WHY in addition to the HOW. In that way, we can actually master the skills and be inspired by each other. That’s also why I am working on a book (!) which will be released in the fall. (Stay tuned!)
I can’t believe that it has been over three years since the first “Ask Patty” column came out in 2018. So with that in mind, I’ve rounded up some of my favorite tips from the column!
My 5 Favorite “Ask Patty” Columns: Featuring Tips, Tricks, and a Little Wisdom
Knitting jogs & knitters’ conundrums—my very first “Ask Patty” column
In my very first column, I answered two classic questions; one is about how to do a little trick to smoothing out jog and another one is a bit life—how to deal with the annoying part in knitters’ lives. The piece has been published for a while but is definitely worth checking out. Read More »
Answering a question from a special knitter—ME
Questions sometimes are not just questions. They trigger us to think differently and lead us to a new world. We learn from our own questioning, but also from our own answering. That’s right—this time I share the a-ha moment when I had a question for something I’ve done a million times, and a brand-new idea just popped into my head. Click and read on my new ideas on German Short Rows and Jogless Bind-Off. Read More »
The question ever knitter has—fear of finishing
Have you ever suffered from a common knitting ailment: fear of finishing? Trust me, you are not alone. In these two “Ask Patty” installments, I divided and conquered a few questions on finishing finesse from weaving in the end to picking up stitches. When you learned to love finishing, your knitting world changed forever.
Fix annoying bits—the things that annoy us way more than they should
I have a category for questions about the annoying little feature of our sweaters and all knitters struggle with. I call them “things that bug.” They are like the rings on your table that will not kill you but it’s hard to sleep on them. Hate the annoying hem flip or can’t wait to get rid of the weird loop that appears at the end of a bind-off? Here are the tips for you. You are welcome!
Reader asking a question I had no answer to, so I made one up: One More Jogless Join
You all know me, if I get a question I can’t answer that nags at me until I figure it out. Of course, you can’t get away from what you are afraid of, so a terrible thing happened. In this piece, I found a question I couldn’t answer: knitter wrote to Ask Patty wanting a matching cast on to the Icelandic bind-off. I couldn’t find one. So guess what? I made one up! Read More »
I hope you are enjoying the columns, tips, and insights and I hope these questions let you know you are not alone. And remember sometimes what seems like a problem actually is an opportunity to make you strong! Godspeed my friends.
Do you have a burning question? A myth you want busted? Email askpattymdk@gmail.com.
Hi Patty,
After your Create a Better Fabric workshop in PEI, I am training myself to use the tips of my needles to work the new stitch (and sizing the new stitch with the shaft). My question, are there interchangeable needles (I prefer steel) that have a longer taper than my Chiagoo’s. And would longer tips perhaps help me to limit the working on the stitch at the taper ends?
Thank you!
Jane