One of the best things about a hobby is buying everything you need – and a few things you do not. If you are into cars or motorcycles you probably spend a fortune on accessories. Cooking, exercise, camping, gardening, hiking: there are accessories for every pastime under the sun.
Knitting is no different, and there is a great deal available. These are the ones that actually earn their keep.
1. Stitch markers
The cheapest thing on this list and the most useful.
They mark the start of a round, the position of a decrease, the boundary of a pattern repeat. When your count goes wrong, markers tell you which section it happened in rather than leaving you to search the whole row.
Get the kind that open, so they can be placed and removed without unthreading anything.
2. A row counter
Anything that saves you from trying to remember what row you are on. A clicker, a barrel that fits on the needle, an app – whichever you will actually use.
The cost of losing your place is unpicking, so this pays for itself immediately.
3. A good tape measure
Retractable, and kept in the project bag rather than in a drawer. Gauge and length both need checking regularly, and the measure that is not to hand is the one that does not get used.
4. Blunt tapestry needles
For weaving in ends and for seaming. A blunt tip slides between strands instead of splitting them, which makes both jobs far less unpleasant.
Buy several. They vanish.
5. A stitch holder, or scrap yarn
For stitches set aside – sleeves, necklines, thumbs.
Honestly, a length of smooth scrap yarn threaded through works as well as a purpose-made holder, is more flexible, and costs nothing.
6. A proper project bag
Underrated. Something that keeps a project together with its pattern, yarn and tools, and closes so nothing escapes.
The practical benefit is that a project in a bag by the chair gets picked up. One scattered across a table does not.
What is not worth it
Yarn winders and swifts, unless you regularly buy hanks. For balls, they solve nothing.
Elaborate needle sets bought before you know what you like. Buy the sizes your projects need and build up.
Most gauge gadgets. A ruler works.
The one thing that is not a gadget
Good light. It makes more difference to the pleasure of knitting than every accessory on this list combined, and most people are working in far less than they need.
