4 knitting skills I learned in 2025 that upped my game
I mostly worked on sweaters this year. It gave me the opportunity to try some new techniques that I’m excited too keep using and to bring into my own pattern writing. I highly recommend checking out these knitting techniques. They’ll help your knitting to look more professional!
Patty Lyons is a knitting rockstar. Her instagram and website are filled with things you’ve always wondered about and things you didn’t know you needed to know. This one is the latter category. By changing how you work the stitches, you have the opportunity to adjust the tension, getting rid of that loose top stitch that plagues the regular SSK.
How to do it: Insert your right needle knitwise through the first stitch on the left needle, then insert your right needle knitwise TBL through the second stitch on the the left needle. Knit both stitches together.
2. Fixing loose stitches on ribbing
Another great Patty tip! If your last knit column is loose in ribbing, you can wrap the yarn of your first purl stitch under the needle instead of over. This shortens the loop length of the purl and helps to resolve that loose stitch.
3. German short rows
I really don’t know why I was introduced to short rows via the wrap and turn. I always find one side looks off when knitting in the round. German short rows are less fussy (no moving stitches back and forth) and look almost invisible when finished.
I use short row shaping a lot in my toy patterns, and moving forward I’ll be doing them all as German short rows. As I learn new techniques and update the way I write my patterns, I’m now more attuned to seeing the same growth in other designers’ patterns. If you’ve ever gotten a pattern and wondered why the designer made that choice, chances are high that they were still early in their own learning journey.
I talked with a crochet designer years ago when I was starting my own design journey, and she told me a story that I’ve carried with me, paraphrased here: I did things design-wise in my first book that I would never do now. looking back on some of it makes me cringe. But the book is published.
We can’t go back to re-work patterns that are finished. If I did that, I would never write another new pattern. You, the knitter, are on your own skills journey, and you’re free to make as many changes as you want. The link above has directions on how to change wrap and turn into German short rows.
4. Angling YOs on lace knitting
A very simple one, again courtesy of Patty. I made several tops with lace details this year, had a vague recollection that Patty had said something on the subject, and dug up the post on it. Her advice is to switch up the way you yarn over around your decrease stitches so that your YOs are mirrored. I’ll let her take it from here.
What about you? Any new things you tried last year or are excited to learn in 2026?