Over this past weekend, I couldn’t get enough of my knitting! I finished my very first knit sweater on Saturday (can you believe I’ve been knitting for 5 years now without ever having finished a sweater?). I was so satisfied and inspired that I had a lacy camisole started on my needles almost before the sweater was bound off. Needless to say, I adore knitting. When I saw this weekend’s CutRateCrafts newsletter collection, I was ecstatic! The collection is all about knitting (with a bit of Christmas in July throw in for non-knitters!).

When I read over the weekend collection, I usually highlight products I would like to try or interesting knitting tools I’ve heard about. But this weekend, I noticed that I already have many of the products in the collection, and they’re all great! So I thought that today I would tell you which products are really worth the investment. These products are tested and approved by a real knitter!

I noticed the book French Girl Knits, which came into my hands about a year ago, right away. Each and every pattern is delicate, ladylike, and beautiful. The book mostly features sweater patterns of all styles, but also includes one wrap skirt. I always go crazy over knit skirt patterns since they aren’t always easy to find! Some of my favorite patterns from this book include a cable and lace jacket called Stella, a practical but feminine cardigan named Viola, and an Alpine corset-laced tank called Cybele (and if that last pattern inspires you to sew a matching dirndl skirt embroidered with tiny edelweiss, I won’t judge).

Another book that caught my eye was 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders. I have a habit of wandering over to a display of discounted yarn and grabbing a skein of everything that strikes my fancy because, after all, they’re on sale! Fast forward to a storage bin full of mismatched skeins and me searching pattern databases for a project that uses no more than 100 yards and isn’t amigurumi. I really don’t need any more variations of patterns for knit vegetables. This book solves that problem with a huge collection of small projects organized by yarn weight.

Speaking of my yarn collection, I’d also recommend you to take a look at the Cropper Hopper 3-Drawer Rolling Cart. The only logical place to store my yarn is the closet in my guest bedroom. It’s a regular clothes closet: about 1-1/2 feet deep with no shelving and an essentially useless hanging rod. Rather than stack bins of yarn on top of each other so that I have to unstack and re-stack every time I need something, I made the decision to use free-standing storage drawers about a year ago. I can’t tell you how helpful this has been in organizing my yarn. The wheels on this 3-drawer unit are especially helpful for reorganizing or moving (which I did several times in the past few years).

Another knitting purchase I have never regretted is my interchangeable needle set. I waffled over this decision for a long time but finally decided to purchase them, and I’m so glad I did. I had inherited a healthy collection of straight needles from my grandmother, but when I started knitting in the round, I began to realize how much money I could spend buying every size and length of circular needle under the sun. Worse, my needle collection was becoming so frazzled and disorganized that I couldn’t even find the needles I did have when I needed them. My interchangeable needles were a godsend. Now if I’m swatching a project away from home and still figuring out what needle size to use, I simply throw the whole set in my bag. When I have to change needle sizes in the middle of a project, I can just switch out the needles tips attached to the cord. If I start working on a new project that calls for the same size needles as I had been using for another piece, I just detach the needle tips and attach the cord to itself or another pair of tips. I’d recommend a set (or two!) for any serious knitter.

Take a look at the collection and tell me which products you already have. What are your best knitting investments?

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