Online knitting groups – a knitter is never truly alone

Hi again! This week I shared with you my secrets to making the beautiful Contours Cowl into a more spring-like cowl. The original was knit up using a worsted weight yarn, but I used the lusciously soft Fibra Natura Donnina Merino, a sport yarn in a pretty Blue Hint color. I also made a few changes to the pattern to lighten it up.

In the posts that followed I talked about a few knitting needle options and accessories from Knitter’s Pride to help speed us along. I considered wood vs metal, looking at Nova, dreamz, KARBONZ, and Cubics.

I also covered a couple of cast-on and bind-off techniques to finish the edges. Finally, we brought this pretty cowl to life with a gentle blocking using Knitter’s Pride Knit Blockers. Now, it’s ready to show off!

Unfortunately, in this time of COVID-19 many of us find ourselves at home, and let’s just say the family enthusiasm for our knitting can be a little underwhelming. You have a finished cowl that you’ve diligently worked on, and no one can appreciate the care that went into each stitch like fellow knitters. But, although all the knitting groups are canceled and your LYS is closed for in-store shopping, don’t despair. We have the technology to find others of our kind.

Many of the knitters have taken to online video meeting apps like Zoom to see each other face to face and bring a little normal back into our lives. If you haven’t heard of it Zoom allows groups of people to video chat in real-time with each other. It’s simple to download Zoom onto any device: cell phone, tablet, or computer. You can choose to have video and sound, or just sound (if you have just rolled out of bed, and are pre-coffee…or pants.) I’ve been in groups with people from all over the world! If you haven’t found a video knitting group, I suggest you contact your LYS, or pop into your favorite Ravelry or Facebook groups to see if they’ve got one going on.

Maybe you’re not up for a Zoom video chat, but still want to connect with your tribe. There are other options out there. Instagram and Messenger programs have video chat options that you can use to connect with a select group of your knitting friends. Create a group on Messenger or Instagram, and click the video camera icon to open a group video chat. Be careful though, this will open video and sound on all the devices linked to that group, so let people know you’re going to do it before you click. Especially if you’re going to trash talk Fiona’s weird novelty hat she knit that looks like it has eyes and is trying to swallow her head. Fi may be listening…

If video chat is just a little too overwhelming, and you would prefer to just post pictures and send messages; you can join a Ravelry group to share your projects, find inspiration, ask knitting questions, and stay connected. Look for a group that’s based on something that appeals to you (ie Fi Blog Lovers), has quite a few members, and is active showing a lot of posts per month. It may take a little exploration since there are a lot of groups on Ravelry, but if you can find your perfect group of knitters it’s worth the effort.

Facebook and Instagram are still great ways to keep in touch, join in KALs, and share your projects. Some of your favorite Facebook groups and pages have created Zoom video chats as well. Both social media platforms have live videos that are being made every day by knitters you admire. You can even add your own live video. Perhaps a video about the beautiful spring cowl you just made in this fabulous new yarn you discovered on this ah-maz-ing blog you read written by this awesome knitter and knitwear designer, Fiona Stevenson. Yeah, come to think of it, do that.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s blog about the Spring Contours Cowl in Donnina Merino. Look for me to reappear on KNITmuch.com again in the fall. Stay safe, stay well, stay busy with knitting.