If you've ever mistakenly felted a sweater or a pair of socks (or had a well-intentioned spouse do it for you) you may have wondered, why does wool felt? (If you don't really want to know the why, just the how, skip to half way down.)

Wool, and most other mammal fibers, tends to mat together when it gets wet or agitated. This tendency can be frustrating (see accidental sweater felting, above) or fantastic. Here in Canada, when I was a child, a lot of our history lessons had to do with the Hudson's Bay Company and the fur trade. Kids my age could rattle off by rote that the fur trade was key to economic expansion of the HBC because felted hats were fashionable at the time. But for many years I couldn't picture how beavers got turned into hats. The answer, of course, is in the felting.

A selvedge or selvage is the very edge of knitted or woven fabric. In textiles, it is usually woven differently than the rest of the fabric to create a firm edge. In knitting, a selvedge is made by working the edge stitch(es) a little differently to create a visual or functional element.

When you're picking a shawl pattern, or designing your own, there are a few basic construction recipes to start from. You can start with the recipe and alter it by adding texture, lace, color. You can also add a knitted-on border after the basic shape is made.

The shapes here are of the triangular, crescent or semi-circle variety. Rectangular shawls will be in another article.

For most shaped shawls, thorough blocking is required to get them into their final geometry.

Kitchener Stitch, or grafting, is used to join two sets of live stitches together. You'll see it used in socks, scarves that have a symmetrical lace pattern, the underarms of seamless sweaters, and some cowls.

I'm sure there are knitters who can graft without having to check their knitting books or google "kitchener stitch" but I am not one of them. 

So I made myself a little cheat sheet, printed off a few, and put one in every knitting basket. And I thought, hey, other knitters might like this too! Here's a free pdf for a Kitchener Stitch cheat sheet; just print it on letter size paper or card stock, and cut it along the crop lines.

We have a spooky sweater in our house that is haunted; it is actually 1 sweater plus the 2 sweaters that I unravelled. It was a sweater for Charles. The first one was a top down seamless raglan with stranded colour work around the yoke. I got 75% done, and realized the whole thing was boring and the yarn was kind of wrong for a guy's sweater. Frogged it. Next one, added a strand of sock yarn to the yarn for more oomph, redesigned it, now a seamless bottom up raglan hoodie with a kangaroo pocket, with seed stitch panels and cables. Got ALL THE WAY TO THE NECK, and realized (because it became really obvious when I got to the neck) that the back panel of seed stitch, which was supposed to be centered, was OFF CENTER. Not enough to make it look intentional.

The third time, I did successfully finish the sweater, but the magic was really gone. It looks fine, but honestly, the yarn isn't right for a large men's hoodie, it stretches.

I don't know if other knitters have this problem, but I make a lot of dumb mistakes. Dumb because they're PREVENTABLE. I did it again recently; again on a seamless garment, so the rows are really long. Got to the underarm shaping, and realized that I had missed the side shaping, but only on one side. How do these things happen?

 Yarn pom poms are a charming little addition to knitted hats and scarves. They're fun on their own too, just stick some googly eyes or felt ears on them, and you have a new creature. They are a great use of scarp yarn, and kids can make them with almost no adult assistance.

If you've looked at any top-down shawl patterns, you have probably seen the "garter stitch tab". I didn't include one in the Oaklet Shawl pattern, because I wanted the shawl to be doable by a beginner knitter. But it's a handy technique, and once you get past its trickiness, it adds a lovely seamless border to the top of your shawl. In this article, I've included a photo of the tab in a shawl, and instructions on how to make a tab, with a diagram.

Joining new yarn is such an important question to answer, and is closely related to Weaving in the Ends. Another method that didn't get included in Joining New Yarn is one of the simpler methods.

A selvedge, or edge stitch, is a nice way to make a neat edge on your knitted pieces. There are different kinds of knitted selvedges, and which one you use depends on what will happen to that edge. The word comes from "self-edge" and means an edge that prevents unravelling in cloth. (Selvedge is also the name of an exciting magazine about textile design, check out their site).

Here are a few variations, but try them out before you commit. Some work better for seaming and picking up than others, and some are more attractive than others.

Here is a way to make a fluttery ruffle.

There are many versions of knitted bells.

Using a row of eyelets is a great way to make a ruffle.

Here are some basic ruffles.

But what on earth is this vaguely rude looking device?

Knitted ruffles and frills are a feminine addition to sweaters, skirts, jackets, scarves, baby clothes and blankets.

Double stranding is also a great way to use those very fine yarns.

I've been experimenting with adding ribbon to my knitting, and I think it might strike a happy balance between girly and tomboy.

A couple fancy ways to bind off...

Here are some specialized methods for casting on in knitting.

My seven year old son —the same age as me when I learned to knit— is learning to knit.

Kitchener Stitch is a knitting technique for joining two sets of live stitches invisibly. It's also called grafting. It's used where you don't want to see or feel a seam in your knitting. You'll see it in sock toes, on the underarm stitches of seamless raglan sweaters (like the Cordova Cardigan), and on scarves that are knit in two halves. It's also very useful in lengthening or shortening knitted garments. It's not difficult, but needs to be done carefully and correctly. A successful Kitchener Stitch gives you bragging rights. Yes, you can walk up to strangers and dare them to find your invisible grafted seam. 

Wondering how to knit a buttonhole? There are several options, from the simplest eyelet buttonhole, to the "Tulip" buttonhole seen in Interweave Knits.