As a designer and worker in the yarn industry for over 10 years I have tried a lot of products — yarns, needles, you name it! This is a big list of my tried and true, absolute favorite items and tools (broken down by category) that I use daily as a designer, knitter, general ninja of sorts. This list will continue to grow over time as I continue to try new yarns and products—I’ll be sure to share my faves with you!
Please Note: The starred * links on this page are affiliate links. This means if you happen to purchase from this link, I may receive a small commission. Not every link on this page is an affiliate link as I truly only share the products and resources I use and love, so I will share those things regardless of any affiliation.
Yarn Faves:
Knitted Wit Yarns: Lorajean’s yarn is hand-dyed perfection and some of my all-time favorite yarn to knit with. Her DK and Worsted are especially among my favorites! Plus, she is a phenomenal human being, so there’s that too. :)
Arkaik Fibres: Jay hand-dyes his yarns right here in Reno, NV and his stuff is stunning! He is a cool dude and a fellow baseball lover, so we get along swimmingly. Look for it in some of my upcoming designs!
Harrisville Designs Yarns: This mill is most famous for processing the ever-popular and amazing Brooklyn Tweed yarns, but did you know they have their own gorgeous collection of yarns? Yes! I love their yarns so much I wanted to mention them here. They also manufacture Peace Fleece which is another favorite of mine. I just can’t get enough tweed in my life.
Knit Collage Yarns: Amy Small of Knit Collage is one of the sweetest people on the planet, and her passion for eclectic and unique yarns is infectious. Her yarns are truly one of a kind and so much fun to knit with!
Notions & Accessories:
Cocoknits Stitch Markers: Their Flight of Stitch Markers is awesome because you get a little bit of everything!
Cocoknits Knitter’s Block: Blocking makes everything better! This blocking set is by far the best on the market. I just loved the absorbent material on the blocks. It makes my projects block lickety-split!
Baskets: I keep these all around my house with various projects in them. I have a number of types of baskets, but I love this French Market Basket from Cocoknits. It’s so pretty and with the longer handles, I can take it with me anywhere pretty easily. I try to source baskets that are fair trade and ethically made.
Eucalan Wool Wash*: I love more natural scents, which is why the Eucalan Wool Washes are my favorite. I use it for blocking all of my knitting projects and I even used it to wash the wool diaper covers I used when cloth diapering my daughter. It’s fantastic stuff!
Needles:
ChiaoGoo Red Twist Needles: Needle preference is such a personal thing and it really took me years of knitting and hundreds of projects before I found my absolutely all-time favorite needles—I’ve tried just about everything! These needles are super duper awesome and I find myself reaching for them over any other needles I own. The brushed stainless steel is light and just sticky enough and the tips are super sharp. I could go on and on — I just love them! I have a full interchangeable set of these and wish I had duplicates of some sizes because I use them so frequently!
KnitPicks Options Needles*: These are great if you prefer a wooden needle and the price-point is really good. I used these for all of my Double Point Needle needs as well, but they also make a great interchangeable set! Also, did you know these needles are made by Knitter’s Pride? They are the same needles as the Dreamz just in different color options! My first set of interchangeable needles (a holiday gift from my now hubby, but then boyfriend) was the Knit Picks Harmony Wood needles. Several years later Knitter’s Pride released the Dreamz so I’ve used both! They are all equally awesome.
Designer Resources:
Stitchmastery: I use this program to create professional looking charts, and once the chart is created, it also produces the written directions as well. With a little tweaking, this program saves me tons of time as a designer!
Canva: I do all of my pattern layout in Canva! You don’t have to be familiar with Adobe or have formal graphic design training to do a beautiful pattern layout. Canva is an online, drag and drop program that is FREE for the basic service! I pay for the upgraded version now, but I used the free version for years before switching. I LOVE it!
Golden Coil Planners: I am a sucker for a good planner and this one is fully customize-able! It’s also gorgeous! I make mine with plenty of dot grid pages and blank pages for doodles and sketches of my designs, as well as project planning pages for mapping out upcoming projects and launches.