Knitting

40 Blog Post Ideas for Makers

blog post ideas for makers

Looking for new knitting projects? Check out my patterns on Etsy!

Hi friends! If you’re anything like me, you’ll often find yourself in front of your laptop actively thinking about writing a new blog post but seem to have lost all your inspiration, motivation and ability to say anything remotely interesting. But not to worry, I’m here to the rescue (both yours and mine)! In this blog post, I’ll be sharing with you my 40 blog post ideas for makers – I hope these will inspire you and maybe even encourage you to start your own blog if you don’t have one yet!

(X) = Insert your craft here!

1. (X) 101: How to Get Started
2. Where to Buy Materials
3. My Top 5 Fibers to Work with
4. Knitting Needles: Circulars vs Single Pointed
5. My Favorite Yarn Weights
6. Basic (X) Stitches
7. My Favorite Free Patterns
8. My Favorite Patterns for Beginners
9. Basic (X) Abbreviations
10. My Favorite Reversible Stitches
11. How I Started (X)
12. Pattern Writing 101
13. Designing 101
14. How to Turn Your Hobby into a Small Business
15. Small Business 101
16. Why You Should Have a Mailing List
17. How to Buy Yarn in Bulks
18. Where to Sell Your Patterns
19. Where to Sell Your Physical Items
20. My Packaging & Delivery Tips
21. How to Make Your Brand Stand out
22. Why a Brand Identity Is Important
23. How to Make the Most out of Instagram
24. Photography 101
25. How to Take Eye Catching Product Pictures
26. Flat Lays 101
27. Picture Editing 101
28. My Favorite Apps & Websites
29. How to Use Canva as a Small Business Tool
30. My Favorite Designers
31. How to Stay Creative & Productive While Working from Home
32. How to Believe in Yourself & Your Small Business
33. My Top 5 Stretches for Makers
34. How (X) Can Make You Feel Better
35. How to Use Pinterest Like a Pro
36. How to Connect with Other Makers
37. How To: Brand Collaborations
38. How to Price Your Work
39. What’s Gauge & How to Check It
40. My Top 5 Handmade Pieces

And voilà, there you have it – I hope these 40 blog post ideas for makers will give you inspiration for your future posts!

blog post ideas for makers

Knitting Patterns

Free Knitting Pattern: The Linzer Throw

linzer throw

Hi friends! When I say this design has been in the making for the past forever, forever being exactly one year, I’m definitely not joking. So after one year of originally writing and even having the pattern tested, I’d like you to finally meet the Linzer Throw Pillow!

linzer throw

This bohemian pillow is knit with bulky weight (category 5) yarn, 8mm/US 11 circular needles and it’s worked in the round which means you’ll be knitting stockinette stitch throughout the work and only seaming two openings (a big yes to this right)! The pattern also comes with two alternatives: a fair isle version with 2 colors, and a textured version with 1 color!

linzer throw

Should you have any questions about the pattern, you can always send me a message on Instagram or an email at kati@katimaaria.com

Use the hashtag #linzerthrow and tag me @katimaariaknits if you share a picture of the design on Instagram – this way I won’t miss it!

So without further ado, get your needles & yarn ready and happy knitting!

MEASUREMENTS
One size: 40x40cm / 16×16 inches

MATERIALS

  • 8mm/US 11 circular needles (60cm/24″) OR any needles to obtain the gauge
  • Approximately 163m/178 yards (main color) and 98m/107 yards (contrast color) of bulky weight (category 5) yarn
  • Yarn recommendations:
  • Gauge: 10x10cm/4×4″ of stockinette stitch in fair isle with 8mm/US 11 needles = 14 stitches, 14 rounds
  • Tapestry needle
  • 40x40cm/16×16″ pillow
  • Optional: extra yarn for tassels

ABOUT THE PATTERN
This pillow is knit in the round and only consists of stockinette stitch (all stitches are knit). Knitting in the round makes the seaming a breeze – you’ll only need to seam together the cast-on edge and the bind-off edge!

The fair isle pattern is a 14-stitch, 14-round repeat. The 14-stitch chart is knit 8 times per round, adding up to a total of 112 stitches in the pillow. The 14 rounds are knit for a total of 4 times, which means you’ll be knitting 56 rounds.

The longest floats in the pattern are 8 stitches so make sure you catch them and don’t make floats longer than 5 stitches! Personally, I catch floats already every 3rd stitch – I’ve found it to be a good “rhythm” for my tension while working with two different colors.

Pattern alternative: you can also make this throw pillow using only one color and, instead of working the chart with two colors, purling all the contrast color stitches. This version of the pattern was created by one of my amazing testers, Tara from Knits by Tara, and it’s absolutely brilliant!

Image credit: Knits by Tara

CHART OVERVIEW
Here’s a 56-stitch x 56-round overview of the pattern – I think it gives a better overall idea of how the fair isle is going to look like once the pillow is finished! The stitch count in this chart is half the stitches of the work and the round count is complete, including all 56 rounds.

Click the image to open it bigger!


INSTRUCTIONS
Cast on 112 stitches on your 8mm / US 11 circular needles (60cm/24”) using the main color. Make sure you leave a long tail; you’ll be using it to close the opening.

Join the work in the round and knit 1 round in stockinette stitch with the main color before starting the fair isle pattern.

Click the image to open it bigger!

Follow the 14-stitch knitting chart (the chart is knit 8 times per round, 8 x 14 sts = 112 sts), and knit rounds 1-14.

Repeat the chart rounds 1-14 another 3 times, knitting them a total of 4 times for the pillow (56 rounds).

Finish by knitting 1 round of stockinette stitch using the main color before binding off.

BINDING OFF
Step 1: Knit 2 stitches
Step 2: Using your left needle, lift the first stitch on your right needle over the second stitch and drop it off the needle
Step 3: Knit 1 stitch

Keep repeating steps 2-3 until 1 stitch remains.

Cut the yarn leaving a long tail (you’ll use this tail to seam together the bind-off edge), pull the tail through the remaining stitch, thread through the very first stitch that was bound off in the beginning to close the round and pull gently to secure the work.

In these tutorials, I’m using a small test piece just to show you the techniques!

Click the image to open it bigger!

SEAMING
To seam your pillow, you’ll be using the mattress stitch that creates an invisible horizontal seam.

Before starting, make sure the right side of your pillow is facing up (and that it’s not inside out).

The part where your round changed should be on the side of the pillow: this way, it’ll be less visible and you’ll be able to seam with the long tails that were left after casting on and binding off.

Align the pillow so that the fair isle pattern matches on both sides.

You can start either at the cast-on or bind-off edge.

The mattress stitch: thread the yarn under the horizontal stitches that you’ll find at the stem of the cast-on/bind-off edges. Pick up one stitch per edge at a time and move between the edges, always threading under matching stitches. Continue until you have seamed the opening and secure the tail by weaving in on the wrong side.

Click the image to open it bigger!

If you want to add tassels, attach them at this point before inserting the pillow (this way you can still secure the tassels by weaving in the ends on the wrong side).

Find a tutorial for making tassels here!

Insert a 40x40cm / 16×16” pillow and seam together the second opening using the mattress stitch.

And voilà, your new throw pillow is now ready to make your home even cozier! I hope you enjoyed this pattern and will be returning to it in the future as well!

linzer throw

Knitting Tutorials

Maker Tip: How Much Yarn Did You Use

how much yarn

Hi friends! Today I’m coming to you with a little maker tip on how to determine exactly how much yarn you used for your project!

Let’s start with the information you’ll need:
– Weight of full skein (in grams)
– Yardage / Meters of full skein
– Weight of your project (in grams)

Tools needed:
– Kitchen scale (to weigh your project)
– Calculator (like the one on your phone)

If you don’t have the label of the full skein on you anymore, you can always search the yarn you used online and find the information either on the yarn brand’s website or Ravelry, just to name a few! This method works for projects that use a single color.

And then onto the calculations!

Step 1: Weigh your project on a kitchen scale
Step 2: Divide project weight by full skein weight
Step 3: Multiply the yardage (or meters) of the full skein by the number obtained in Step 2

EXAMPLE

Let’s say I had a full skein of yarn that weighed 200g and had 220 meters of yarn in it, and I knit a pair of socks.

Step 1: I weigh my project and find out it weighs 180 grams
Step 2: I divide the project weight by the full skein weight 180g/200g = 0.9
Step 3: I multiply the yardage (or meters) of the full skein by the number from Step 2 : 0.9 x 220m = 198m

And voilà, I have the exact amount of yarn I used for my project which, in this case, would be 198 meters!

Understanding the calculations: in step 2, by dividing the project weight by the full skein weight, you’ll end up having a percentage. 180 grams of 200 grams is 90% (or 0,9). As you now have a percentage, you can use it to multiply the yardage of the full skein to have the equivalent of the percentage in yards or meters as well, instead of only grams.

Looking for more maker tips? Check out my post on pattern writing!

Knitting Patterns

Pattern Writing 101 – My Best Tips & Tricks!

pattern writing

Want to stay super organized with your pattern writing process? Download my free pattern planner PDF from this post!

Hi friends! I did a poll on my Instagram stories a few weeks ago asking if you’d be interested in reading a little more about everything that goes into pattern writing for me and as the response was so positive, I decided to write down my best tips & tricks when it comes to pattern writing and designing! So make sure you’re sitting tight because here we gooooooo!

First, a little disclaimer: this is the process I’ve personally come to love and it works perfectly for me. That being said, all designers and makers are different, and this list is definitely not an exhaustive one. Some points in this post may seem unimportant to you, and you might find some things that you hold dear in your design process missing. The goal of this post is to shine a light into my personal pattern writing process in the hopes you’ll maybe pick up something new or get inspired to start writing your own designs!

The design

All good patterns start with an idea. Make sure your new design is original, creative and something that you absolutely love. Do your research and try to look for patterns with key words you’d use to search your design to make sure something similar doesn’t already exist. Once you get started, don’t be afraid to frog your new project a million times if needed to make sure that it works. If it’s a design that flies off your needles / hook, trust your gut! I’ve had a pretty good gut feeling about all my patterns and that feeling has turned out to be pretty trustworthy.

A bonus tip for naming your new pattern: search Instagram for the tag! This is what I always do before officially naming a new design to make sure the exact same name isn’t already in use for another design.

The making

After knitting a first version of the design, I often like to type up a rough sketch of the pattern and then re-knit it from scratch (note that I’ve only published beanies, socks and mittens – knits that can be easily & quickly knit up). I feel like it’s a good way to make sure your instructions make sense, you haven’t forgotten anything important and that the written pattern matches every step of the knit piece. If stitch counts vary (like they often do), I have 3 words for you: write them down. Same goes for row counts, pattern repeats, etc. These are things that can be easily forgotten if not written down in detail while you’re actually knitting up the piece, so do your future self a favor and keep track of things!

Make sure your 10x10cm / 4×4″ gauge is accurately measured and that you’ve knit your swatch with the intended needle size –  I personally always knit my swatches in stockinette stitch.

Also if you’re planning on making a knitting support file with tutorial pictures, this is probably the best time to take those pictures! I’m a visual learner myself and love all kinds of tutorials, which is why I like to include them in designs like socks and mittens. This step does take some time, but I’ve had so much positive feedback when it comes to my pattern supports that it’s definitely been worth it! I usually include my supports as their individual PDFs with the original pattern, and take anywhere between 60 and 120 pictures per tutorial depending on the pattern.

pattern writing

The writing

Now here comes the part I really feel like divides people up – you either love typing up a pattern or you’d rather be knitting and having someone else do the computer work! Before getting started on the whole writing process, you should accept the fact that it’s a time consuming commitment. Pattern writing takes time and effort, and depending on the piece you’re designing, hours and hours of work. The thing that’s helped me the most was creating a template I use for all my patterns, and in my opinion this has two big advantages: you’ll save tons of time not having to rewrite everything for new patterns, and all your patterns will have a consistent look that matches your brand. I personally use Canva to create my pattern PDFs, but I know that Word and Power Point do an amazing job as well. My favorite thing about Canva is that you can easily edit just about everything: add your own personal touches like brand colors and fonts, easily manage all elements like pictures, icons and text in their individual “boxes”, and have your designs with you wherever you go.

My motto when it comes to patterns is pretty simple and, if you’re ready, here it comes: more is more. The more information you can add to your pattern, the better. The more you can provide support in the form of tutorials (pictures or videos), the better. This way, once the pattern is actually published, you’ll probably have to answer less questions because your pattern already explains all the key things your customer needs to know. Also think about the audience you’re creating your pattern for: is it a beginner friendly pattern or does it require a certain skill level? Should you only write in inches and yards, or include metric measurements as well?

Here’s a little list of things all my patterns include:

– Sizing and measurements
– Materials used
– Gauge
– Abbreviations
– Yarn recommendations
– The actual written pattern (for a beanie for example, this would be brim – beanie – decreases)
– A
Pattern Notes -page and printable gift tags – now these are totally an added bonus but I loved making them and also love offering something a little extra with my patterns!

The testing

Once you’ve typed up your pattern, it’s time to have it tested. I don’t think I can ever stress enough the importance of this step, but here I go: always test each and every single pattern before publishing. Why? Let me tell you!

You’ll be a lot less stressed come pattern release day. The feeling of not being the only person to knit up your pattern is the greatest feeling on earth. You’ll know that the pattern makes sense to more people than just yourself which, let’s face it, is sort of the whole idea of making and publishing great patterns.

You get blind to your own patterns. I feel like this happens especially if you work on a pattern for weeks or maybe even months. You get blind to your mistakes, typos, and things that in general make no sense.

Testers provide the most valuable feedback you can get. I appreciate all my testers from the bottom of my heart. Their feedback is incredibly valuable and takes your pattern to the next level, and allows you to publish your new design sans stress!

When your design has multiple sizes. Say you’re designing a pattern for a sweater that you want to publish in an inclusive size range (let’s face it, this is the only way to go: all bodies are beautiful and deserve to wear aaaaall the beautiful knits!) but you yourself can obviously only knit the design in one size. You’ll need testers for the remaining sizes to give you feedback on how the pattern works for different bodies and whether the sizing is on point or not. On a side note, I’ve never published a garment pattern myself but I’d love to design my own cable cardigan – learning grading and making the pattern are at the top of my 2020 maker to-do list!

I’m pretty sure this list could be turned into a book of its own but for now, just know that pattern testing is a crucial step you do not want to miss under any circumstances!

The prepping

While your pattern is being tested, it’s time to get everything ready for the release day! For me, this means the following things:

– Snap pictures for Etsy, blog and Instagram
– Create Etsy listing
– Organize a giveaway on Instagram
– Make Instagram stories for pattern release day
– Prep Instagram post for release day
– Make sure all tester notes were received
– Run a release day sale for the pattern

I’ve found that these are all things that can be prepped well in advance of the actual pattern release date. Here are some of my favorite apps that help me get all this done:

Picture taking & editing. I take some of my pictures with my iPhone 11, and others with my Nikon D3300 DSLR – this pretty much depends on the amount of daylight available. If it’s sunny, my iPhone will often do the trick, but on grey & rainy days I often rely on my DSLR, as it allows me to edit the pictures more without losing quality. My go-to picture editing apps are VSCO and Adobe’s Lightroom CC. I could talk about Lightroom for years because it’s a total life saver – for both tutorial & product pictures! Say you have 60 tutorial pictures to edit for a knitting support: you’re not going to want to edit them one by one, but rather edit one picture and paste the edits onto the remaining images all at once, like magic!

Instagram stories. I love love love the Unfold app that allows you to create stylish stories and combine multiple pictures, colors and fonts. It’s easy to use, allows you to create different story sets and is also a free app!

Another great app for making stories is Canva, the website I use to create my pattern PDFs (really I don’t know what I’d do without it)! Canva is excellent if you want to add different elements to your stories like illustrations, drawings, different fonts, you name it. It’s amazing.

Prepping Etsy listing (+ any other platform you want to make your patterns available). I personally only sell my patterns on Etsy, but you could also be doing Ravelry and your own web shop if you have one! For me, good product pictures are the Nutella to my Etsy pancake. I like to include flat lays and modeled pictures to really get a good idea on how the design is supposed to look like when it’s finished and what it also looks like when worn! Things I always include in my listings are:

– Skill level required to make the piece
– Sizing
– Yarn category
– Needle size

The launching

The day you’ve been waiting for is here: launch day! If you’ve prepped everything in advance, launch day will mostly consist of actually publishing the pattern, and posting on Instagram to let everyone know your amazing new design is now available for the world to see! I like to publish patterns over the weekend, and often do it around 5PM French time – this means it’s morning in North America and still not too late here in Europe. I personally love pattern release dates and always get so excited to see how a new design is received! The key to a stress-free pattern release date, in my opinion, is good prepping which means you can mostly just sit down and relax, and enjoy a job well done!

My go-to apps & websites

To wrap things up, here’s a list of the apps & websites I mentioned in this post and that help me get things done!

Canva for pattern writing and Instagram stories
Unfold for Instagram stories
VSCO for picture editing
Lightroom CC for picture editing
Etsy for selling

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little peek into my pattern writing process and even found some useful tips that can help you in creating your own designs!

Knitting

FREE PRINTABLE Pattern Planner

pattern planner

Hi fellow makers, and happy 2020! My goal for this new year was to be more organized, and I’m starting with patterns! I love the process of bringing patterns to life but with multiple designs and ideas, life can get a little messy if you’re not on top of things…which is exactly why I made this little planner!

The planner comes in 3 color options and prints out perfectly onto an A4, and it includes a to do -list, space to write down your testers, materials and more!

Scroll down to download your own copy and happy knitting/crocheting/whatever your craft happens to be!

pattern planner

// DOWNLOAD THE FULL COLOR VERSION HERE //

pattern planner

// DOWNLOAD THE COLOR FRAME VERSION HERE //

pattern planner

// DOWNLOAD THE BLACK & WHITE VERSION HERE //

xx, Kati