How to Create a Knitting Stitch Catalog

Here’s a simple way to track the stitches you’ve used and loved

Have you ever fallen in love with a knitting stitch you used for a particular project?

Have you ever wanted to return to that stitch later, only to realize you’ve forgotten what it was called or how to work it?

You remember only that you love the way it looked and felt. Not much help when you want to try it again!

There’s a simple way to avoid this sad situation: by creating your own knitting stitch catalog.

Why Create a Knitting Stitch Catalog?

Aside from the aforementioned issue of forgetting a stitch you know you loved, creating a knitting stitch catalog can accomplish several other worthwhile feats.

One: it encourages you to branch out. Sometimes we knitters can get stuck into ruts. We often knit the same stitches over and over. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and at times having familiar stitch patterns can offer quality meditative knitting.

However, sometimes we knit the same stitches repeatedly simply out of habit. And at times those habits can cause us to feel creatively stuck.

Creating a knitting stitch catalog encourages you to branch out and try new stitches. Often, the very act of start such a catalog will make you want to try more stitches!

Two: it encourages you to knit swatches. A knitting stitch catalog isn’t much help without actual swatches! So when you create a catalog, especially if your aim is to record the stitches you fall in love with, you’ll be almost forced to create at least one swatch.

And even if you don’t need to knit a swatch for every project, sometimes knitting a swatch can serve other useful purposes.

For instance, it will tell you whether you like the yarn. It can tell you whether the yarn is likely a good fit for the project you want to use it for. It can even tell you if you’ll like the way the variegation works in the pattern you’ve chosen.

Three: It reminds you what you love about a stitch, and what you need to remember about it. Perhaps, for instance, you love the way a stitch looks, but it uses a LOT of yarn.

Or, maybe you’ve discovered that while it looks stunning in a fingering or DK weight yarn, it’s not nearly as attractive in a heavy worsted or bulky weight yarn (or vice versa).

Both of these are excellent examples of notes you can make in your stitch catalog.

Make Your Own Stitch Catalog

Convinced? Awesome! Let’s get to work.

To make a stitch catalog, you’ll need the following:

1. A three-ring binder
2. Photo sleeves
3. Paper

If you have all of these already, great! If not, you can grab them off Amazon below.

Here are some of the things you’ll want to make note of on your paper:

1. The name of the stitch
2. Where you found the stitch (on a website, in a book, in a pattern you purchased or downloaded, etc.).
3. The size needles and yarn you used
4. The fiber content of the yarn you used (if you know it)
5. Anything you want to remember about the stitch (it looks really great in a hat, it’s terrific with variegated yarn, it’s not a great match with cotton yarn, etc.)

Get your printable Knitting Stitch Catalog worksheet here!

Keep swatches in your photo sleeves, and be sure to make note of which swatch belongs to which stitch. (You’d hate to forget, especially if the swatches look somewhat similar!)

This is such a great project to work on whenever you’re feeling like trying a new stitch. Or whenever you simply feel like memorializing a stitch you love. Let me know if you give it a try!