Jessie Loves: The 3 Life Lessons Knitting Has Taught Me

Part 1 of my craft supplies series, featuring my favorite knitting resources

First off, a huge thank you to everyone who’s subscribed to the (new!) paid tier of my newsletter. I had such an amazing response to its launch in December. This is a passion project for me and your support has been truly overwhelming and very much appreciated. I even held the spot for “#1 Rising Substack,” which was beyond my wildest dreams!!! From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being here and for all the kind messages. It means a lot. Stay tuned for an extra letter, just for paid subscribers, coming at the end of this month!

For my first letter of 2026, I’m excited to kick off a new series on Jessie Loves about craft and art supplies, featuring my favorite sources for tools, materials, retailers, and more. Over the year, I hope to cover subjects like gift wrapping & stationery, sewing, and more — basically all the things I recommend having in your craft and art supply drawer or closet. If there are any specific topics you’d like me to cover, please tell me!

First up in the series is knitting.

I was lucky to grow up with a mom and grandmother who were both amazing knitters. I was dressed in handmade sweaters as a little kid, some with beautiful intarsia detailing and even one with pockets shaped like apples with tiny apple buttons down the front. It would be an understatement to say that growing up around craft and a deep appreciation for handmade things had an enormous impact on me and my design aesthetic.

Intarsia wool sweater knit by my mom. I love that tomboy me is also holding an action figure in my hands while playing in the leaves.

My older brother Jeff in a cute hand-knit patchwork sweater. I may need to bring a sweater like this back at LR! I love the color choices here.

I’ve been knitting since I was a little girl. I really struggled to learn since I am left-handed and everyone around me was a righty, but with perseverance I figured it out. It really is quite easy to get the hang of it with a lot of patience. There are basically only two main stitches: knit and purl. The hardest part, as with many things, is just getting started (casting on and that tricky first row).

Over the years, I’ve slowly built up my repertoire, in many cases teaching myself about cables, all kinds of stitches, edging techniques, finishing, etc. Below, find some of my favorite resources and a few life lessons I’ve picked up along the way.

Yarn

1. Purl Soho

I love the yarns from Purl Soho because they are elegant and beautifully made. The colors are chic and well edited. I am super annoyed that you can only buy them online as it’s VERRRY hard to buy yarn without seeing it! And their shipping from California takes forever. Like forever. That said, it’s the best yarn in my book.

This yarn is “Bloom,” a mix of cashmere and merino fibers.

2. Malabrigo

We use this gorgeous Peruvian yarn in a lot of our sweaters. It’s hand dyed so there are beautiful highs and lows to the color. This yarn is sold in many local knit shops so you can touch it and see it before you buy.

This pretty Loeffler Randall sweater is knit with Malabrigo yarn.

3. Local Yarn Shops

When I’m not shopping at Purl, I usually shop at local knit stores. There is one by me called Argyle that is pretty good (although limited in yarn brands) and another one on the UWS of Manhattan called Knitty City that I truck all the way to sometimes because they have nice stuff and are very knowledgeable.

When I am shopping for yarn, I look for 100% natural fibers. I don’t like synthetics. I usually go for some kind of merino or cashmere or wool. Or even cotton. I knit these washcloths out of cotton yarn from Purl which has slight highs and lows to the color (something I find is unusual in 100% cotton yarn).

Do you have any favorite yarn shops I’m missing?

Needles

I always use wooden needles if I can. I like the way they feel, look and sound (!) better than metal. They are just a lot chicer in my book. And if I can knit my pattern on a circular needle (regardless of whether it’s knit in the round or not), I prefer to do that.

Needle Notebook

This is a suggestion I found on Reddit when I was desperate to organize my needles better. It works very well! Basically it’s clear zip pouches that go into a ring binder and I organize them by size. I really wish had made the labels with my label maker though because they look smeared and sloppy and that drives me crazy!

Needle Sizer

It’s also super helpful to pick up one of these needle sizers because I can never see the writing on the needles themselves. This brand of needle is color coded so each color of wood means a specific needle size. But the colors are kind of ugly IMO so I don’t love them. I prefer all blonde wood needles.

Stitch Counter

This is my most prized possession for knitting. Even though I’ve been knitting since I was a little kid, I can’t properly count knit rows. And so this counter is priceless. I click it once I’ve completed a row. Very satisfying.

Stitch Markers

There are all kinds of cute ones. These ones are nice and simple. I also have these heart ones.

Labels

These custom labels are nice to sew into a sweater I make for someone.

Pouches

I only use Lewis pouches for my knitting. I keep everything I need in there (I use the biggest pouch) and it’s just very easy to grab it and go.

What is in the pouch besides what I mentioned above? A tape measure, a chic tiny pair of scissors, a yarn sewing needle, a pair of reading glasses, and sometimes an additional size pair of needles if the pattern calls for that. Also a paper printout of the pattern and a pen for making notes.

Winding Yarn

I’m too impatient to wait for them to wind my yarn for me at the store. I always just do it myself by placing the skein around my knees and winding. It goes fast.

Patterns

Below a few of the pattern resources I have used and liked. Purl has gorgeous free patterns which is so nice. There is a site called Ravelry that has a million patterns but it’s not easy for me to navigate and hard to weed through all the tacky crap. Mostly I search Etsy for patterns or use Purl patterns.

• Knits Du Nord Maj Cardigan (but truly, I love all of their patterns)

• Purl Soho Knitting Patterns

• Samuel Knit Baby Cardigan

Knit for my coworker’s baby in Purl Soho cashmere yarn.

• Luna Sweater & Cardigan

• Buzybee Simple Baby Bonnet

• Lilia Vanini Biscotti Baby Cardigan

• Creativa Atelier Ruffle Sweater

The ruffle sweater, knit for another LR baby, knit in Malabrigo yarn.

I’m always on the hunt for new patterns. If you have any you love, please share!

Techniques

YouTube! Thank god for YouTube. I can always refresh my understanding of how to do, for example, a M1R, simply by looking it up on YouTube. Sometimes when I knit I just keep a particular tutorial up on my screen and watch it over and over until it becomes second nature. Inevitably, I forget the next time I knit and I simply rewatch again.

I really, really want to learn how to knit continental this year. It’s a way to knit incredibly fast and with less movement in your hands. I’m going to make it a goal this year to look on YouTube and try.

Three Life Lessons I Learned From Knitting

1. As I’ve mentioned many times before, my mom likes to say about knitting and life: “Don’t read too far ahead in the knitting pattern.” It’s good advice because reading too far ahead in anything can make you feel overwhelmed. Just start! Take it one row (or day) at a time.

2. Never give up! There have been so many times in my knitting I’ve wanted to quit because I made an error or because I couldn’t figure it out. Keep going. When I push through I am always pleased with the result. I nearly quit knitting this sweater so many times. It became so difficult and there were many mistakes. Sometimes it took one whole 50-minute subway ride just to knit one row. The sweater, though it isn’t perfect, is beautiful and the adorable little baby I knit it for wore it constantly from birth and still to this day.

3. Don’t start by knitting a scarf! I’ve heard this advice many times. A scarf is actually a terrible thing to first learn how to knit because it is boring and it takes EONS to complete. Try a pattern that is exciting to you and something you really want to wear or gift. You can ask for help at your local knitting store or watch a video tutorial. I think a simple hat is a nice first project. The life lesson here is to take a leap on something that actually excites you vs. the easy thing that is boring.

Five Things I’m Loving This Week

1. This stunning piece of vintage lace my coworker Lesley bought for me from a tiny shop in Belgium. It was made by one of the last lace makers to exist there. It is so beautiful and special. A treasure!

2. We went to see Marty Supreme on Christmas Eve. I must live under a rock because I had never heard of it and knew nothing about it. I loved this movie! For the story, for the genius of the casting decisions, for beautiful Odessa, for the quasi tennis adjacency, and because Timmy went to my daughter’s high school.

3. Currently reading The Motherload and enjoying it. I found it refreshingly honest about romantic relationships. And it made me realize I am still quite traumatized by my children’s births and NICU stays even all these years later and I should probably do a lil work on that in 2026.

4. With all the cousins together over Christmas break we played Imposter. My son organized the game through his phone but the rest of us were phone-free. We could not stop laughing at some of the clues people gave. My mom said “Cooperstown” as a clue for the secret word “bobsled” and I still have NO idea how that works but we were cracking up.

5. Bri got me the pillow I wanted and I’m obsessed.

And One Thing I Hate:

I’m just going to say it: I hate how ugly a lot of yarn is and yarn stores are. Purl is the best knitting store IMO because it is edited and has a strong point of view. It’s tasteful. And taste is something that is missing from a lot of the knit supply world if you ask me.

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