DIY Knitting Subscription Box
It's easy and will save you money.
Last year, The Yarn Harlot, aka Stephanie Pearl McPhee posted (I think on Instagram) that she was making herself a sock of the month box. I liked this idea a lot, and so decided to set one up myself. The premise is simple, a box filled with 12 self-curated knitting projects with yarn and patterns that you select from each month. What makes it extra fun, for me anyway, is that they are in a sealed paper bag, so you don’t know what you are selecting each month. Here’s how you do it.
You will need:
A printer
I mean, maybe not? But having the pattern and the yarn in the bag together is kind of a big deal. I guess if you prefer patterns on your phone or tablet you could just write the name of the pattern on a piece of paper and then you can download it later.
12 paper bags of various sizes - if you are doing only socks or small projects lunch bag size is perfect
Yarn needed for each project
A stapler
How To:
This is tricky because it depends on YOU the knitter. Last year, I wanted to use up the yarn I already had so my first step was: Logon to Ravelry and Select Patterns Based on Yarn I Already Had
But! You don’t have to do it this way. You could definitely choose your patterns and then buy the yarn - but do it quickly - the whole idea is to put the yarn and pattern in a bag
Print out the pattern.
Find the corresponding yarn that you would like to use for the pattern.
Put the pattern and the yarn in a bag.
Staple the bag shut.
This is what my pile looked like last January. The black yarn isn’t in a bag because I wanted to start with that project. The sweater on the left isn’t in a bag because I needed to buy more yarn. Repeat this 12 times -
or however many you want. It’s up to you. How many mystery knitting bags do you want this year? Maybe you want to go wild and do 24 hats this year. Maybe 3 sweaters is more your style. Maybe you’re all over the place like me and mix and match. Go nuts.
Put the projects somewhere fairly easily accessible so you can grab one per month.
or on your own timeline. It’s all up to you, man.
A note on needles - I did not put needles in each bag. That seems excessive but if you are lucky enough to have that many extra sets of needles - stick them in there! That said, I did make sure I had the correct needles for the projects I chose- because it would have been a major bummer otherwise.
How did this work out for me? Fairly well! I will admit to only pulling 4 projects this year. I got stuck on Sleeve Island and put a sweater aside for like 3 months. Look, it happens to the best of us. My projects included sweaters, socks, hats, leg warmers, and some fingerless mittens. Here’s the sweater I got stuck on:
How does this save money? A common dilemma with knitters, and by knitters I mean - me, is finding a pattern, buying the pattern and the yarn, working on some other pattern instead of the one you just bought, forgetting why you bought the yarn, using a bit of the yarn for something else, finding the pattern after you have used the yarn, shaking your fists at the sky and yelling WHHYYY, and repeat. I found that if I match the patterns to the yarn and put them in a bag, I don’t do that. It’s all together. Putting patterns in a sealed bag and pulling them out monthly or, for me, when I finished a project and needed a new one was like a treat - I totally forgot what I had put in each bag. I mean, I can kind of tell the sweaters from the smaller projects because they are in larger bags, but otherwise no. It sort of feels like shopping when I grab one. Bonus: I love what is in every bag because I picked it all out!
Since I didn’t use up all my fun projects last year, I am only adding a couple to this year’s pile. And yes, I still have excess yarn to use up.