I Thought I Knew How Podcast

31/05/2026

The Shetland Hogmanay box is live!

Preorders for the Shetland Hogmanay Box are now live.

This year’s box is a 31-day countdown to Hogmanay, celebrating Shetland’s living knitting heritage. Each day brings a yarn or pattern reveal, with projects in Shetland Lace and Fair Isle knitting for the neck, head, hands, and life on the go.

Each box also includes six months of credit at the highest level of our upcoming SOK support programme, beginning on 1 January.

There are 100 boxes available. They are £240, plus shipping and any import or tariff costs that may apply. Boxes will ship from Shetland in mid-October. Unfortunately, we cannot ship into the EU.

Order through the link in our bio or store.sokshetland.org!

29/05/2026

I got around to doing another episode! In it, you'll find some information about this year's Shetland Hogmanay Box, a review of the Caydo I-Cord Machine, and some thoughts on the new (and frankly, spectacular) Foula Wool. Find the episode by searching for I Thought I Knew How Podcast anywhere you find podcasts, or listen at the website:

https://ithoughtiknewhow.com/episode-130-six-months-later/

28/05/2026

Folks have been DMing me and sending emails for the last couple of weeks, asking for information about this year's Hogmanay Box. It is becoming a fundraiser for SOK: Shetland's Organisation for Knitters and will go on sale this Sunday!

Past years have sold out in a matter of hours, but that's been with 60-80 boxes. This year, SOK is doing 100, so hopefully everyone who wants one will get one, but I wouldn't put it off too long!

Mark your calendars! Set an alarm! The Shetland Hogmanay Box will go live this Sunday at 2pm BST in the new online SOK Shop at store.sokshetland.org!

This is a 31-day mystery box with 26 days of 25g balls of Shetland wool and 5 patterns for you to knit. The box also features reusable packaging for the wool, a limited edition tote bag, and 6 months of membership in the upcoming SOK Supporters programme, which will provide quarterly online meet-ups, priority access for ticket sales to SOK events, and exclusive content from SOK about Shetland knitting and SOK's work.

The retail value of the box, including the supporter program access, is £425, but the boxes will retail for £240 plus shipping (and any applicable tariffs we are required to collect).

If you're local or will be in Shetland between October 19 - 31, we can arrange for local pick-up. Otherwise, the boxes will ship from mid-October via the Royal Mail to allow plenty of time for them to arrive for December 1 so you can begin your experience opening a packet a day in the lead up to New Year's Day (aka Hogmanay)!

Many thanks to Jamiesons of Shetland, Aister 'oo', Foula Wool, Laxdale Yarn, and The Silly Sheep fibre company for providing the wool for this year's boxes.

We are also thrilled to have Anne Eunson, Janette Budge Shetland Knitwear Designer & Tutor, Terri Laura, Rachel Elizabeth Hunter, and Elizabeth Williamson Knitting providing beautiful Fair Isle and Shetland Lace designs for this year's box.

Proceeds from the sale of the boxes will help fund SOK: Shetland's Organisation for Knitters in the new year. Thank you for your support!

05/04/2026

I finally got my latest hat off the needles and dressed last night, as I figured my husband might want one if Storm Dave was as bad as they were predicting.
No snow in the end where we are, but at least I got the hat finished.
It’s blocking on a balloon initially. When it’s dry, I’ll give it a strong steam and pull it downward to tighten the circumference up a bit. But it juuuuuuust fits his head and I need to remember to go to a 2.5mm when I knit hats.
No pattern. I dotted it out myself.
Knit with Mirrister Wirsit Shetland wool by Alison Rendall and Hubert Moar.
I know someone will notice and ask: the tape is from They have it in several styles.

17/03/2026

Y’all, I very sincerely hate knitting this project.
It’s the last of the acrylic in my stash. I bought it several years ago because it looked so cute on its lil cone with its lil pompoms. I had plans to knit it with something else and make a baby blanket. That didn’t work.
Then I decided to knit it on big needles and make a sheer curtain for the window through which the sun blinds me for the last two hours of my work time. And the circulars I had been using were impossible because where the tapered allowed the stitches at the end of the row to get so tight that I couldn’t slide them back on to the main part of the needle to knit them. And they were a weird size so the only needles I could transfer them to were this vintage wooden pair. And now the stitches don’t slide because it’s wood and they aren’t pointy enough to deal with the fineness of the yarn.

I’m giving up. I’m pulling it out. Do I try crocheting something with it? Maybe held with another yarn? Or do I donate it and hope someone else finds it and manages it better?

10/03/2026

Up at 6 am this morning for a Just Enterprise training. It had a more reasonable start time in Scotland but for me it was still 🥱-time.

Great session, though, and I managed to finish the 3-needle bind off on the Shetland Colours Throw, designed by Mandy Moore , while the trainers were handling other people’s questions.

For those wondering, I got a side and a half done for each of the Godfather movies we watched the other day. 😆

08/03/2026

Thing One and my husband and I were at a loss for what to do this afternoon so we decided on watching Godfather I and II. 😆

I started the I-cord bind off of Colours of Shetland Throw this morning. I’m hoping to get a good chunk of it done while we watch.

07/03/2026

She’s *helping*

09/01/2026

I actually have something finished for Fair Isle Friday this week. This is the Scaddiman Cushion Cover, designed by Hazel Tindall, Hand Knitting Specialist, World's Fastest Knitter since 2004 and knitted in Uradale Yarns. Hazel offered this pattern as part of the fundraising for SOK: Shetland's Organisation for Knitters. It was a fun and addicting knit, as many Fair Isle patterns are. It came together quickly, but I was waiting for the pillow form to arrive so I could do the final finish work.

Ripley is not going to get hired for many modeling jobs, as she makes a better door than a window, but I did appreciate that she didn't immediately try to eat the cushion, given her predilection for wool destruction. I'll be packing this along with me as I head back to Shetland in a few weeks so it can live its life free from canine harassment.

If you'd like to knit your own cushion cover, Hazel has the patterns for this one and a selection of others on her Ravelry page.

01/01/2026

This year’s used yarn paper chain is definitely my shortest and was greatly helped by the fact that my biggest completed project this year was done using 20gr minis from The Silly Sheep Fibre Company’s 2024 advent. But that said, there’s lots of favorites in addition to , including , , , and more. I’m actually surprised, looking back, that I got in as much knitting as I did.

I think this is my 7th label chain? I like having it as a reminder at the end of the year of what I got up to. I saw some take it further, like , who calculated her mileage from her labels. (It was impressive, too!)

Onwards into 2026!