Hand knitters versus machine knitters — ever had to defend yourself? If you've told a hand knitter you use a machine, you may have got The Look. The slight pause. The 'oh, so it does it for you?' comment. Machine knitting has an image problem in some circles and most of us have a story about navigating that assumption. The irony being that machine knitting has its own enormous skill curve that takes years to master. Tell us your best 'defending the machine' story — and what you said that ended the conversation.

We're so pleased you're here, @Mirijam Pasquini — we hope you settle in quickly and feel right at home. A couple of things to get you started: Say hello — introduce yourself in the community: Introduce Yourself Find your feet — when you're ready, head to the beginner module I've put together especially for new machine knitters: Begin Your Machine Knitting Journey And you won't be on your own — there are plenty of other newbie members in MkH who are right there alongside you. 🧶 You'll also find a Start Here section in the Classroom if you'd like to get the lay of the land first — and if you ever have a question, there's a dedicated questions category in the community posts. Clear instructions on how to post are in the Start Here module, so you're never left guessing.

Rate your crafting motivation this week: 🔥 On fire (ironic, given the weather) 😊 Ticking along — slow and steady 😴 Gone. Completely gone. Don't look at me. Drop your emoji below 👇 we're all in this together! 🧶

I just want to take a moment to say — 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵. If you've reached Level 3 or above in the community, I want to say something simple: 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽. Reaching Level 3 means you've been here, you've engaged, you've taken steps — and that matters more than you might think. 𝗦𝗼 𝗜'𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. T𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝟯+ 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠k𝗛 𝗗𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 — 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲, 𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗴𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂. 🧶 @Gayle Lunau Sherman 💛 @Claire Amelia 💛 @June E Mackenzie 💛 @Jane Harbison 💛 @Debra Verrall 💛 @Auli Takala 💛 @Lindsay MacGregor 💛 @Joy Green — this gift is for you. 💛 This is the dynamic pattern I was talking about in my last post — the one that adjusts to your own tension and takes all the maths out of the equation. Using a chunky machine, standard gauge machine or any gauge it won't matter as long as you do your tension swatch you will be able to create the pattern using the dynamic calculator. You'll find it waiting for you in the classroom. I want you to see what a dynamic pattern actually feels like to use — because once you do, I think you'll understand why I've been so quietly excited about building these. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 — 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱. 𝘛𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 for free, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. Go and grab it, have a knit, and let me know how you get on. I'd love to see what you make. 💛 Instructions on accessing your pattern will be sent via DM. Jan x

I've been working on something behind the scenes for a while now, and I think it's time to share it properly — because it genuinely changes how a pattern feels to use. It's called a 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻. Now, if you've ever followed a knitting pattern and hit that moment where the numbers just don't quite match your tension — and you've either guessed, fudged it, or quietly given up — this is for you. A dynamic pattern 𝗮𝗱𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆. You enter your tension swatch results, and the pattern recalculates everything for you. Your stitch count. Your rows. All of it, based on 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 yarn and 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 machine — not some average that may or may not match what's happening on your needles. No maths. No guessing. No squinting at a chart wondering if you've got the right size. It also comes with clear step-by-step instructions, written for real knitters — not pattern-book shorthand that assumes you already know what you're doing. I've built this into MkH because I wanted patterns that actually 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 for the person using them, whatever machine they have, whatever yarn they've chosen. I'll be sharing more about this very soon — including how you can get your hands on one. 👀