Essential vs. Extra - Deinfluencing Knitting & Crochet Supplies

Graceful as always. So the point of today's video is going through common knitting and crochet supplies and talking about what is actually essential because I think that word is used a little loosely in some videos and then go over some things that are kind of in a gray area where it could be essential for some people and not for others and then also go over what is completely non-essential. I do have a couple disclaimers before I jump into the video and if that's really boring to you like skip ahead I don't know a minute or two. Number one, the point of this video is not to tell you that you shouldn't buy any of this stuff or shame you if you have bought any of this stuff but it's meant for people who are new to the world of knitting or crochet who don't know what to buy and are looking for a jumping off point because I'm looking at these essential lists that other people have put together and I think they're lacking a little bit of nuance and I'm not gonna get all the nuance involved but I do want to add a bit of a different perspective to it and that perspective is of someone that doesn't want to own a lot of crafting supplies. I don't like the idea of spending money on things that I'm not going to use very often and having to store those things for the one time I might use it. Two is I am coming from a place of privilege in this. I have a full-time job. I spend about five percent of my income on non-essentials. Essentials to me meaning rent, student loan debt, food. I only mention this you have a point of reference because expensive versus cheap can mean something very different to everybody so I just want you to know like where I'm coming from with that perspective. Okay and the last thing I'm going to say before we just go right into it is this video is a discussion. I'm going to give a lot of opinions and I know that you are going to have different opinions. You're going to disagree with some or even most of what I say and I want this to be a discussion. If you are comfortable leave a comment saying things that you do or do not disagree with. What are things that I forgot? I want someone who may not know a lot to be able to look at the comments in this video and use the video and the comments together to form their own opinions about what they should and should not be purchasing for their craft. All right I'm sorry if the audio is weird but since I'm going to be using my hands a lot in this video I'm going to leave the mic on my lapel and that might make the audio sound weird or different. I'm sorry. So for knitting number one essential is obviously knitting needles. And if I was starting out as a beginner in knitting I would skip right to interchangeable knitting needles. Maybe buy one set of straight needles just to get a feel for knitting and see if that's something that you like. But if you've worked with straight needles or maybe you've done a project I would dive right into interchangeable knitting needles. There are a ton of videos out there telling you which interchangeable knitting needles you should buy and those sets are really expensive and I don't have $200 to be dropping on a knitting needle set. I got my set on Amazon for $30. I think three years ago they don't even sell it anymore. Find one with like four stars or more and you'll be fine. And unless my financial circumstances change in the future I don't really see myself buying any more needles. And I'm not recommending this set in particular over any other set but just interchangeable knitting needles in general. If you don't know interchangeables are knitting needles that have a cord and you can screw or click in different size needles. You can put different needles on each end. You can switch them up mid-project. It's just so much more flexible than having a large collection of fixed needle sets. And you can do everything with this set. I can make sweaters and hats and socks and I did not have to spend that much money to do it. Okay something else I'm going to say about this set in particular and why I'm sad that they don't sell them anymore is this is a brushed metal needle tip. I haven't been able to find any other company that sells brushed metal knitting needles. So with interchangeable needles and with knitting needles in general you're going to see I think free materials. So plastic steer clear from that. It's not fun to work with. It's just not worth it. Wooden needles and there are different types of wooden needles and you can watch tons of videos that go into details on that. And there are metal knitting needles and almost every single set of metal knitting needle is polished metal. Wooden needles are a little bit too grippy for me and polished metal needles are a little bit too slippery for me. And these brushed metal needles are perfect which is why I'm devastated they don't sell them anymore. So yeah that is my case for interchangeable knitting needles. In the world of crochet similar thing here but I got for like 20 or 30 bucks I think a set of crochet hooks ranging from size 11 millimeters down to two millimeters. I think there's even a 1.5 in here somewhere in case you wanted to see them all. Here they are and I have them in a pencil case that I bought in high school. With crochet hooks especially if you're starting out I would not recommend investing in a really expensive set of crochet hooks because what's the point unless you have some sort of ergonomic need or mobility issues. Get yourself some basic crochet hooks with a little grippy material on it similar to knitting needles. I also recommend just skipping away from plastic. I find that to be a gross material to work with. I don't have a huge vendetta against plastic in our world but it's just not satisfying to work with. So if you want more control and more grip go with wooden crochet hooks and if you want some more slip to it go with some metal. The only reason I think someone should invest in a nice set of crochet hooks is obviously if you're crocheting 24 seven do it and if you have money do it. Again I'm not saying you can't spend money on these things but I'm trying to speak to people that don't want to spend a lot of money. These are things that you don't need to spend a ton of money on in my opinion. The only reason I can imagine spending a decent chunk of money on crochet hooks is if you have dexterity or mobility issues and if you are going to invest in those really nice more expensive crochet hooks instead of dropping hundreds of dollars to buy a full set just buy two or three of the most common hook sizes that you use. Crochet hooks. Darning needles. I debated whether or not to put these on the essentials list and thinking about it these are essential. You have to do it. You're gonna have to weave in ends at some point and you can get by with a crochet hook but these are so cheap. This was like three dollars for like way more darning needles than I will ever use in my entire life and unless you're working with super bulky yarn I'd recommend using metal darning needles just because they're going to last you a lot longer than plastic ones but plastic ones usually come in bigger sizes so if you're working with super bulky yarn maybe go for a plastic one but yeah cheap set different sizes hopefully these last a lifetime if I don't lose them all but I've had this for a couple years and I have only lost one I think which is amazing. The next essential that I do consider to be actually essential is some sort of measuring device whether it be a ruler or a measuring tape or a tattoo on your brother's arm that has a ruler on it as long as it's accurate something to measure for most people in knitting or crochet measurement is critical for gauges for understanding width and fit if you're not measuring stuff and you just roll to the beat of your own drum great and save yourself some money but for like 99% of people just get a measuring tape please. I like these flexible ones because they're huge and they don't take up a lot of space. I got this really cute leather one from my mom for Christmas last year. I love this and my friends think it's like so adorable so I take this with me everywhere. Let's not rub our faces on the mic. The last essential pretty obvious yarn this one's sort of tricky and I feel uncomfortable giving specific yarn recommendations because yarn purchasing and yarn usage is so personal to the individual based on financially physically what's available in your area there are so many different things to take into consideration when choosing yarn so I will give you a little bit of guidance on that and some of my opinions. You can take it or leave it and if you are like a knitting or crochet expert and you know a lot about yarn sound off in the comments. When it comes to yarn selection there are so many things that we need to consider. One is finances. I am in a financial position where sometimes for smaller projects I can support small businesses and get locally sourced hand-dyed yarn and when I am in a financial position to do that or I have some extra money in my account that month I will love to support those small businesses but I can't do that for the larger projects so I kind of have to balance between buying yarn from larger businesses versus smaller businesses. If I was in the financial position to do so I would always be shopping with small indie dyers and small businesses because why wouldn't you, you know? So it is not my place to judge whether or not you are buying all of your yarn from Walmart, Joann's, or your local yarn shop. You will not receive judgment from me on that. The next thing to consider is material. I can't stand the feeling of plastic based yarn on my body. It makes my teeth hurt. I don't know how much to explain it but I hate the feeling. So for me synthetic yarns really only serve a purpose for household goods but I can't stand the feeling of that on my body so I can't buy any of that which means my only option is buying natural materials but I'm also very sensitive to itch so I can't really buy any rustic wools and it kind of limits me. So, so far of the materials I've tried the ones that work for me feeling wise and sensory wise would be cotton, bamboo, linen. I haven't tried silk but I imagine silk would be just fine. Certain types of wool especially merino wool is good and cashmere and some alpaca. And then something else to be said in the world of yarn is to get creative. If your goal is to spend less money and be more sustainable and you're willing to be a little bit creative about it, try sourcing your yarn from unexpected resources. This could mean secondhand yarn. You can go to thrift stores and buy it. You can do swap with friends if you know other people in the crafting world that also have yarn. Do a yarn swap. Everybody should bring like five balls of yarn that they want to de-stash and do a little swap. Maybe frog an old project. I know people, myself included, are hesitant to frog old projects. But if there's a sweater that you made a couple years ago that you don't wear because of a fit issue, unravel it. It's not getting in you sitting in your closet and use that yarn for redoing that project or doing a different project. And then also get creative with stuff around your house. I would love to make a crochet basket out of maybe a pair of jeans that I don't wear anymore or a t-shirt and cutting up that fabric to turn it into a workable yarn. You can also unravel knit blankets. Purchase secondhand. There are so many different ways that you can get yarn that don't require spending a lot of money. I also love the idea of getting knit blankets from thrift stores because they tend to be easier to unravel than a lot of sweaters and you're getting a larger quantity of yarn in hat stores. And it's also really easy to just throw it in the washer when you get home to make sure it's all clean and then unravel it. Okay and then the last tip with yarn that doesn't require buying anything is do fewer projects. This year I'm moving away from the idea of doing a lot of projects and instead doing projects that are more complicated, take more time, doing more cabled or lace pieces. Because when you're spending a lot of time on something, chances are it's going to turn out a lot better than something that you knit up in a weekend or crocheted in a weekend. And you're probably going to use less material doing it. Okay I've grabbed more items. This is everything that I think is in the gray area, where they're items that will be essential to some but not for all or even most people. And I think you can get away with not owning any of these and still do your craft as good as anybody else. So the first item that is essential to me but I don't think is essential to everybody is stitch markers. If you're knitting I think they're a little bit more essential than if you're crocheting. You can absolutely get away with just using yarn instead of stitch markers. So a lot of people will do that where they will tie like a three inch piece of yarn into a little loop and use that as a makeshift stitch marker and that works. Don't get me wrong, that works but for me I found them kind of annoying to work with so I invested the what five dollars into a set of multi-colored stitch markers. I also like having multi-colored stitch markers that come on and off. I would never use stitch markers that don't come on and off but if you want a more sustainable option go with metal stitch holders. There are plenty of them and they are also very inexpensive. While they are fun to have, you absolutely do not need the really cute stitch markers that everybody has because that adds up. It's a great gift to give somebody and it's a nice to have but you don't need it. Okay next we have a swift and ball winder and these go in the same category for me because I don't know why you would own one and not the other. I guess if you're like winding up balls of yarn because you want them all to like look the same. So here's the deal, you should not own a swift and ball winder or you do not need to own a swift and ball winder unless you buy hanks of yarn pretty frequently or you're very anal about all of your yarn being wound up in the same exact way because I do know that there are people out there who like to rewind balls of yarn that they purchase even though they don't have to so that they all look the same and are more aesthetic. If you need that in your life to like be happy like that's the one thing that just like keeps your sanity intact do it good for you great we love to see it post on instagram I want to see your aesthetic yarn collection but other than that really you should only own one if you're frequently purchasing hanks of yarn and even then a lot of stores will wind them for you so if you're not buying them at a store like you're buying them online that would be the case I personally have been buying pretty consistently hanks of yarn online from indie dyers and while you can wind a hank of yarn without a swift it does suck so if I was only doing it like twice or three times a year I wouldn't think it's necessary to invest in these items um and then my other suggestion is if you are going to buy these these are the items that are worth investing in get yourself a decent swift with decent reviews you can check out plenty of videos online where people review them I bought this one at knit picks I love it it works great very smooth and I will hopefully never have to buy a swift ever again because this is the only one I need get yourself a mid-tier swift is probably a clarification I should make don't go buying the most expensive one you can find but also don't buy the cheapest one that you can find just right away get a mid-range one like the one from knit picks as long as it has good reviews you're good and even more important than that is getting a ball winder that is also mid-tier you don't need the $200 or $1,000 automatic ball winder because those seem like a pain in the butt anyways there's always going to be a manual element in ball winding because you have to tension the yarn and it's a whole thing if there's like knots in the ball don't waste your time and money on that unless you just have time and money to waste but yeah get yourself a mid-tier ball winder I think there are some less expensive ones that people really enjoy and mine wasn't that bad but I started out by getting the cheapest one I could find which is this ball winder from loops and threads I'm sorry loops and threads I'm sorry to anybody that watches this and really has one of these and really enjoys it I hate this not only did it fall apart like right away the handle like little bits of the handle fell off um so the handle goes in and out it's completely sideways and so the yarn is always slipping off the end and it's so aggravating and frustrating to work with and it like is it's jerky when you're winding it so it's such an inconsistent tension when you do get it right because of how slippery it is you can't wind a ball of cotton like that's not going to happen you can only wind yarn that's going to really stick to itself so I would avoid getting anything that looks like this now you don't need to buy this one but what I like about this one is it's metal so the gears on it are metal except for these ones which are actually a very nice higher end plastic material but most of this is metal and it's a metal body and then let me oh boy let me just stick this thing on here for you it's angled upwards so the ball isn't going anywhere this is what to look for in a ball winder and hopefully this will be the only one I ever have to buy I will figure out how to put that away in a pretty way later next up stitch holders this is mostly for knitting this is I'll admit it's non-essential but for me this is essential I don't think I can go back to a world where I'm not using these before owning these to try on a sweater I would need to spend about 30 minutes sewing yarn into every stitch that was currently on my needle cord and with this it's 30 seconds and since having this I get to try on my projects so much more frequently because it's not as much of a time investment and it's really easy to take off and put back on and I just find that my knitting is higher quality and fits better because I'm able to catch mistakes earlier and just better if you find that you are knitting a lot of garments this would be something good to pick up and you can wait further in your knitting journey to buy something like this but they're not that expensive and if you can't afford to buy it and support a smaller business you can get spool of this material on amazon for I think 10 12 bucks if you just look up pipe rubber tubing on amazon and get the one to two millimeter tubing size that is all you'll ever need next up is a needle tip stopper I have nothing to show you for this one because I do not own needle tip stoppers I would say most people don't need needle tip stoppers these are little stoppers that you put on the tips of your knitting needles the only reason I think you should purchase these is if you're seeing a reoccurring issue of your stitches falling off of your needle when you are storing your project if you don't have that issue then you're buying a solution to a problem you don't have I don't have that problem so I don't need it but if you have kids that like to mess around with your projects or you're traveling a lot and the bags are getting rustled around or if you have pets that kind of like to dig at your projects then yeah totally worth it and you can get some really nice ones on etsy that aren't that expensive but that is just my two cents sometimes if I'm working on a project that uses smaller needles like four millimeter or below maybe even six millimeter or below would work for this I actually bring my 10 millimeter interchangeable needle tips and I'll put on the 10 millimeter tips because my active stitches won't be able to get past the 10 millimeters like they won't be able to slip past there so that also works so again not something that you need to spend your money on unless you're noticing a reoccurring issue or you have a lot of money to spend on stuff good for you though treat yourself okay next up I feel I was gonna say I feel like this is gonna be controversial but I feel like a lot of these are gonna be pretty controversial this is a set of blocking mats you do not need blocking mats I know it feels like everybody has them you don't need them the only way that I would ever consider some sort of blocking mat or blocking board to be essential is if you are doing granny square project or something where you have to make a lot of something and they all have to fit a very specific shape or if you are doing sculptural knitting or crochet then it could be helpful but if you're knitting sweaters or accessories or whatever I don't bother blocking them on a blocking mat I just visually suss it out for myself and if you are doing a lot of granny square projects and that's your main thing then absolutely get yourself a blocking board because I feel like that just helps make everything so much more consistent now I will admit I have never done a granny square project I've made individual granny squares and used them as coasters but I have never done a full granny square project I do intend to do that this year and I was so lovingly gifted from my mom for Christmas I was gifted a blocking board that I can't wait to use and it was the perfect gift because I never would have thought to buy this for myself this is a wooden blocking board and it comes with metal pins and I think if you're going to buy yourself a blocking board specifically for granny square which again I think is one of the only applications aside from doing sculptural knitting or crochet where you would want a blocking board of some sort I love this because it has metal pins I've seen other ones that have plastic or wooden pins and I'd be afraid of those snapping these ones you can put so much force on these and it's not going anywhere so I really like this I don't think it's essential in your crafting journey to own this if you want to treat yourself get one or if you want to gift your crafty friends something this would be a great option but I don't think it's it's essential for most people this is why it's in the gray area okay and the last item in my gray area category is a pill shaver the reason this is in the gray area and why it's essential for some and not for others is because I would only recommend getting one if you're making garments this is also one of those items where I'd recommend getting a mid-tier or cheaper I don't think you need to get the most expensive one you can find something between 10 and 20 dollars is gonna suit you just fine I don't remember how much mine cost it was probably ten dollars to me it's essential just because I primarily knit garments and soon to be crochet garments I think this is great for anyone to invest in honestly as a clothing owner I've seen way too many people decluttering or getting rid of their clothing because it has pills in it where I'm like oh my gosh just get yourself a ten dollar pill shaver once a year pill shave all of your clothes not just your hand knits and it looks like new again but again it is non-essential to the craft of knitting or crochet to have a pill shaver it's one of those things that's just nice to have the last category is things that I would determine non-essential and you really don't need these things it bears repeating I'm not trying to shame anyone for owning these things or wanting these things but if you are trying to buy less be more mindful about the things that you're purchasing or for whatever reason just not have a ton of stuff laying around these are things that you really don't need and I'm going to attempt to de-influence you around them and they're going to be pretty controversial I'm sure especially because there are a lot of people on social media that do knitting and crochet that have talked a lot of these items up quite a bit and I still love and respect those people and I think those opinions are great but I don't think they're essential and I don't think we should be labeling them as such because because with some of these things I've I've heard from so many people that I respect that these are essential items and I've sort of convinced myself that I've wanted them only to turn around and be like okay one I never use that or two I don't want it anymore why did I want that first place so I'm just here to let you think twice about whether or not you need these things oh my gosh she's so cute I don't want to disturb her look at how peaceful her little face is the first item is a knitting or crochet specific journal I have never purchased one I did a whole video on my approach to journaling and how I do multimedia journaling I personally don't like the idea of having journals dedicated to just one thing and that can stir up a lot of feelings and I also think that the intention with knitting journals is to do two things really one is to take notes on your current projects so that you can reference that as you work on your project and two to capture information about a project that you have completed I personally think it's better to use my phone to take notes for projects as I'm currently working on them because it's a pages of a crafting journal very easily and they're scratchy and all over the place and it makes no sense so I prefer doing that on a digital format where I can delete stuff go back change things strike through and then I can access that information from anywhere and I don't need to be bringing my like knitting or crochet journal with me and then when I'm done with the project I write it in my regular journal along with my regular journal entries I personally capture yarn the amount of yarn I used the designer of the pattern if I followed a pattern the size of the pattern that I made and then just capturing general notes if I made any alterations to a pattern or if it was self-drafted I'll write some notes about how I did that I just think that the information that people want to track with a project is so personal that there's not a single journal that's going to perfectly capture the things that I want to be captured so you do not need to be spending twenty to thirty dollars on a knitting or crochet specific journal unless you really want to which can be said about any of these items next up we have a needle sizer I really had to dig to find this because I have never ever used this I get that people have a problem with some needles or hooks having the sizing rub off but all of my crochet hooks and knitting needles are laser engraved or etched in so it's not going to rub off and even when it does I still know what size it is so I've never had to use one of these feel free to disagree in the comments if you're like I use this every day great why and what for please educate me because I don't know double pointed needles are non-essential I prefer double pointed needles to the magic loop method but if you don't want to own a lot of stuff you don't need double pointed needles if you have an interchangeable knitting needle set or long corded circular needles or you don't need dpns you can do the magic loop if you do decide that you want to have double pointed needles I would say instead of investing a hundred to two hundred dollars in dpn sets I personally do like the luca needles buy two or three sizes that you most commonly use I frequently use four millimeter three millimeter those are the only dpn sizes that I frequently use when I'm working on a sweater and doing sleeves for any other size I suck it up and use the magic loop technique because I only have to do it for that one sweater because I'm not gonna buy eight millimeter dpns for one project that doesn't make sense for me sorry crochet people thank you for hanging in there I know it's been a lot of knitting stuff I hope you're still getting something out of a lot of these the next couple items aside from literally the next one are crochet related this is a cable needle this is non-essential for most people if you don't do cable knitting like hardly ever then you don't need one and if you do decide to get into cable or lace knitting I would encourage you to first attempt doing it without a cable needle there are video tutorials lots of them for doing cables without a cable needle I did a lace knit sweater where the entire front panel was lace knit and I never had to use a cable needle for that even though the pattern called for it I just looked up techniques and when you can learn the techniques for doing cabling without a cable needle it tends to be much faster and it's one less thing to have to carry around with you when you're working on a project you're such a sweetheart everybody loves you okay this one is hilarious to me but I do think it's true I think it belongs in this category scissors you do not need to buy the cute scissors you don't I know they're cute I know they're aesthetic super adorable it's completely non-essential you don't need it and I lose scissors constantly so I'm willing to bet that you have scissors around your house that will function just fine you don't need the cute ones I promise you you will be fine in fact you don't even need scissors I would say about 50% of the time maybe even more when I should be using scissors I don't I yank the yarn apart with my muscles of great strength or I use nail clippers when I'm traveling because you can't really bring scissors on a plane so yeah for that reason scissors go into the non-essential category okay the next one is going to make some people sad you don't need project bags I guarantee you don't need project bags once again great gift idea if someone wants to get me a project bag like if someone I know is watching this and needs to get me a Christmas gift at some point I would like one of the ones I'm going to flash up on the screen one of those but you don't need one you really don't and I see way too many people influencing you to buy project bags yes there are so many really cute ones and if you have the money go ahead and support the small businesses that make these project bags they need to be supported but a lot of us don't have the money to be spending $80 on a project bag that's just not realistic it's not realistic for me here's what you can do instead a plastic bag a grocery bag a reusable grocery bag a purse you don't use anymore I bought a bra from NYX at one point in time and it came in this I've been using this as a project bag for so long and I will continue using this as a project bag and then I actually made a walking project bag for when I go on walks so I can knit and walk at the same time I had a pair of pants that didn't fit me right anymore and I wanted to use the fabric for something else so I made a little project bag some other ideas that aren't original ideas to me I'm sure other people have been doing this but you can knit your own project bag I would love to see someone knit one in wool and then felt it so you can have a felted project bag that would be super cute doing a crochet project bag something a little bit more structured and sew one yourself I hand sewed this I did not end up using a sewing machine for this but you can use a sewing machine to make a quilted one if you've always wanted to practice quilting make a simple bag and quilt use some extra fabric that you have laying around recycle old clothing that you have there are so many different options out there that don't require you spending any money I would encourage you to try that before dropping $80 that you may or may not have on a project bag that you definitely don't need okay I almost forgot about this one unless you are starting a business to make hats with pom-poms on them don't buy pom-pom makers I don't see myself using these ever really I don't even like the look of pom-poms I just did one big project that I thought was gonna work out and it didn't so this is money that I'll never get back I didn't need to buy these pom-pom makers if you are making a ton of pom-poms great get yourself a pom-pom maker I got these ones at I think Joann's or Michael's and they work totally fine but for most people these are completely unnecessary okay I have two more specific items so one of them is a row counter unless you are looking to spend money you don't need a row counter there are apps for that there are scrap pieces of paper for that there are so many other ways to keep track of your rows other than a row counter and what's weird for me is I find that with row counters I actually have a hard time keeping track so I can't remember if I like counted the last row I did and my count goes off and I have to recount it on the project anyways so I would skip that one again unless you're really looking for a stocking stuffer for a friend or you just really really need one in your life because you're just looking to spend money yes I see you okay so that was a lot it took me two hours to film this video I've been talking for two hours and getting cuddles for two hours I don't know how I'm gonna whittle this down into under 30 minutes but we'll see how I do it as usual thank you for watching and thank you for being here and as a little treat for making it this far in the video it seems weird to call this a treat that seems a bit pretentious of me to call this a treat but I am going to give you a piece of information that you did not likely previously know unless you are a friend or family member of mine watching this in which case I do try not to think about the fact that you're watching this because then I get really embarrassed if you've been watching my channel for a while or if you're new especially you might not know my name yeah so I think it's time that I let you know my first name my name is Isabella nice to meet you do you think my name fits my face and personality thank you for watching if you disagreed or agreed with anything I said please write it in the comments I also get a little dopamine hit every time I get a comment because I get little notifications on my phone we all experience our crafts very differently and our crafts are very personal to us so let me know what items on this list or not on this list are personal to you that you think are essential or not essential see you next week