The only thing I take seriously about knitting is the yarn.

My name is Elizabeth, and I’m a beginner knitter whose taste in yarn outpaces my technical ability. I like to brute force my way through knits with nothing but poor motor skills and a can-do attitude!

This site is a resource for people like me:

  • Fiber nerds obsessed with quality, and fascinated by unique, unusual, hard-to-find yarn

  • Beginner knitters who are tired of experts saying what “should” be easy or simple for us to do

  • Crafters with a sense of humor who don’t mind sharing silly mistakes

It’s also a companion to my YouTube channel!

Latest Articles

Featured
My Favorite Yarn Stores
My Favorite Yarn Stores

I buy entirely too much yarn, and my standards are pretty high. I love hunting for the most beautiful colors, unique fiber blends, and I can never resist yarn you can’t buy anywhere else! Lots of people ask me where I find it all, so I thought I’d share links to my favorite stores in the UK and the US — all of whom ship!

The Best FREE Gift-Knit Patterns For Beginners (Picked By An ACTUAL Beginner!)
The Best FREE Gift-Knit Patterns For Beginners (Picked By An ACTUAL Beginner!)

When you first start as a beginner knitter, it can feel intimidating when friends and family ask you to knit them something! Or if you’re like me and LOVE knitting gifts, it can be hard to know what you can knit that will look gift-worthy. And you DEFINITELY don’t want to waste money on a pattern for something that looks simple, only to open the PDF and discover it’s above your skill level!

Don’t worry, I’ve got you. Not only did I pick these patterns, beginner to beginner - I’ve knit most of them myself.

Let’s Talk About Yak.
good yarn, fiber
Let’s Talk About Yak.
good yarn, fiber

When I first started knitting, yak was the first fiber I came across that wasn’t wool - and it was the first fiber I fell in love with.

good yarn, fiber

My Latest Videos:

Good Yarn, Bad Photos

Getting started with #wipwednesday a little early! This is a riff on the Sea Glass Hat by @wool.and.pine.designs - just using two colors in worsted-ish weight. I grabbed the number of stitches to cast on from the Bankhead hat, which also starts in tw
Here’s a sneak peek at some new skills I picked up this week: making pompoms and fringe! Two more Christmas knits down… eight or so left to go. #knitting #knitstagram #goodyarnbadknits #knitterofinstagram #knittersgonnaknit
This is how I’m feeling with all the gift knits I’m working on right now! #catsandknitting #knittersgonnaknit #knitting #catsofinstagram #knitstagram #cats_of_instagram
Sneak peak from this Saturday’s knitting podcast: I whipped up the Dumpling Bag by @purlsoho in a little less than a week for a friend’s birthday! Very easy pattern to follow (although I wish I’d learned Kitchener stitch instead of
This has been an absolutely WILD week of highs and lows! Two weeks ago I had my best-performing YT video (500 views!!) and I was actively nervous about following it up with a channel recommendation video, because I mostly did it to entertain myself a
Happy worldwide knit in public day!! #knitting #knitstagram #wwkipd #knitinpublic #knittersgonnaknit @makermarkknits
My first #intarsia project! I’m self-drafting a blanket loosely inspired by the Wedgwood scarf by @westknits - my sixth wedding anniversary is this fall, and one of the traditional gifts is wool. So this blanket is for my spouse, and every yarn

Say hi!

email:
hi@goodyarnbadknits.com

Mail mail:
Good Yarn Bad Knits
128 City Road
London EC1V 2NX