I've been spending a lot of time in the garden lately, and it occurred to me that knitters aren't all that different from gardeners.
Some of us are English Garden knitters.
We love a plan.
We read the pattern before we cast on.
We knit our gauge swatches.
We highlight instructions and place stitch markers with precision.
Our projects tend to emerge exactly as intended—carefully cultivated, beautifully finished, and destined to become heirlooms.
Some of us are Wildflower Garden knitters.
You know who you are. (I'm a WG knitter myself.)
You cast on because a yarn spoke to you.
You substitute colors with abandon.
You might not read the pattern all the way through (or at all).
You scatter the seeds and see what blooms.
(When my friend Orville saw the baby blanket I'd completed, he said, "This just gives me a picture of what's inside your mind." Blanket, ca. 2008)
Both gardens are beautiful.
Both types of knitters create wonderful things.
And the older I get, the more I think the most important part isn't the flowers at all.
It's the soil.
The environment where creativity gets a chance to grow.
For knitters, good soil looks like:
🌱 Tools that feel wonderful in your hands and make it easy to play in the dirt (I mean, yarn).
🌱 Beautiful fibers that inspire you to pick up your needles after a long day.
🌱 Fellow "knitting gardeners" who understand why you carry a project bag everywhere you go, and who are happy to share advice when something goes sideways.
When those things are in place, it becomes much easier to create something beautiful—whether you're following a carefully drawn garden plan or happily letting the cosmos and zinnias take over.
If you're more of an English Garden knitter, you might enjoy some of my more intricate, structured patterns:
• The Aquarelle Hat & Mitts Set
• The Apothecary Cowl Kit
And if you're a Wildflower knitter?
Well, you probably already have three projects on your needles and a fourth one whispering your name.
I'd love to know: Which are you?
An English Garden knitter or a Wildflower Garden knitter?
