I notice from my Feedjit widget that many folks visit my blog via the
Knitting Tutorials on Youtube entry a looong time ago. An entire year later, I checked my entry out again, and realize the information I shared then was useful, but quite limited. Let me update it with this list of favorite tutorials:
The KnitWitch has a great variety of tutorials, from casting on to binding off, Magic Loop, knitting backwards and other very useful basic and not-so-basic techniques. I like her videos because she explains things well, has a good contrast between knitting and background, her videos are filmed with decent lighting and reasonably clear focus (as in not blurred, despite the realities of video compression), and her demonstration speed does not create anxiety or frustration in the knitter. Goes straight to the meat of the topic. Exactly what you need when you don't have your favorite knitting bible nearby but happen to be in front of the pc.
Cat Bordhi, who gave us the "knitting with two circular needles" technique, also has a number of very useful tutorials. If you knit Continental and want to learn useful stitches, this Youtube channel would be very useful for you. She chats rather than just instructs, and uses biggish yarn so that we can see clearly where things go. She also provides a summary at the end of each video, and especially where she splits technique videos into two parts. If you knit socks using Magic Loop or two circulars, many of her tutorials will be quite useful. As a sock knitter, I read patterns beforehand to figure out if there were techniques I needed to brush up on. I like that Cat explains how to make things even or neater-looking (I am filled with hope that I don't have to do much finishing because the work already looks neat the first time around).
There a million other knitting tutorials on Youtube, but I realize that
1) I prefer spoken word audio. Music should be discreet or be faded out in a timely manner.
2) I like having a contrast between background and yarn color so I can see clearly.
3) I appreciate summaries at the end of videos.
4) Judicious close-ups are wonderful, especially if it's a discussion-type demo between two people.
The last item describes
Knitting Daily TV tutorial videos demonstrated by Interweave Knits'
Eunny Jang. I have
Jinky to thank for showing me the
Estonian lace nupp tutorial episode featuring Eunny with knitting historian Nancy Bush.
Also on my list is
Knitpicks on Youtube. Or you can visit their
website directly.
There are many videos uploaded on Youtube daily, but some are are posted to display their makers' idiosyncracies than to actually teach something useful. This short list of ACTUAL USEFUL tutorial channels ought to help you avoid hair-pulling frustration and maintain your sense of humor for real life interaction. Of course, patience and diligent searching will produce tutorials to fit your particular needs.
Happy knitting!
