Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I would earn a commission on any purchases made through these links. While it doesn’t change the price of the product to you, it does help support the blog and the work I do here. All gift ideas shared are things I’ve owned and loved.
It’s that time of year again with the holidays around the corner and Black Friday just days away that I usually get bombarded with the question “what should I get for my partner or friend who knits?” or if the super cheap yarn bundle they found is a good gift idea for the knitter in their life (spoiler, it’s not). So, while my blog is usually aimed at people who are learning the craft or already enjoy it, I thought I’d take a moment out to help their loved ones this time on what they should and shouldn’t give as a gift.
So for those of you who don’t know me; hi, I’m Sara and I’ve been knitting and crocheting for over 20 years. I started teaching a few years back and I would love to use my experience to help you give the knitter in your life a gift they’ll love. Often, when people know we craft or after they’ve received a handmade gift from us, they want to gift something that we can use in our craft, but often they don’t know what to get us or they give us something that really isn’t as helpful as they thought.
What Not To Get
I’m going to start this list out with a little warning. For most experienced knitters, please, don’t get yarn. We do know that you mean well, but most of the time, we already have our preferences on yarn, from brands to fibers to colors. Most of the time, gifts of yarn don’t really match what we need, use, or like. Or, especially when it comes to those 30 skein packs for $30 deals, the skeins are so tiny they aren’t really usable for anything other than scrap yarns. Most of us yarn crafters know that yarn is a major expense and we’re usually more willing to pay higher prices for our preferred yarns that non-crafting gift givers would balk at.
Unless you know someone’s exact preference in brand, weight, fiber, and color, it’s best to just avoid gifting a skein of yarn.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, lets move on to the fun part: the really good gift ideas.
1.) Gift Card to Their Favorite Yarn Shop
I know, I know, I just told you not to buy yarn. And I stand by that, don’t buy the yarn But if you know where your knitters preferred yarn shop or website is, a gift card for them to pick out their own yarn is a wonderful idea. It allows them to get the exact yarn they want and maybe even yarn they’ve been eyeing for a while but was out of budget.
Yes, gift cards aren’t usually as fun as opening a physical item, but it is a useful gift that allows them to get the yarn they want.
2.) Yarn Organizing Bag
If you have someone who likes to knit on the go (or knits in multiple rooms), a yarn organizing storage bag is a great gift. It helps keep their yarn protected while they work, plus they can carry the little extras they need with them (like needles, patterns, cutters, and stitch markers). They come in a wide variety of sizes and patterns, so they can hold a lot of yarn and use it without getting their yarn tangled.
3.) Yarn Bowl
If they tend to knit mostly at home, but still want to protect their yarn and keep it from escaping, a nice quality yarn bowl is a beautiful accessory you can gift them. It keeps balls from rolling away, but they also come in a variety of colors and styles, so you can get one that perfectly matches your knitter. Yarn bowls really make for wonderful gifts for any occasion.
4.) Tension Rings
One gift that is especially useful for frequent knitters or disabled knitters is tension rings. They allow for a knitter to keep tension and hold yarn without having to use their finger dexterity to do it. They come in a wide variety of shapes and styles, so you can get one in your knitters favorite color or with their favorite animal. I’ve found them incredibly helpful in managing my neuropathy and tendinitis that can often develop from yarn crafting, so its a great way to allow someone to continue knitting if they already have those issues, or protect their fingers if they don’t. Plus, jewelry is always a win, especially useful jewelry.
5.) Yarn Cutting Pendant
One of the worst things is constantly needing to find your scissors when you’ve sat down to knit. That’s one of the reasons I love Clover Yarn Cutting Pendants. They’re easy to attach to a key ring or a necklace and have a way to cut your yarn close at hand. The blade is covered to protect your fingers from getting snipped as well. Additionally, there’s no fear of someone using your good craft scissors on paper if you’ve accidentally left it out (please stop using our good scissors like that, you dull them). I’ve had my clover cutter for a number of years now, and it still cuts just as well as they day I got it. It also makes it a lot easier to knit on the go.
6.) Blocking Forms
Blocking is a crucial part of knitting that often gets overlooked by people not in the craft. It helps to make sure that all items keep their shape and look their best. This gift idea is a little more complex as not all knitters will need all types of blocking forms. If the knitter you love makes a lot of socks, a sock blocking form would be a wonderful gift.
If they’re particularly fond of making mittens, these glove and mitten blocking forms would make an incredible gift.
If they tend to do a lot of granny square projects where they need many squares to be the same size, an adjustable blocking board like this is an incredible gift.
If they’re like me and make a wide variety of projects in a variety of shapes and sizes, these interlocking blocking mats are an incredible tool that can be used for almost everything.
Blocking forms, especially the specialty ones of nice quality, are such wonderful gifts and usually very overlooked.
7). Display Forms
If your knitter sells on etsy, makes patterns, or uses social media to display their crafts, display forms can be an excellent gift that helps them with those ventures. There are head displays for people who make a lot of hats and headbands as well as body displays that are perfect for displaying dresses, shirts, shawls, and more. If they’ve turned their craft into a venture, display forms help elevate the professionalism of their photographs and can help show how things wear at craft shows.
8.) Yarn Swift and Ball Winder
One of the best gifts I’ve gotten was a yarn swift and ball winder. These are a necessity when working with finer yarn that comes in hanks instead of skeins, but its also a nice thing to have even when you usually knit with tradition skeins. The ball winder allows you to make perfect center pull cakes of yarn, keeping skeins from collapsing in on themselves and balls from rolling away. If they ever have an issue with tangled yarn, the swift (the naked umbrella looking thing) allows them to easily keep their yarn manageable when they untangle it.
These are two tools that I think every knitter should have because of their usefulness, and they make incredible gifts.
9.) Interchangeable Circular Needle Set
Most of the time, I would say don’t gift knitting needles, however if you know your loved one doesn’t have a set of interchangeable circular knitting needles, I would absolutely recommend this as a gift. This needle set allows for your knitter to have almost every single combo of circular needles at their disposable. It comes with 5 cables and 12 sets of needle tips, so they truly would be ready for almost any pattern that calls for circular needles. These sets tend to be pricy, but they’re an incredible gift and worth the investment.
10.) Digital Row Counters
While there are manual row counters out there, digital ones are way more convenient than fiddling with dials every round or row. These help your knitter know where they are in a project and come in a variety of colors. They make particularly good stocking stuffers.
While this list isn’t exhaustive, I do hope it helped you get an idea of some great gifts for your knitter this holiday season. Most of these gift ideas are also great for crocheters as well (although instead of interchangeable needles, I would get them a beautiful set of hooks instead). I hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful holiday season!
