Kate Atherley

Knitwear designer, technical editor, teacher · Toronto, Ontario

Kate Atherley is a triple threat: technical editor, designer, teacher.

Her biggest high-wire act is her exquisitely precise work known as technical editing. As Knitty.com’s Managing Technical Editor, she makes sure that a pattern actually works—the math, the wording, the stitch counts, the all of it. She’s also the co-publisher of Digits & Threads, an independent, member-supported online magazine about Canadian fiber and textile arts, crafts and industry.

As a seasoned designer, she creates designs with a special attention to detail. Her book Knit Mitts! captures the charm of mittens along with the puzzle of making them fit right. Custom Socks is a next-level guide to making excellent socks. And her technical guide, The Knitter’s Dictionary: Knitting Know-How from A to Z, is a bookshelf essential.

Kate has published Custom Shawls for the Curious and Creative Knitter with co-author Kim McBrien Evans. Custom Fit Hats is the latest in her series on making knits exactly the way you want.

Kate teaches at knitting events across the world. If you have the opportunity to take a class with her, don’t miss the chance to learn from one of the best.

Kate lives in Toronto with her husband and their Northern rescue dog, Winnie, who likes cold weather more than anyone else in the family.

Kate Atherley's Networks:

Contributions From Kate Atherley

Working with Two Yarns

Adding one and one can make something much greater than the sum of its parts.

Grafting Genius, Part 2: That Clever Trick Is Even More Clever

It's one of the tidiest tricks in knitting—so worth it to get the hang of it.

Grafting Genius

One clever trick will change your relationship with grafting.

Placing an Afterthought Heel

How to make your afterthought heel a little less of one.

Tidy Afterthought Heels

Turning a knitted tube into a sock doesn't have to be a fiddly mystery.

The Mending Loom

Oh no! Your favorite knit has a hole! How to fix it with the proper (and cutest) tool.

What Is Ease? The Mysteries of Size

The fundamentals of getting a perfect fit. It just takes a moment!

Reindeer Moss Mittens: Needle Tips

Not every knitter loves every needle. Find the set-up that brings you joy.

Embrace Marl-tarsia

It's not intarsia. It's not marling. It's something even better.

Picking up Border Stitches

Top tips for putting the finishing touches on your Cottage Throw and Autumn Garden Stole.

Stranded Colorwork: Consider the Float

A buoyant bit of knitting know-how for colorwork joy.

Skill Builder: Pattern Reading

Top tips for setting yourself up for success at the start of any project.

Tender Tips for the Tendril Necklace

How to knit a Fork ... plus a flash sale on Spincycle Dream State.

Turnstile Wrap: Sewing the Seams

Step-by-step instructions for seams that look great on both sides of Olga Buraya-Kefelian's versatile design.

The Crochet Cast-on

A favorite, versatile cast-on that should be in every knitter's repertoire. Give it a try!

Stranded Colorwork: Keeping It Loose

Tips for perfect gauge and the right amount of stretch.

Using Colorwork Charts

A seasoned knitter, teacher, and designer shares her top tips and hacks for keeping track.

Color Dominance in Stranded Colorwork

When it comes to which color stands out, you're the boss.

Handy Tips for Stranded Colorwork

Working two-color stranded knitting one-handed. Of course you can.

Gossamer: A Beginner’s Guide

Get the basics just right for this light and versatile garment by Joji Locatelli that you'll reach for every chilly day.

Grace Notes Pullover: Getting Started

Visualizing the ingenious construction of Joji Locatelli's elegant design.

Cuatro Wrap: On the Table

Genius tips for happily zig-zagging your way along Joji Locatelli's ingenious new wrap.

Fixing Brioche: The Case of the Missing Yarnover

Step-by-step yarnover recovery is here.

Brioche Besottedness: Dotty Wrist Warmers

A brioche devotee, designer, and teacher offers top tips and a gorgeous variation.

The Scrap Tote: Learn Entrelac

Entrelac is huge amounts of block-by-block knitting fun.

Skill Builder: Cables

Add texture and dimension to your knits—cables only look complicated.

The Skill Set Hat: Make it Your Own

Change up the brim, add some stripes and voilà!

Skill Builder: Combining Knits and Purls

Adventures in basic knitted textures.

Skill Builder: Slip 1

The ins and outs of slipping stitches.

Skill Builder: Garter Stitch Fixes

A stitch-by-stitch guide to fixing mistakes in garter stitch.

Skill Builder: Fixing Mistakes

Into each life a few (or many) mistakes must fall.

Skill Builder: Decreases

A smorgasbord of decreases ... coming right up.

Skill Builder: Increases

Make1 FTW!

Skill Builder: Two Cast-ons

Two more cast-ons to for brilliant beginnings.

Techniques in Depth: Assessing Alterations

A handy table and friendly advice for assessing pattern adjustments.

Techniques in Depth: Fine-tuning Sleeve Fit

Adjust sleeves to suit your fashion.

Techniques in Depth: Basic Sleeve Alterations

Think like a designer to make adjustments and alterations.

Techniques in Depth: Less Evenly Across?

When the solution is ... odd. You’ve got this.

Techniques in Depth: Evenly Across

Knitting instructions or puzzle fun? You’ve got this.

Short Row Basics, Part II

Short row techniques are interchangeable. Why? And how?

Short Row Basics

The what and why of short rows.

Techniques in Depth: Garter Tab Cast-On

Gather 'round for an ode to the garter tab cast-on.

On Moths

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Then get to work on pest control.

Chock-a-Block: Tips on Blocking Handknits

There's blocking, and then there's blocking.

Cast-On Casting Call

So many cast-ons, which one to choose? Kate sorts them out.

Techniques in Depth: Ladders, Begone!

Tips and tricks for avoiding ladders in your knitting in the round.

Why Try Seamed

Why seam? Kate Atherley lays it all out.

Working in the Round: Hiding the Gaps

How to smooth out those pesky bumps and gaps at the start and finish.

A DK-Weight Sock Recipe

Just in time for a new, heavier sock yarn, learn how to adapt a sock pattern to a different gauge.

Techniques in Depth: Cabling Without a Cable Needle

Look, Ma—no needle! This is one of the cleverest little techniques we know.

Cables: Improving and Troubleshooting

Basic cables don't have to be basic.

Needles in the Modern Age of Sock Knitting

DPNs, tiny circulars, magic loop, or two circulars: how to make a sock pattern written for any needle set-up work for you.

Techniques in Depth: How to Make Socks That Last

Tips for getting the most out of the time and wool invested in a precious pair of handknit socks.

A Flap-and-Gusset Heel Recipe for Toe-Up Socks

A flap-and-gusset heel for toe-up socks? Kate Atherley will walk you through it.

Socks: What’s All the Flap About?

Try a flap-and-gusset heel construction on your next pair of socks. Kate Atherley will walk you through it.

Sock Skills: Tweaking the Fit of a Short-Row Heel

Customize the fit of your socks with handy solutions from a sock master.

Techniques in Depth: Bind Off Loosely

What sort of "loosely" are we talking about? How to work the stretchy bind-off that is just right for your project.

Techniques in Depth: The Humble Yarnover

Four ways to make a hole in your knitting—on purpose.

Techniques in Depth: Fully Fashioned Part 2 (Decreases)

More on being fully fashioned, this time with decrease technique and placement.

Techniques in Depth: Fully Fashioned Part 1 (Increases)

Everything you need to know about the KFB and M1 increases. No, really: everything.

Techniques in Depth: How to Measure

There are tricks to everything, and measuring your knitting is no exception.

Techniques in Depth: How to Count

A simple thing can be tricky: how to count stitches and rows.

Best of 2018: Deep Dive into Techniques

It's like sitting next to the smartest knitter in the room.

Techniques in Depth: Joining in the Round

When knitting in the round, there are four instructions that strike fear in a knitter's heart. But not anymore!

Techniques in Depth: Knitters on the Edge (Slipping Stitches)

My mother slips the first stitch of every row. I don’t. A spirited debate.

Techniques in Depth: Tie or Die

In which Kate tackles another controversial topic: how to join in a new yarn. (Warning: there may be knots.)

Techniques in Depth: Socks Without Ears

Building a tidier toe: Kate Atherley has practical advice that just might work for you. (Bonus: applies to mittens, too!)

Techniques in Depth: How to Weave in Ends

When the knitting part is done: how to weave in ends.

Techniques in Depth: How to Attach Buttons

Let's go deep into a topic that gets startlingly short shrift in pattern instructions: how to "attach buttons."

Techniques in Depth: Making Buttonholes

How to make holes in your knitting (on purpose).

Techniques In Depth: How to Pick Up Stitches

A master class tutorial on how to pick up stitches, the tricky but necessary first step to adding edgings, bands, and other finishes to knitted garments.

On Zippers in Knits

The expert guidance of Kate Atherley transforms a finishing challenge into something completely possible.