Skip to content

Between the run-up to (and subsequent wake of) Knitpocalypse on Atlas Drive a couple of weeks ago and now the lead-in to Holiday Hell on Earth whoops, I mean The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, we’re elbow deep in building yarn kits here in the warehouse. 

Building kits elicits mixed feelings among the lowly yarn polloi around here. From a shipping standpoint, we love them—it’s a single item that gets plucked from a neatly stocked shelf and placed in a box instead of twenty-five different-every-time items. From a prepping perspective, it’s more complicated: we spend a lot of time chasing down the individual components of each kit and then neatly packaging them (you try and stack a two dozen loose balls of static-electrically charged Felted Tweed in a cello bag without them falling over; it should be an Olympic sport) and stickering them and barcoding (BARCODING YOU ARE STILL MY SWORN ENEMY!) them. 

I think we all feel that it’s worth it to do in advance, though we probably admit it through gritted teeth because it’s impossible to multi-task during Kit Time. We just have to sit in front of the massive mounds of yarn and shove place them in the bag until several decades have passed and Ann and Kay unchain the doors.

I used to work at a different knitting-related enterprise and we once posed the question to our shoppers, “Do you prefer a pre-made kit with all the colors selected or do you prefer to build your own?” The response was really revealing: close to 90% of the responses were along the lines of, “Oh, I love to do it myself”—but we sold out of every single kit we had in about ten minutes. So there’s a 75% guarantee that either the other 10% were sitting on a pile of ready-to-spend money, or the 90% was 80% made up of 100% fibbers.

As I have previously noted, I am pretty dang color blind, so of course, I always go for the kit. You could sell me a dozen balls of brown yarn and call it “Rainbows and Leprechauns Eating Skittles” and I would say, “Oh yes, mmm hmmm, quite the colorful combination!” and just cast on. You should keep that in mind when you think about me making up your kit. You just might get “Rhapsody in Beige” and I will only shrug my shoulders and say “See, I told you!” But I will say it politely and send you a return label. PRINTED IN BLACK AND WHITE.

Conversely, I’ve been fascinated by the rise of meal kits over the past few years. It’s something I would never consider because I practically use a jeweler’s loupe to inspect all the produce I buy; I could never trust someone else to choose it for me. So maybe there are just different kinds of Kit People.

Anyway. It’s About to be Kit Time, y’all. Get your caboodles ready.

A Giveaway

Well … Do you prefer a pre-made kit with all the colors selected or do you prefer to build your own? The prize? Our Baggu Also Full of Yarn Bag in black denim—capacious enough for a kit!

How to enter?

Two steps:

Step 1: Sign up for our weekly newsletter, Snippets, right here. If you’re already subscribed, you’re set.

Step 2: In the comments, declare whether you’re #teamkit or #teambuildmyown.

Deadline for entries: Sunday, October 24, 11:59 PM Central time. We’ll draw a random winner from the entries. Winner will be notified by email.

About The Author

DG Strong took up knitting in 2014. He lives in Nashville with his sister, her rat terrier and a hound dog named Opal. He has a blog of drawings and faintly ridiculous rambling called The Psychopedia—there are worse ways to spend your afternoon.

1269 Comments

  • I am defnitely #teambuildmyown. I really enjoy sorting and swapping colors to get just the right color-invoked emotion from my intended object. Sometimes I want a happy sweater; othertimes Iwant a calming or soothing sweater or hat or scarf…

    • Build my own for me but premade as a gift.

    • I’m both. I lean more toward build your own but enjoy not having to work so hard to figure everything out and just pick up the kit and get to the knitting.

    • i love a good kit when I can find one! #teamkit

    • #teambuildmyown

      • Me too! #teambuildmyown Dreaming up combos is a lot of the fun in knitting.

    • I am #teamkit that inspires to be a build your own. I don’t fully trust my eye for color combos.

    • I’m a #teamkit!! Love, love this!!!

    • Team kit! I don’t quite trust my newb judgment with more complicated color schemes yet.

    • I’m a #teambuildmyown kinda knitter. My color combo’s tend to be mood related, dark, like or very unusual. Also depends on the particular project

    • Build my own. Usually admire kits, then ignore them.

    • #Teamkit, if left to my own devices nothing would be complimentary.

    • I think I’m #team kit but then again I love trying my hand at choosing colors…basically I just love yarn!

      • Are you kidding? #teambuildmyown for sure — I’m way too pig-headed to want another person’s choices!

        • #team kit

    • I am #teambuildmyown. Whenever I have purchased a kit I have used different yarn for pattern and different patterns for the yarn

    • #teamkit. If forced to choose more than one color for a project, I’m likely to obsess for hours when choosing and then again before beginning to knit.

    • #teamkit for me. I’ve been known to spend what-feels-like-years just picking one color for a project. Multiple colors that go together? They’d find me covered in cobwebs, needles in hand, still trying to decide!
      Thanks, DG, for the out-loud laugh I needed today!!

    • Usually #teambuildmyown. I’m a diy-er my nature in almost all respects, although an occasional fabulous sample and kit could win me over.

    • Build my own! I will forever need to follow a pattern so this is my opportunity to be part of the creative process. Having having said that I will treat myself to a kit a few times a year.

      • Depends on the project. Sometimes I know what I want, and sometimes I’d like someone else to just make all the decisions for me.

      • I’m #teamkit. I like seeing what others come up with.

        • Definitely a #teamknit since I am often delightfully surprised to see what color combos my teammate comes up with

        • #teambuildmyown

        • #teambuildmyown. It just seems like it will be more fun to figure it out myself.

  • I change sides regularly. It also depends on the project.

    • Me too! Sometimes a kit just speaks to me and sometimes I choose my own adventure.

    • I have never even considered buying a kit. Choosing colors is part of the pleasure for me.

      • I am firmly on #teambuildmyown

        • #teambuildmyown. Although I have been known to take the lazy way and let someone else take the wheel occasionally.

  • Are you kitting me?! Both of course, I live all my knitting and kitting equally!

    • #team kit – I admit it

  • I have not yet purchased a kit, but it on my list. I think it would be a nice change to let someone else pick my colors.

    • Both 🙂

  • #teamkit maybe some kits with no Alpaca and/or mohair?

    • Never yet bought a kit, but I really want to. Someday. Maybe.

      • I love the idea of kits but I have only ever purchased one.

  • I’m teamkit.

  • Wishy-washy. I do both. Stay safe everyone.

    • #teamkit for me. Let the pros pick ‘em!

    • I don’t usually buy kits, but that’s partly because I mostly knit things too small to require a kit (hats).

      • #teamkit all the way!

  • I am so much of a kit girl that when I wanted to put colors together recently I went and looked at a kit. I would have just bought a kit but I wanted worsted weight and the kit was sport.

  • Love a kit!

  • As much as I love to play with all the colors all by myself, #teamkit will win the day nearly every time.

  • I love kits, but when there aren’t combinations to be inspire me, I build my own. Of course that has lead to me making shawls in almost identical color combinations. Once I ordered out of my comfort zone and the resulting yarns still occupy a very inaccessible yarn bin. Though to be fair that was because the yarns didn’t really look anything like the photos on the site.

  • #teambuildmyown

    • Teamkit! I’ve seen so many with color combinations I wouldn’t think to put together on my own, but love once I see them together.

      • Team kit! Only buy a kit if I see a sample and like it.

  • I’ve never purchased a kit.

  • Def tbyo. But then again, I have so many random skeins at home just waiting to be placed in a special project bag and assigned their very own pattern. I have no prob mixing colors!

    • Kits for me.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • #teamboth! I love a carefully selected set of colors because I don’t trust my color judgment too much but sometimes the urge to pick my own takes over.

  • I’m a pick your own colours gal (Sorry, DJ!). Pre-made kits only make me wish this or that colour combo was also available.

  • #teambuildyourown

  • #teamkit all the way… It takes me long enough to chose which kit I’d be there for weeks costing my own colours etc.

  • Definitely #teamkit. I always like other peoples colour combos best!!!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • When buying on the internet kits are much safer. Colors are not always what they seem to be on the screen.

  • Build my own, although it takes forever to choose!

  • Oh gee, I bet I am your worst nightmare, because it all depends. (100% of the time) I am #team kit, when colors appeal, like the Cityscape scarf, and Garter Stripe Shawl Bundle, and #teambuildmy own for something like the Color Explosion Throw. Maybe 20% of those 80% fibbers of 90% of #teamkit just loved the kits that were made up!

  • #teamkit!

  • #teamkit, in theory. I am colorblind (a bit), and so have trouble selecting yarn. But a lot of time I end up picking my own colors, with the help of my husband. Poor man gets dragged to our LYS. Now he is knitting, too!

  • Loaded question. So the long answer is if I can go in person to a shop I love to choose the colors myself. It’s part of the fun process for me. If I’m ordering yarn from online I will tend to go with the kit because I know those colors will work together.

  • Build my own! Color theory always came naturally for me, since my childhood art school days!!! And I use white and beige not at all, purple/grey/black heavily!

  • I am #teamkit. I always feel the professionals have a better sense of than me.

  • A kit is so organized! And coordinated! And has all the colors!
    Do it myself is fun, but invariably there isn’t enough of a color so have to sub then have to change something else and before you know it hours of knitting time has been spent squinting at yarn.

  • I am usually #teambuildmyown

  • #teambuildmyown, meow meow meow!

    • #teamkit all the way. I have decision paralysis , maybe because I’m new to knitting but I’m just exploring colors and find most kits to have great color choices.

  • I usually enjoy building my own but I have bought kits a couple of times. I find it easier to get a kit when I’m ordering online

  • Kitted…maybe-it depends on the colors in the kit!

  • When it comes to MDK #teamkit. Why? Because they never fail to put something unexpected together. It is an adventure

  • I’m a #teamkit!

  • Truth be told, I enjoy both build my own and kit knitting. They both haves their spot in my knitting world:)

  • I think I want to pick my own… but then others sometimes pick something unexpected that would never have occurred to me and that can be a very good thing.

  • Sometimes I am #teamkit and sometimes I am not. It all depends

  • Both! Basically I am #teamYARN in any form – and I have the stash to prove it…

    • I’m firmly on that team too!

      • Me, too!

  • i dont know if i have ever purchased a whole kit. i have done some editing on some. if i see a project i love just the way it is, i will buy the kit of yarn. i dont always buy the darning needles. frequently i will buy the circular needles because i am something of a needle hoarder.

  • #teambuildmyown for sure- then the color result has only my blame if it is goofy – or love if it truly appeals to me!

  • Most of the time #teamkit. If I love the pattern and not the colors in the kit then I will pick my own colors.

    • Team kit, please. I live in a household of varying degrees of color blindness -even the women. We have others pick for us.

  • I don’t think I’ve ever bought a kit. #teambuildmyown! I did just subscribe to a meal kit, received my first delivery, and haven’t felt like cooking so it’s all just sitting unused. And I had a cat once that I named Kit-n-Kaboodle! Also, I wish that bag still came in denim

  • #teamkit

  • I’m a teambuildmyown knitter.

  • I am so #buildmyown that I can’t even be on a “team.” I am #I’llbuildmyowndamnit.

  • It depends on the project! I enjoy both! I didn’t help much, uh!

  • I do both, but mostly my own unless there is a kit with fabulous colors I would never think to put together

  • Temam kit with online purchasing – but build my own in person when the screen isn’t making me believe the colours will work together…

  • Thinking back to the Hadley Sweater Kit MDK put together January 2016 for the February Knock Out a Sweater KAL using Brooklyn Tweed yarn, I am in the #teamkit. I had just learned to knit 6 months prior making socks for each of my three sons and husband so learned lots of techniques in spite of the short time. I was admiring MDK photos of the Fair Isle sweater in the beautiful colors and the gorgeous rustic looking yarn. With great excitement and anticipation, I impulsively joined the KAL, Ordered the Kit and field guide book #2, then I hustled over to the library to checked out a stack of books on sweater construction for reference if I needed them.
    The yarn was my first experience with the finer natural wool yarns. It seemed so exotic and rustic with occasional bits of vegetative matter caught in the plies and was fun to how each new color enhanced the design. I was determined to stay up with the others in the KAL and was pleasantly surprised to finish such a beautiful first sweater in 3.5 weeks!

  • #teambuildmyown and I don’t even know why. I have never bought a kit. I’ve been given two, and used the yarn for other projects. Pie containers, I guess.

    • That is one of the funniest things I’ve ever read! Pie containers. I really tried to figure out what you were knitting yo hold pies and was most intrigued. PS I also appreciate anyone who will use the word “contrariness.”

    • Lol, autocorrect. Plain contrariness.

      • I was intrigued by the pie containers!

  • I mostly prefer to choose my own. If I can find color substitutes for something that I’m fairly confident will work together I’ll go for it on my own. If, based on my options, I just can’t seem to make it work, that’s when I’ll resort to a pre-made kit.

  • Team kir

  • Unless it’s a highly complicated color combo, like a Bohus or highly pattered stranded, I’m TPMO. And sometimes I mess up in this. All good!

  • I’m team kit unless I’m trying to stash bust, then I’m team “sit in a pile of mismatches stash until something makes sense.” I am particularly pro-kit when it comes to patterns that only use a small amount of yarn, so I don’t end up with a mass of leftovers after using the required 25 yards of 18 different colors, hypothetically speaking (and totally not from experience, of course).

  • #teamkit is it’s four or more colors! #teambuildmyown for the lesser numbers of colors!

  • I don’t ordinarily enjoy being told what to do; I make an exception when yarn colors can be chosen for me. DG, this column made me LOL – your turns of phrase crack me up!

  • #teamkit all the way!

  • Definitely a BYOP type (build your own project), so #teambuildyourown for me.

  • I am definitely #teamkit. Life is hard I like to keep my yarn obsession simple. And they ass so nicely to the stash!

  • #teamkit for me.

  • I probably would have be in the #foolingmyselfcamp (or fibbers camp), said #teambuildmyown, but then gone with #teamkit . so yes, #teamkit

  • I like to build my own….so now my yarn is mostly black…ok, 95% black with a hint of pink and blue.

  • #teamkit for sure and certain!

  • I like the idea of kits, though I’ve never actually bought one. Kit color combinations inspire me to think of color pairing in a new way and branch out from my comfort zone. Self-striping sock yarn works the same way, though it’s a little harder to substitute the one color that you just can’t get excited about.

  • I prefer to obtain the pattern separately from the kit. If I must pay for the pattern, fine, but please don’t offer the pattern only with the kit. #teambuildmyown

  • I do both. Sometimes the colors in a kit speak to me and other times I have specific colors in my mind as I consider a pattern. I have a strong color sense but when I shop on line I certainly study the kits. It can be hard to appreciate the subtleties when you are looking at colors online.

  • #teamkit! I have too many other decisions to make

  • I most definitely prefer a #teambuildyourown kit! I tried one of those surprise kits ONCE and nearly fainted when I opened the package. There it sat, my least favorite color and in a shade too dreadful to describe with several other equally icky complimentary colors.

  • I’m #teambuildmyown but I’d never pass up a beautiful kit

  • #teamkit for me!

  • I love choosing my own colors when I can see all the choices in person. I like buying a kit when I’m shopping online.

  • #TeamBuildMyOwn bc selecting the selection of yarn & colors is fun & creative! It’s the time of hope & mystery.

  • Build my own!! Colors are such a personal thing – a kit would be like having somebody else choose my clothes, or what color I paint my walls.

  • I lean toward #teamkit. I am your typical “fall in love with the sample” knitter.

  • I am usually a select my own but I did buy the lettlopi kit of colors or the scarf, which I might add is currently misplaced..ummm too much stash. Anyway I will find it soon….loved the black cat.

  • For some reason I have yet to buy a kit. I choose my own colors for the pattern. However, after seeing some of the preassembled kits at MDK I feel a kit will be in my future.

  • #team kit. Whenever I try to pick yarn. I get a headache from too many choices. So I have made too many things in beige. When I received my first kit, I knew there was a yarn Goddess.

  • Absolutely team kit

  • Both, how’s that for a decision however with that stated, if the colrs speak to me in the kit – their mine 100%!

  • Both! #teamkit and #teambuildmyown! It always depends!!

  • #teamkit. I’d like to be a #teambuildmyown but I’m commitment-phobic and could never decide on which colors to choose . . .

  • Also prefer to build my own kit. I think many knitters don’t trust their color senses when picking color combinations and therefore rely on prepackaged kits. (Totally agree with DG also on picking one’s own produce :D)

  • I will buy a kit, because I love that particular grouping of colors in that particular yarn, but then I will ignore the pattern entirely and make something different. So I am #teamboth, but not in the way you think.

    • I bought a kit once and, like Victoria, promptly dismantled it for use in a different project. One reason I’m #teambuildmyown is because I love to jump up at 5:45am every Saturday to rummage through my stash, eagerly pulling out possible combinations for potential projects, followed by a few hours of random swatching. That’s the appetizer before the main event: the rotation of my one of a kind WIPS.

  • I’ve never bought a kit, so add me to the build-my-own contingent.

  • If I like all the colors, then team kit. But I may exchange one or two colors to make it my own.

  • If it’s more than 3 colors then I love the kit. If I’m buying online the I prefer the kit since colors can be deceptive on the screen. Your Rowan felted tweed kits are wonderful!!! So thank you for persevering and getting it so neatly into the cellophane bag.

  • Well it all depends on whether I like the colors that have been selected for the kit by someone else. I prefer #teamkit but if necessary, I’ll switch to #teambuildmyown.

  • Sometimes kit, most of the time my own selection. Buying yarn is fun either way.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • #teamkit ♥️

  • This A very difficult question! If I see A kit with gorgeous yarn I want it! On the other hand if it has options I’m buying the colors I want!

  • I build, I kit, just let me knit!!

  • Definitely #teambuildyourown.

  • #teamkit

    • I am both, but over the past two years have become more #team kit. Having the yarn delivered to my house from all over the world in beautiful colors has both kept me sane and let me experience yarns that I can’t buy from any of my LYS in the area. I also like kits that have different color choices available and have been known on the instance of Lettlopi to buy multiple kits and not knot the project but use the colors to design my own sweater. Have also done this with the felted tweed kits, and added colors from my stash.

  • #teamkit

  • #teambuildmyown unless of course I love the colors offered in the kit. In which case I join #teamkit

  • Teamkit, let someone else do the work.

  • Build my own

  • I love putting my own colors together. I actually don’t think I have ever bought a kit. Although years ago I saw a kit to make mermaid socks (a mermaid was on the heel) and I didn’t think I would ever make socks so I didn’t buy it. The next day I regretted it, but it was at an event and I was never able to track it down. Now I make socks all the time, almost always vanilla.

  • #teambuildyourown is my favorite mental starting place, but I have been known to cave to the confidence of those who already know what will give delightful results.

  • I’m team kit (when I’m not choosing/ putting together colors of my own!)

    • I’m definitely a “Build My Own Kit”. It takes forever to decide because I need to feel the yarn too. Brace yourself, after seeing the felted tweed colors and feeling the Organic Studio yarn I’m getting ready to order components for Christmas gifts.

  • Depends. If I have exactly what I want in my stash I use that. But I’ve Also succumbed to some gorgeous kits.

    Lynn W.

  • I bought a kit once back in the Stone Age. I didn’t care for the results. I’m sure they are much improved now but since I knit primarily for my grand sons, they get to choose the colors, sometimes quite ‘creatively’.

  • At times, when I walk into a clothing store and see an outfit on a model, I think I’ve got to have that and buy it. Other times I see an outfit and think “how can anyone wear that color and style?” So kits are the same way with me. It depends!!

  • I love choosing my own!

  • I like kits, but I want color options.

  • Team kit. Can’t put more than 3 colors together on my own

  • Both! I love to see what #teamkit creates. And may swap for my own. Chuckled at kit n caboodles.

  • Teambuildyourown# ALL THE WAY!

  • #teamkit I have no faith in my own ability to match colors and am in complete and appreciation of those who can.

  • DG, we are NOT fibbers, we just perhaps lack a little self awareness? I am mostly team build your own but enjoy the occasional allure of a kit!

  • #teamkit but don’t be surprised if it gets edited once it’s in my little hands.

  • #teamkit

  • Big ol’ fence sitter here. I prefer to choose my own colors, but choosing the yarn itself- the “correct” yarn- oh I definitely need help.

  • I am #teamkit. I usually am dragged in to the color combinations of a pre made kit. That being said I search all the options to find just the right one.

  • I’ve only bought one kit. Ever. I love to look at it (through the beautiful cello package—thank you wrapping/packing person), but I’ve yet to open it.

  • I’m sitting squarely on the fence in the middle! I appreciate and some times welcome the creative combinations the designer has come up with but sometimes I have my own vision.

  • #teamkit here

  • Sometimes I want a Kat to go with my Kit and sometimes I want a caboodle. I agree with those who say “when I’m in my LYS I tend to pick my own and when ordering on line I’m more likely to choose a kit.” I still like kits that offer choices of colors.

  • I prefer to choose my own colors; unless, of course, the kit is based on the color blue!!

  • #teamkit. It’s like a special gift someone made just for me.

  • Sometimes, I love the luxury of someone else deciding on colors from the start instead of grouping yarn from the stash.

  • #teamconflicted! I love to choose my own colours, but I have a tiny yarn budget, so the savings that come from kits are extremely attractive. When there’s no price difference though? #teambuildmyown

  • #teamkit all the way

  • Depending on the project… maybe a kit but mostly build my own.
    Thanks.

  • I’m in both camps! Sometimes I like to experiment with color and other times I want exactly what the sample is. It works for me.

  • I have to say I am a bit of both I love a kit because I get overwhelmed by choice and can’t decide on a color way! As for produce I have been ordering groceries online and it’s hit or miss they pick terrible avocados that were ripe for yesterday I got furry carrots and considerably brown white mushrooms and visibly green potatoes so I keep trying because I like the convenience of it but some things are better left being done by oneself!

  • I always think I would love a kit, but the only one I have ever purchased is still in the bag six years later. Guess I’m really team build your own!

  • I’ve also had that experience where you ask the question, get the responses, manage expectation accordingly, and then have the complete opposite result. I find it fascinating (and a little maddening)! Did the buyers not answer the original question? Was the offering simply too good for everyone to resist? Did the folks who said “never kit” think “maybe there’s something to a kit and I should try it before I poopoo it thoroughly”?

    Oh and I’m #teamboth ‘cuz sometimes I want to play and sometimes I just want to knit.

  • Kit, please. Ordering colors off a computer screen gives disappointing results. And there will be enough of a given color. No plotting the perfect color combination to find that your favorite shade is out, or on delay.

  • #teankit. Trying to choose more than three colors is overwhelming.

  • Well, it’s complicated. I do like to pick my own, but there is something about a kit (or box of colored pencils or paint box or anything with lots of colors) that is so appealing.

  • I prefer #teamkit! Seems I never get the combo just right when I build my own. But that doesn’t stop me from trying – lol.

  • #teamkit rules the day!

  • #Teamkit are fun and very helpful when indecision for what colors to use. It will often open my mind to new color combinations. Sometimes, however it does not fit what I had in mind for the project so #Teambuildmyown kicks in. So I suppose I am both!

  • It depends on the mood I’m in! Sometimes I like to bake a fancy cake from scratch (or make my own version of the colorwork cardigan but with nine colors instead of the pattern’s six), and other times I just want a cupcake from the cafe down the road (a cute premade kit for that adorable hat I’d been admiring). So for me it’s definitely both.

  • I’m on the fence, I love a kit, but NEVER stick to the plan exclusively

  • I’ve never purchased a pre-made kit but if you offer The Unicorn and Fruit Loop/ Lucky Charm Rainbow Leprechaun Explosion kit I am 1000000% in.

  • I’ve gone both ways. I think I am happier with the end result when I choose kitted projects.

  • build my own if I can do it in person. You build it if I’m buying online

  • I am #team build my own almost all the time. I am in the middle of a Kafe Fasset thing and I have already bought a bunch of Rowan Felted Tweed for a scarf last year. I am very slow to get around to some of the patterns, too. I would actually buy a kit for the marled blanket Cast Away Throw in blues and greens in case you don’t have enough to do.

  • I’ve done both and loved both!

  • If I’m trying out a new yarn, definitely a kit – that way you just get what you need for a project. But if it’s a yarn I love (looking at you, Freia and Jill Draper!) then I’d rather pick my own, and of course get extra in case I need it…..

  • #teamkits!

  • #teamkit all the way here! If said kit has a limited edition colorway or has notions or other extras, I will 100% give you all of my monies. I love a well curated kit.

  • #teamkit without doubt or hesitation. I trust in others to pick colors and fibers that would work well for a project.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • Team Build-My-Own every single time. Also I own a small flock of sheep with to die for wool, and 4 spinning wheels. So I regularly go off-script with patterns. (Sorry, I’m just here for the patterns)

  • I’m 50/50 on kits. #teamkit #buildmyown

  • I am #teambuildmyown, worth a little help from my own personal yarn guru at my LYS

  • I am #teamkit and when I’m not – I should be….. also — I read the prize as a bag full of black denim yarn. 🙂 chalk that up to some very literal and parsed letter writing I am doing with my 5 year old grand daughter – talking about Bat and Pumpkin ravioli — but needing to add the disclaimer — not made with real bats….

  • I love the idea of a kit, but haven’t purchased one, yet. That said, I have asked my LYS to pull colors together for me bc that is not in my ministry as they say.

  • Team kit!!

  • I just worked with your company to change the colors of a kit to match my taste so I guess it I am team build my own with help.

  • I’m #teamkit when I like the combination, i.e., it’s already in my favorite palette of the moment. Otherwise, I’m #teampickmyown. But if it’s yarn we’re talking, I’m very accommodating.

  • I’m team build your own, buy a kit and use your stash!

  • Team kit. Do the hard part for me please.

    • #teamkit for me. I like discovering new color combinations.

  • Giveaway
    I like both, i buy both
    I often get inspired by stephen west’s shawl choices, ir casapinka.
    Both i say

  • I am absolutely #teambuildmyown! I am a ridiculously loose knitter and a kit will never, ever have enough yarn to finish, no matter how tiny my needle choice to compensat.

  • I like kits and I like to select my own colors. No kidding! Love it all but if I had to pick just one answer, select my own would win!
    Happy Sunday!

  • #teambuildmyown when it’s yarn. I have become #teammealkitvthough. If I don’t have to plan dinner, I have more time and energy for knitting!

  • 100% #teamkit so long as there’s a few variations offered. I’m sure to find one I like as long as they aren’t all shades of pink. I’d probably even take a “rainbow of beige” over that…

  • Right now, Team kit — it’s stressful times and I don’t have the bandwidth and get stuck in analysis paralysis!

  • #teamkit

  • #teamkit for me. It’s completely stress free!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • I’m #teamkit. I always pick at least one color that doesn’t quite work with the others.

  • Well, I’ve never bought a kit. So I’m in the 10%

  • Team pick my own I think, it depends on the sellers aesthetic really.

  • #teamkit While I love buying yarn, I have discovered that I tend to actually complete more projects if I buy a kit. I think that I lose interest in the yarn or get distracted by another, before I find that perfect pattern.

  • Well, sadly, I think that I may be in the fibber category. (Unintentionally, of course.) I say that I want to build my own but my color combos are never as interesting or vibrant as the kits. The kits just look so good! I like it when there are kits in different color combos—the blue kit, the earth tone kit, etc. Does that count as choosing your own color?

  • My eye can be quickly drawn to a beautiful kit. Otherwise, I often stay in my comfort zone! It’s fun to try something new and exciting—but no purple, please,

  • Definitely building my own…choosing colours is one of the best opportunities for creativity!

  • Build my own — it’s at least half the fun.

  • Team kit. I just look for one with the colors I like and cast on!

  • I like to build my own. By that I mean that I will look at the kits you assemble, for *ideas*, and then choose the one I like best. Voila! I’ve built my own.

  • #teamkit for sure!

  • #teamkit for me always.

  • I had never bought a kit until 2 years ago, now I am loving #team kit!

  • #teambuildmyowm

  • I can’t remember buying a kit. I once received a kit as a gift, but never made the intended item; instead it was cannibalized to make whatever were my whims of the moment. I tend to fall in love with the yarn first, and buy what I love without a goal for it. When I see a project that i love, I turn to my stash and see if I can make it with what I have. If I can’t pull that off (and I usually can), I buy what I need to fill in the gaps.

  • I like to think I’m build your own but the reality is I’m terrible with color and actually love when someone does it for me.

    • I secretly think this is everyone. Ssshhhh, just between you and me.

  • I love kits! Usually, when I try to build my own, one color or more is always out of stock!

  • I am definitely #teamkit. I’m an engineer – so while I can do a great job with the knitting, not so much with the color selections. In fact my husband is a big help – he’s a writer. Must be a left brain – right brain thing!

  • I am a “Bulld Your Own”, but also a very poor decision-maker. This is apparent at my frantic toggling back and forth trying to decide which TWO colors of the Ombré Merino Lace to select for the Marlogram. My index fingers are screaming “Just decide already!”

  • #teamkit
    I make life altering decisions all week at work. I want someone else to decide when it’s knitting time.

  • Live and in person, I am definitely #teambuildmyown. When shopping on line, I will often, but not always, jump to the other side.

  • Love a kit.

  • So I’m going to throw a monkey wrench in your survey and say I’m #teamitdepends. Sometimes I feel like a kit; sometimes I don’t. (If I was really a kit person I wouldn’t have so much lovely yarn in my stash BEGGING for the right project, because I would have a kit at the ready. And wouldn’t spend so much time hunting for the perfect pattern for said yarn.)

    • Me too! I have been known to buy a kit and then use the yarn for something totally different. I have bought kits and had to search online for more yarn because my gauge was different. I buy kits because they have bonus extras in them, or patterns included. I buy kits because they are lower in price than buying skeins separately. I guess I buy a lot of kits. Well, I buy a lot of yarn in general, but those kits call to me………

  • #teamkit

  • #teamkit

  • #team build my own although I tend to buy a kit and a few other colors to substitute.

  • I like to build my own but I have bought kits!

  • #teambuildmyown

    My aesthetic tends to be at odds with that of the cool kids. Doesn’t matter what year it is.

  • #teamkit I like using kits to try colors and combinations I would not normally consider.

    Since I’ve been knitting for many years, I have build-my-own experiences with stash-busting projects. I tend to be more conservative than I want to be. Kits are my way try something new.

  • #teamkit here! Why stress over colors when somebody else can do it for you?

  • #teamkit all the way! (Basically I like for others to do the work)

  • I would be part of #teamkit. When I had a significantly smaller stash (decades ago) I was a lot more creative. This was when my yarn budget had to fit into my small allover budget.

  • #team kit—especially if there’s a discount.

    • Besides, just because it’s a kit doesn’t mean you have to follow the directions.

  • Team build my own- because I usually can’t even begin to afford a kit. This is because, in addition to being a retired teacher, I have managed to build an enormous stash of wonderful, scrumptious yarn. It’s All carefully organized and moth protected, with photos and yardage,so I can either create my own palette,or move on to finishing 40 WIPs.

  • Both
    Sometimes kit, sometimes build my own!

  • #Teambuildmyown. Then I ponder, decide one of the purchased elements is not quite right, purchase something more. That is how stashes are built.

  • These days I’m absolutely #teamkit.

  • #teamkit all the way

  • If there are a few colorway choices, at least one of which I like, and there usually are, then I much prefer a premade kit.

  • I would far rather choose my own colors. And actually, I rarely stick to a pattern but make up my own.

  • #teamkit but then I always love what others pick themselves and wish I had been brave enough to do so.

  • Kits! Although there is usually one color I disagree vehemently with!

  • I’m #teambuildmyown.

  • Build my own always. For unknown reasons…..preselected kits usually run short for me. Either way, much of my stash is yarn leftovers….l.

  • I prefer a kit when I see a display of the knitted item.

  • #teambuildmyown.

  • Kit? What is this kit you speak of! I will never ask you to build or premake anything. I’m Auntie Kit, Ms Doityerselfordie. I’m just stopping in to say hi to a fave writer.

  • I love the idea of the kit… I’m not good at following rules so I’m actually “build your own”

  • #teamkit! I love the elegance and ease and I have the joy of knitting a beautifully curated project.

  • I’m a #Teamkit knitter. I love color, but I have no color sense. If I see the completed project or swatch, I can decide “Oh that is so me!” Kits are wonderful.

  • Build my own. Sometimes kits for projects I want to make have colors I love — other times I just need to impose my own will on the color choices.

  • I usually prefer to pick my own colors but have been known to purchase a kit when I want to recreate the exact item.

  • Give me a Kit!! I have to order all my yarn and don’t know if the computer is giving an accurate color.

  • Definitely teambuildmyown. You should see today with my tub of Rowan Felted a tweed for the Color Explosion Throw!

  • Kit, please!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • Absolutely do both because I love yarn of all weights and colors, but if I see a kit in colors I like, I will almost always gravitate toward it even if the pattern looks hard or difficult. It just feels so special, like a goodie bag or gift when it is all ready to go! #teamkit when there’s one available however also #teambuildmyown because that’s super fun, too.

  • #Teamkit. Because colour combinations are often ones I love but wouldn’t have considered if left to choose myself

  • Some days one, the next day the other…but never any indecisiveness about how great it is to wake up to DG Strong.

  • #teamkit all the way.

  • #teamkit

  • I love it when I find a kit that has colors I love, but I will often build my own. Especially if I’m knitting it a second time!

  • I bought two cowl kits once because they were on sale, but otherwise I prefer to choose my own colors. If I don’t like something, I have only myself to blame!

  • Kit. Don’t trust my own color sense. Maybe I am colorblind too.

  • Both! It depends what I am making. For a MKAL I like kits, but I have enough stash for a long time!

  • I’m #teambuildmyown because I love playing with colour, but I always swoon over kits. I’ve bought a few over the years, but not many. However, I do have my eye on the Color Explosion Throw because the palette is breathtaking!

  • I’m an equal opportunity knitter. Sometimes I fall in love with a kit, other times I stash dive and purchase as necessary. The best of both worlds!

  • I’m bi. Sometimes a kit will strike my fancy and I join #teamkit, but other times, especially when making Icelandic-style sweaters, I’m definitely #teambuildmyown.

  • Sometimes I like the kits, then I don’t have left over yarn. However, I really enjoy creating my own colors and designs. This is more exciting to me

  • I buy both but I love kits because you just don’t have to think about it as much. You know how it will turn out

  • Both? Most of the time, I’m #teambuildmyown, but I use kits to stretch my skills. If there’s a particular skill I want to learn, I sometimes buy a kit as an easier entrance to the technique. That way, no worries about whether I’ve picked the right yarn or the right quantity.

  • Presorted with more than one choice if ordering by mail. In a hands-on yarn shop, I would try building my own.

  • I just bought my first kit for Shawlography and love it. I may be a convert to knit camp. Suffice it to say, in my 60ish years of knitting, I’ve been pretty successful in choosing my own colors.

  • I like a good kit. #teamkit

  • I am #teambuildmyown all the way.

  • I flip flop back and forth but usually it is the color combination in an advertised kit that attracts me to the project so I go with the kit most of the time.

  • I like them both. Sometimes it is easier to get a kit, especially now since our LYS has closed in the face of Covid…. 🙁 Miss being able to go squishing

  • I’m a teamkit person most of the time. It takes me forever to decide on a set of colors for a project.

  • I am both. I have been known to use the yarn from a kit, along with stash yarn, and make a different garment.

  • #teamkit as a new knitter I like kits because I know everything will be there to make the project. when I go on my own who knows

  • I’m on team build your own. I don’t think I’ve ever bought a kit.(I may be wrong, my memory isn’t what it use to be) I do like a good bundle, though. Those preselected colors let’s my imagination run wild with ideas for projects. I’d probably buy a kit and make something entirely different with the yarn.(I’m looking at you Cityscape scarf kit)

  • I prefer #teamkit 90% of the time. I tend to get overwhelmed by all the color choices. Especially if I’m ordering online I trust those that put the kit together with the color selection.

  • I think it just depends on what the kit colors are, so with that being said, I guess I’m both a kit buyer and I like to pick my own colors.

    • Hopefully you will give the results of your little #teamkit or #teambuildyourown

  • I have ever bought a kit. MaybeI should try it.

  • ordinarily i’m a solid #teambuildmyown, but i’ve definitely been tempted by some of the kaffe fassett felted tweed kits.

  • I’m so #teamkit. Although I do like a choice of color schemes in kits.

  • Oh gosh, Today I like a kit. I may try colors I don’t usually use. Tomorrow may be different. As long as it’s not superwash – I really don’t like superwah.

    • Howdy! I’m #teambuildyourown!! I will either not like the kit’s colors, or the type of yarn chosen, or the kits are sold out. I usually can’t afford the kits anyway so it’s all ok in the end!

  • Absolutely pick my own. I just love colour, including the names of colour, so I prefer to explore that world, for myself. But that doesn’t mean I would reject one pre-picked – the selector may have put together something perfect and amazing!

  • #teamkit here. Choosing my own colors makes me anxious!

  • I usually play on #teambuildmyown, but sometimes I see a kit that is just too beautiful to pass up.

  • Definitely (mostly) build my own. I do buy kits occasionally if I really love the colors in a certain kit.

  • I love a kit. I love to shop for yarn. I will take it either way I can get it!

  • #team buildmyown!

  • I am definitely #teambuildmyown ! love all the different colors!

  • #teambuildmy own!

  • I’m team build my own. I totally feel the same way anout meal kits !

  • It depends! Usually #teamkit because I just want to start knitting but sometimes I find it fun to experiment and play with the colors so I dip my toe into #teambuildmyown

  • I have thought about buying a kit, but then I do it myself!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • kit person

  • #teamkit although I try to build my own. They never seem to stack up to the kits!

  • Prefer to choose my own.

  • 100% #Teamkit…

  • #teamkit for sure, especially if the Amazing DG builds it.

    • Be careful what you wish for… unless you wish for something made in thirty-seven shades of grey. Then: no problem.

  • If you asked me in a survey I would say #teambuildmyown. But if I were visiting World Headquarters, or even shopping on line, I would be much more likely to impulsively snatch up the fabulous kit. If I stop to take the time to dither around and build my own I can easily talk myself out of the purchase. #teamkit

  • Definitely build-your-own, but I have been known to buy pre made kits and just as often makes adjustments to the colours once bought.

  • #teambuildmyown – while I love looking at kits for inspiration, I try to build from my stash when I can.

  • I’m totally for premade kits, except when I’m not!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • Build my own

  • Teambuildmyown I have never bought a kit, although I have seen some beautiful ones. I usually can’t buy the yarn all at one time so I pull a little from stash, buy a little of some affordable alternatives and buy a tiny bit of splurge yarn to make it pop and look like the original.

  • #teamkit

  • Since I can never make up my mind I’m a #teamkit player.

  • I’m definitely #teamkit. I have a terrible time understanding hues, tones, etc so premade kits are what I generally go for.

  • I do really love picking out my own colors…but I always love seeing the results others get when they buy a kit.

  • #teambyo that’s because I knit small hats scarves cowls. I was so hoping that you’d have a Rhapsody in Beige kit!

  • I will admit to being somewhat “color impaired”. If I have to pick more than four colors, I start getting confused and second guessing myself and then saying “The heck with it, I’ll do it next year” and then of course, not doing at all. So I guess I am Team Kit.

  • I am a build my own kinda gal. That is really part of the fun. It always takes me quite a long time to decide/select/alter/select again, etc. before I get to what really makes me smile! This way the money I spend buys way more entertainment!

  • #teamkit all the way! I love kits! I collect kits. Occasionally I even complete a kit.

  • Nothing will seduce me into making a purchase for yarn I do not need like a beautifully packaged kit.

  • #teambuildmyown mostly, haha. I do love a good kit but I already have more than enough project bags and stitch markers.

  • Definitely #teambuildyourown – nothing gets me more motivated to knit then picking colours!

  • #teamkit- why not? It’s easy and ready to go!

  • I am firmly and forever on #teamitdepends! If I stumble on a pattern that says, “Wow, that is perfect for that luscious hand-dyed BFL I’ve been hoarding,” then I’m #teambuildmyown. However, if I’m totally taken with a sample because I love the item and THOSE colors, then I’m #teamkit! Flexibility in my middle name!

  • #teamkit. Especially if I’m using the pattern yarn. Different story if I’m subbing

  • Kit it up for me, your choice…if I am picking my own colours I am probably going to my stash.

  • I prefer to make my own kit because my color palate is usually different from those in kits! But love having assistance when choosing .

  • Team kit for me please

  • I’m #teambuildmyown. Though I’m tempted by the original colors of the Color Explosion throw. Yummy

  • Thank you for the laugh!

  • I’m a build your own when I have the money to spend! What can I say: the kits are bought up by people who have money burning a hole in their pocket? The rest of us are dreamers?

  • I have done both but lately have been purchasing kits . #teamkit.

  • Team kit

  • #teambuildmyown unless a kit can’t be improved

  • Love Rowan felted tweed

  • I have a few kits and yarn bundles in my stash but mostly start with the pattern and choose my own yarn.

  • #teamkit. I always struggle to put colors together.

  • I am #teambuildmyown. Honest.

  • #teamkit

  • #teamkit!

  • #teamkit always and forever.

  • team kit

  • I’m on both – sometimes a kit really catches my eye and I’ve gotta have it

  • I love kits!

  • Not gonna lie. I go with #teamkit. I tend to get overwhelmed and overthink my choices when I have too much to choose from. I like having kits with a few colorways to choose from. Also, I’ve been frustrated when choosing colors that apparently EVERYBODY wants and I can’t get them.

  • Definitely #teamkit! I know what I like in colors but have a tough time putting them together. So a kit where someone has done the color lifting is ideal for me.

  • #teamkit I tend to do very muted colors and greys when I pick my own. The kits are the only way to bring color into my life 🙂

  • I’m definitely a #teamkit person because I could spend hours, days, or weeks (maybe longer!) picking out color combos. It’s so much easier and faster when someone else makes the decision!

  • #teamkit for me. Let the pros do their thing!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • I bought a kit. Looked at yarn. Said no, that is a vest, not a sweater. Does that make me a build your own?

  • #teamkit

  • Definitely a “build my own”….unless of course it’s a kit full of jewel tones that transforms me into a kit person!

  • #teamboth! Sometimes I will fall in love with pattern and have to have it in the original colors and yarns and other times I love a design but not the colors of the original so end up building my own. I love that I have the option to choose!

  • Team swing both ways!! I love the ease of trusting a kit but also the fun of mixing and matching my own colors.

  • I’m team kits .

  • #teambuildmyown and #teamkit. I love all the yarn!

  • Team Kit

  • I love a kit

  • I’m #teamkit. Mainly because it’s so difficult for me to decide on colors, I want them all!

  • Build your own! Thanks for this week’s giveaway!

  • Today I’m # Team Build Your Own, but by tomorrow, who knows? The building of my own occupies my sleepless midnight hours for a week before I place my order. How many family members and knit sisters can look at my screen shots of colors? My answer is time sensitive.

  • I admit to being happy to have someone put the kit together for me. It’s hard to choose.

  • Build my own…with a little help from my sister!

  • Yes! DG Strong special kit, please!

  • I am 100 percent #teamkit. I know I’m a follower, not a visionary 🙂

  • #teambuildmyown then deal with the consequences

  • I love to pick my own colors but purchase kits when the colors are just what I want.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • Team kit, unless I don’t like the colors, and then I build my own. It easy for my hubs to grab a yarn kit before he tells me he bought another tractor to break the news. I trust kit colors more than his colors.

    • You should start choosing his tractors for him to head off the secret kit you might have just bought!

  • #teamkit, they’re irresistible to me!

  • There’s a place for both in my life! I

  • #teambuildmyown and have the random stash to back up that claim. Do not think I’ve ever purchased a kit. I did finally break down and actually follow Kaffe Fassetts color choices for the Garter Stripe Wrap but that was really unusual for me

  • I hem and haw every time. Kit or no kit, the photos make the WIPs and FOs look so gorgeous I am always tempted to duplicate. Somehow it feels like cheating. Could really use some more color-choosing-confidence!

  • #teamkit if there is one available. Especially if it is a master color work designer like Kaffe Fasset.

  • Team kit

  • I will have to go with #teambuildmyown.

  • #teambuildyourown

  • #teamkit. No. Wait a minute. #teambuildmyown. No no. What colors are those you are knitting?.

  • #teamkit All the way every day! I like choices in colors in my kits, but much prefer someone else does the calculations of yardage, etc. (This May make me #teamlazy too…lol)

  • #teamkit! I love kits – hoard them with the pattern no need to worry about what goes with what!

  • #teamkit only when I buy online because it’s so hard to know the color combos from a computer screen. In person I switch teams!

  • I love to put yarn together so I am definitely not a kit knitter.

  • #teamkit

  • #teamkit sure is doggone convenient when faced with endless possibilities .

  • #teambuythekit. If I’m building my own, there’s always that one color that I HAVE to have that’s either out of stock or just doesn’t look right with whatever else I picked out. Sometimes I like most of the colors in the kit except one, so I try to cheat and copy most of the kit colors and sub out my least favorite. That has not always gone as expected.

  • I am #teambuildmyown. Only occasionally do I ever see a kit that makes my heart sing, but I love to play with colors myself.

  • I am mostly #teamkit but at some point will try #buildmyown.

  • Gotta love a kit! Knitting made easy!

  • It depends. Sometimes I love what someone else chose! Other times, half the fun is figuring out the right combination!

  • I’m actually a depends kind of girl, I’m #teamkit if the kit really speaks to me or I haven’t thought it out, I’m #teambuildmyown if I have had time and I found my perfect combo!

  • #teamkit!

  • Have never bought a kit so I guess that says it all!

  • I like kits! I fell in love with the colors used for the color explosion throw and ordered the kit. God bless the person who put it all together. It was lovely to receive!

  • Both!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • #teamkit

  • I’ll admit to being #teamkit. Having too many choices is stressful for me. I love seeing what others have put together and choosing my favorite.

  • Build my own. But the kits look so enticing. Maybe I could become a kit person.

  • Mostly #TeamBuildMyOwn because I’m very firmly SABLE, but sometimes a kit really speaks to me.

  • I am definitely part of #teamkit and #teambuildmyown. See I struggle . Sometimes the kit color combo just sings my song and sometimes I love to choose my own. Sadly any purple in the kit discourages me and yellow encourages me to snap it up.

  • #teamkit, I love kits! It must be the lazy person in me. Just send me that yarn and I’m happy when I have needles in my hands.

  • #team kit if its put together by a yarn brand or designer I love. Otherwise, #teambuildmyown

  • #team kit of course. I trust team MDK’s expert colorists.

  • #teamkit I can’t trust my color choices

  • Depends on the project and how I feel about the colors. For sweaters I’m usually team #diy but for a blanket I might throw caution to the wind and take a kit.

  • I’ve never purchased a kit but I’m game for anything

  • Team kit!

  • I’ve never bought a kit. Who’s kitty got to model with the bag?

  • #teamkit All.The.Way! I have major analysis paralysis. I could (and have) walked into my LYS looking and squishing yarn for hours for a specific project that they did not have my exact yarn choices for (of course) and eventually walked out empty handed. I learned to let my LYS just create a kit for me after we discussed color. Sadly, no more LYS stores in the big city of St. Louis, but I still seek KITS!

  • Definitely build my own!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • #teambuildmyown The heart wants what the heart wants.

  • I have done both, of course. I would like to think I can choose my own colors competently, but don’t seem to have the “gene” that can choose colors which bring out all the best in their neighbors in a given project. So sad. But thank goodness for kits!

  • I’m #teamkit – if I see one I like! I’m not good at picking out color combinations, especially since I have no LYS. Online colors are never quite the same in real life as they are on the screen.

    The exception is if I can work from stash. Now that is fun.

  • I do both, depends on the project.

  • It really does depend on the project. Thanks to all for putting the kits together for us!

  • I’m all in when choosing a single yarn for a project on my own. Not hard at all. I am terrible at combining colors and would love a kit to guide me in the right direction.

  • #teamkit

  • I am a team switcher. No rhyme or reason. By the way, does this giveaway extend to Canada? Some haven’t.

  • I almost always choose the make my own option. Usually because I like different colors.

  • I like the pre-made kits… until I want to build my own! I actually have several pre-made kits waiting to be knit into FO’s, and I have a build-it-yourself kit waiting to be knit as well. I just need more than 24 hours in a day, that’s all.

  • Since Magenta and Fuschia are neutral colors to me, I always think kits are beige and brown heavy and I am not a kit person or agonize over how to trade in my versions of neutral!!

  • Team build my own

  • I am definitely a build my own girl ! Have to admit I love to touch every skein and enjoy the color decision process so much !

  • I am multi culture on this one. I like a kit when thinking about Fair Isle but with an artist background I love to find an antique rug or picture at a museum and think those colors would make an amazing sweater, scarf etc. Then love the challenge of finding those colors in the right yarn. Knitting is such an amazing gift.

  • I’m riding the fence on this one! If I see a kit that has the colors yelling out to me, I will get it. Other times, I love picking out my own colors for the project.

  • I don’t think I’ve ever bought a kit. So I must be a build your own. I do however like to look at the kits to see what they’ve put together- it’s a place to start then it’s on to swapping out colors to make it my own.

  • #teamkit since I always have yarn envy when other people pick out colors. I can pick my own but I can justify buying kits since it’s not just adding to my stash and has a distinct purpose. (Not that it hasn’t stopped my from buying all the yarn anyway).

  • TeamBuildMyOwn! Every project requires an extended musing about color and texture—part of the process for me.

  • #Teamkit, though I am sorry for all the shoving(placing) of yarn and such into bags when I buy them. Kits are harder to forget why I bought them vs loose balls of yarn…

  • #teambuildmyown.
    I seldom purchase kits because nearly every time I am short of something!

  • Team build your own. Though I do drool over pre-made kits.

  • I believe I am #teabuildmyown. But that said, I have bought several kits over the years and have enjoyed them.

  • I prefer kits with color scheme choices. I do not want the SAME colors as everyone else, but it is fun to see how a few with the same color scheme can look so different! If that makes sense.

  • I had to really think about this. It depends on the project. I like both options, but, usually I build my own. #teambuildmyown

  • Oh, DG, you really hit the mark here! I like to think I would prefer to choose all my own colors for a project, but all too often I am either (a) too busy to take the time, or (b) think “Oh, they’ve done such a great job of selecting the five (or seven or fifteen) colors for this knit!” It’s a kit most of the time, I’m ashamed to say.

    • Don’t be ashamed! I think it takes guts to let someone else do the choosing, honestly, because it frequently involves something you would have NEVER chosen. “Guts” is relative, I guess — it’s just yarn. But you should never apply this way of thinking to SOME things, like getting a tattoo.

  • Ready made kit! I can’t match colors.

  • If you saw the size of my stash you wouldn’t ask such a silly question …. I prefer to select …..every single color

  • Sometimes the allure of the kit is the curated colors.
    And for the color challenged, an assumption that the colors will play well

    I’ve bought one or two on occasion to get me out of my usual palette.

  • Another vote for Team Both! If a kit has colors I love, then I’ll buy it, otherwise I will build my own. I enjoy the convenience of a good kit that has everything together, waiting for me, so that I can cast on without delay when the mood strikes.

  • Kit or not depends sometimes on the project but mostly I like the fun of color play and finding my own mix.

  • Always a build my own shopper!

  • Mostly #teambuildmyown but sometimes I so love the color combo of a kit that I can’t resist! Always open to a new experience (unless it’s socks).

  • About 95% of the time I’m on #teambuildmyown. Once in a while a kit just speaks to me and I have got to have it.

  • I am on #teambuildmyown most of the time. The only time I am not is when I see a colorwork sweater, etc and the colors shown knock my socks off. Then it is definitely kit time!!!

  • Love the kits! Because I am not good at selecting colors.

  • TeamKit…love them!

  • Definitely #TeamKit

  • #team kit. I admire those who can create their own.

  • I generally go for #teamkit for online shopping and #TBYO in store when I can touch the yarns and hold them next to each other. I love when I find a new design I want to make and there are kits by different indie dyers specifically for their designs made up.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • It depends – but often, #teamkit – I especially love kits for items with many choices and small fiddly bits. Susan Anderson’s kits for her dolls and animals are one example of an #alwayskits item for me. But a cardigan in a solid color, I’ll pick my own. I am learning that COLOR is part of why I’m attracted to a project, so I may be happier knitting it exactly as shown.

  • Team build my own in theory, but would become frozen trying to commit and then just not order the kit out of frustration.

  • Kits. I cannot build a kit of more than 2 colors to save my life. Kits provide more options than I can dream of. Saves time, too.

  • I have to join #team both. Kits are nice if I’m certain there’s enough yarn for mods or gauge differences; they’re especially helpful for online purchases and getting me to the knitting fun quicker. Yet picking my own colors is a fun part of my knitting world!

  • GO #teambuildmyown ! I usually buy just a couple of skeins of yarn with unknown-future-project-in-mind and then later discover that I need more (or less) and have to either match or coordinate. It’s fun. I love making up my own combinations. The only kit I’ve ever bought is still in its bag … waiting …

  • I have never tried a kit, prefer to choose my own colors, but might consider it in the future

  • #teambuildmyown. I could never trust someone to pick my veggies either. Nor my yarn kit. Lol .

  • I lean more towards #teambuildmyown. I love sorting through my stash and shopping for just the right missing pieces. But sometimes what looks good on the table doesn’t always work out for a given project. I just chalk that up to being part of the process. Kits are fun because they push me to step outside of my normal color choices. But sometimes I use a kit as the starting point & will swap out a color for something in my stash just to personalize the project.

  • A bit of both. I usually like to choose my colors, but kits have often given me insight into color combinations I like but would never have come up with on my own.

  • I am so torn!! I am usually, mostly, a team kit. But I have been known to brew my own as well.

  • Team Kit-you choose! I like to see what others come up with since I stick to safe colors (‘my’ colors)

  • #teamkit all the way. Too stressful otherwise

  • I’ve been #teamkit lately as a way to challenge myself to use color combinations out of my comfort zone.

  • i love having someone else build the kit. I can name the colors, but have no imagination about mixing, blending, whatever.

  • #teamkit for me…until the day I wow myself with a color combination I put together on my own. Not holding my breath….

  • Build my own!

  • I like both. Sometimes I want to put together my own kit. Other times, I like the colors someone else chooses and I want the kit you guys put together.

  • #teambuildmyown. Yup!! I want to pick all my favs of Rowan Felted Tweed and have a totally unique blanket! I am color obsessed to the Max!!!

  • I prefer to build my own kit!

  • I have never purchased a kit because I am always trying to knit my way through stash on hand which is, of course, an impossible goal. Kits might mean not so much random stash….hmmmm!

  • #teamkit

  • #teamkit I used to always want to build my own kit / project but now I can buy a kit and use it as made or disassemble and combine with other yarn colors. It’s so easy to click a button with no decisions and order. Cheers everyone.

  • #team both. Sometimes the kit is just right so I do that. Other times, I love the pattern but want to do it my way or with yarn I already have so I do my own thing.

  • Oh, I really want that bag but haven’t been able to justify buying it.
    I used to be a “pick it myself person” but have recently become a “kit person.” I think part of that has been because of buying online during the pandemic. What I really need is someone to go through my extensive stash and make it all up into kits!

  • I am definitely #teamkit. Wait, I really mean # teambuildmyown. Actually, I’m definitely #teamkeepbuilding the stash #ithinkweinsulatethehousewithwool

  • I’m definitely a #teambuildmyown, however, I have to admit that I will buy a pre-selected color kit if I fall in love with the colors. But after it’s all over, I have all the dibs and dabs to do with as I like…best of both worlds!

  • #teamkit, where I can. I get frozen with all of the colors/choices. Decision fatigue!!!

  • I’ll buy the kit. Unless I just don’t like any of the color ways offered, then I will select my own colors.

  • #teamkit !! Sometimes there are just too many choices to build my own – I love a good kit!

  • #teamkit

  • Team kit#

  • Kit. It’s fun to see what others put together. I tend to be in a color rut much of the time.

  • Actually, I’m a 50-50 type of knitter; however…that being said, I think I prefer to have a kit if one is available. And BTW…I absolutely LOVE your comments when you write. They always give me a chuckle. Thanks for the opportunity to win a love bag of yarn!

  • #buildyourown, although that wouldn’t stop me from mostly copying the kit. I just like to be able to swap out colors.

  • I would have to say build my own. As an artist, that’s one of the fun parts for me, choosing which crayons to use.

  • I prefer to pick my own colors however when the yarn is somewhere far away – online – this is difficult for me so than I go for the kits. Thanks for asking.

  • I’m #teambuildmyown 100%

  • #Teambuildmyown

    • In addition let me add that I get anxious and crazed when picking colors. Clearly that is my addiction

  • Team Kit. But I definitely want to choose my own kit.

  • #teambuildmyown – but I love to look at the color combinations in a well-curated kit.

  • Team Kit here, unless I’m in person with the yarn. I don’t trust colors on a screen that much.

  • Definitely #teamkit,. I’ve realized that when I like a design, the color and yarn choice of designer have influenced me.

  • team build yor own

  • #teamkit. Actually, thought I was team build my own but just had this ‘aha’ moment lol

  • It all depends…kits can be fun and easy and offer lots of inspiration, but I enjoy picking my own colors too. And the more I do it, the more confident I get. #teamboth

  • Generally #teambuildyourown but I have been known to be #teamkit as well…. Especially when it’s a kaffe knit

  • #teambuildmyown
    I’ve Never bought a kit!
    BUT…I’m not opposed to buying one.

  • #teamkit all the way
    I do not have the skill/knowledge to choose colours that play nicely together

  • I usually Build my own. I started knitting 50 years ago in a small town with no LYS. I used a print catalog with tiny color blocks to choose my kit. So a Yarn store where I can TOUCH, and gently squeeze with clean hands, is heaven. But I cannot go to every LYS that I would like to for variety both in types of yarn and color, I have joined #Team Kit when something delicious appears.

  • #teamkit because it’s less work for me as I’m lazy by nature. Picking my own colours would be too much work for me!

  • Prefer doing my own thing to kits. But. To be honest… I’ve never used a kit before, so maybe I would like it?
    I admit, I’m also cheap, and so I always think I can cobble something comparable from The Stash. Sometimes that works. Sometimes

  • #teamkit Because I don’t want to be in the 90/80/100 group!

  • Build my own! I love to make my own color combinations!

  • Normally a #teamkit knitter, my stash certainly allows me to be a #teambuildmyown, so put me in the middle of both, as I’m truly being honest in my estimation of who I am.

  • i’m 75% #teamkit – when the kit is coming from certain folks whose yarn/color choices surprise and delight me. MDK is on that list!

    I’m #teambuildmyown the rest of the time, when i fall in love with a specific yarn (the color and composition really speak to me) and go searching for the pattern that wants to be made in that yarn.

  • I am a #teambuildmyown as I have such a large stash that I would like to use it while I am on this side of the dirt!

  • #teamkit, especially if well selected. MDK makes the grade!

  • I love kits because they feel like a present. I love choosing my own because kits often have one color that begs to be changed for my eye.
    My perfect scenario (barcodes be damned) is a kit that lists each color individually and allows for swaps – Still a present, still a working color scenario and with my own footprint on top.

  • Definitely make-my-own, but MDK’s kits, and color selections, are in a class all their own!

  • #teamkit. Thanks for asking!

  • #teamkit please!

  • Depends on the project & the colors. I’m never going to go for the pinks (sorry, marled throw) or the pastels, but I’ll go nuts for just about any moody palette. And some things are easier to choose colors for than others.

  • Loved this post. Today I am #teamkit. Thanks!!

  • I’m usually #teambuildyourown but find myself drawn to your kits because the colors are so perfectly chosen.

  • #teamkit I love seeing what other people put together! It pushes my color boundaries. If I don’t like it I can always break up the kit and repurpose the yarn.

  • #teambuildmyowm unless there are a bazillion colors in which case, I’m #teamkit. Speaking of kits, I’d jump on one for the C,or Explosion kit if there was one with blues.

  • Totally #teambuildmyown. It feels like cheating to use someone else’s choices!

  • #teamkit
    I can barely dress myself. I am happy to have others select a palette for me. Thanks for your newsletter.

  • #teamkit 100% I get too easily lost and end totally “squirreling” off into some other projects.

  • I flipflop depending on the project and my mood. I like being on #teamkit because I’m a new-ish knitter. The kits help me understand yarns. And I’m enough of a diy-er to like #teambuildmyown.

  • If it requires more than 4 colors, I will almost always go with #teamkit. I am not good enough at combining colors to risk disliking the results. 4 colors or less I will look at the kits for inspiration, but unless a combination sings to me I am #teambuildmyown.

  • #teamkit I never was very good with color. Our LYS is owned by a weaver and she is very helpful when I am stuck.

  • I really do prefer to pick my own. I know it seems like a fib. I haven’t ever bought a kit. maybe I should take a walk on the wild side?

  • #teambuildmyown. In other words, #teammakeitmyown.

  • I love seeing all the kits but ultimately I usually end up choosing my own by tweaking a kit that comes close to my idea of perfection

  • I am team build your own but then I’ve been known to forget everything I’ve said (or not paying any attention to what comes out of my mouth) and buy that kit.

  • I want to be #teambuildmyown, because there’s always one color in a kit that I can’t stand (I see you mauve), but then I can’t make a decision because I want all the bright colors. So I guess I’m really #teamkit.

  • #teamkit I like the idea of picking my own colors, but I am not “good” at it. Sometimes I’ll start with a kit and maybe substitute if one of the colors isn’t for me, but having someone else choose most of it for me is great.

  • I’m a #teambuildmyown mostly
    I love combining colors and creating different options
    I often look at kits but so often I choose a different yarn
    Also it is challenging to see if any stash yarns can fit in
    Then of course many times my choices need to be amended and augmented, creating more stash of left out yarn
    A vicious but enticing circle

  • I do prefer a kit most of the time, though I am sort of fussy about colors. So I guess a kit as long as its colors I would choose myself?

  • Depends on the project – I love kits for projects with many colors and varying amounts of yarn. So – I guess I’m teamkit.

  • Team kit for me. Choosing my own color combinations brings on high anxiety, especially when I am ordering online. I have spent hours, no days agonizing over my color choices before I actually click on the place my order button. I don’t do that much anymore. Instead I order the kit. After all, knitting is supposed to be relaxing.

  • #teamkit
    I’m not great choosing colors that are pleasing together, unless they’re different tones of the same hue. Monochromatic Me! I once chose colors for my parents’ house, which looked great together as paint chips. On the house? Not so much…

  • #teamkit, of course!

  • Usually I’m #teamkit because I don’t always trust my color sense. Plus I’m lazy.

  • I think I’ll be a team #teamkit and let you all do the choosing. How could I go wrong? 🙂

  • Because of my compassion toward pink in anything I make I am ion favor of choosing my own colors for kits.
    #teambuildmyown.

  • I am mostly a #teambuildyourown, unless I happen to fall in love with the kit colors or if the kit contains something most appealing that I can get no other way.

  • I’m a 70% – 30% built my own to kit knitter. My own build is very rewarding because it’s all mine, the kit is very rewarding because the angst of “will it work” is eliminated & beauty flows from the needles!

  • Gosh darn – that one depends on the day and how much brain space I have. Sometimes you can pick for me and sometimes I want to do it myself.

  • I like to build my own kit. Your bundles are lovely, but usually not my choice of colors.

  • kits are so appealing these days. Def a build my own. But also have not yet tried a kit. The kits are more lovely every time I peruse them

  • #teamkit

  • As much as I admire the look of a beautifully curated kit, I have to lean toward “build my own”, for the sheepish (haha) reason that I have so much yarn in my stash that I almost always already own one or two skeins of whatever is going to come in that kit. So I just spend hours and hours deciding on whatever else I need to make the project.

  • Team kit. I agonize over picking colors.

  • #build my own though at times to my detriment! I try to fit a square peg into a round hole….maybe I can make that sport weight sweater out of this lovely bulky I found….

  • Depends. I have one foot firmly planted on each side of the line. I love choosing and coordinating colors, and knowing that my creation will be one of a kind. But if I see a kit that I fall in lust with, I don’t worry at all about being proud!

  • #teamkit as often it allows me to use color palettes I wouldn’t have made on my own.

  • Like to put my own colors together, but that is sometimes stash related. Love getting ideas from you all, and then here’s always holes to fill in with newly added colors to go with what’s in the personal yarn collection. Combining colors is a fun challenge.

  • I prefer you selecting the colors but having 3 or 4 choices of the same kit. Sorry. That is probably harder for you. Just my opinion.

  • I like both approaches, as long as there’s lots of color!

  • #teampickmyown

  • #teambuildyourown!

  • Teamkit but I also like to make my own

  • #treamkit It takes the guesswork out of it for me!

  • 100% #teamkit. I love colourwork but this is the hardest part!

  • Definitely #team kit, there are usually colour combinations I haven’t thought of

  • I’m #teamkit. If I had to pick my own, the project might not get done.

  • Firm #teambuildmyown. Sometimes the kits offered are just not my colors.

  • I’m team build my own. I’m always trying to use up some of my stash. I’m more likely to buy yarn first then find the perfect pattern.

  • I have a huge yarn stash, yet I prefer to spend my time knitting so I always end up ordering the kit.

  • Team build my own, but those kits are very pretty to look at and put in the cart…..

  • I am all for kits when there are many colors in small quantities. It really chaps my hide to use 20 yards from a skein which might jeopardize a future project. Otherwise I do love the process of picking and choosing.

    My husband also carries a jeweler’s loupe to the grocery store and tenderly fondles all the produce before he deems it worthy. It will be a hot day in January in Minnesota before he’d let a meal kit darken our door.

    • Hilarious… but I’d love to borrow your husband for my grocery shopping. I’m so sick of opening those salad containers and finding the whole middle is rotten.
      I have never bought a kit. I am so cheap that the prices always make me gasp, and kits have a slightly paint-by-numbers connotation for me. It’s a false economy though, as I have a room full of random skeins that I’ve bought on sale or ebay in hopes of combining them in stranded patterns. The problem? Paralysis sets in: Will I have the right amounts? Will the different brands, weights, etc. work together? Sometimes yes, but I may cave for a Marie Wallin fair isle sweater kit with dozens of colors.

    • I really WANT to love the meal kit idea but it just won’t work for me. I especially giggle when it’s for like tacos or something. I mean.

  • I Love kits

  • Most often #teambuildmyown, but sometimes it’s easier/more fun/more economical/quicker/…. to buy a kit. ‍⬛

  • If buying online, I trust kits more than my ability to match the colors that go best together using photos rendered they a computer screen. I have purchased online for the most part of two years, so have had to do some non-kit purchasing and have lucked out a few time with my own choices.

  • Definitely #teambuildmyown. Even when I have purchased a kit, it’s very likely that I will switch out one or more of the yarns to make the project or use the kit yarns to make something(s) else entirely. While usually a rule follower, when it comes to my knitting (crochet, x-stitch, embroidery…) I definitely color outside the lines!
    PS- I love my original blue “my other bag…”, but as one of the hockey dads pointed out the first time I carried it (full!) to one of my daughter’s tournaments, it really should say “My other bagS ARE (also) full of yarn.”

  • #teamkit but I like to ponder building my own.

  • I’m an equal opportunity Gal, and swing both ways. (Careful with that.). Experts design kits that make me swoon. Experts who aren’t color-blind like, that is. There is a woman in my knit group who picks color combos like a Goddess. I’m more likely to follow Kaffe’s recent Knit Stars permission to “make something ugly.” Bless his heart if he only knew how easy that can be. Still, with help I do pick my own. Wait, that means I don’t pick my own? Over to you.

  • #TeamKit!! I don’t trust myself to choose colors. 😉

  • #teambuildmyown, but I have been doing kits as well. Sometimes it’s nice to work with the exact yarn for a pattern. That way I know how it will come out. Other times I’m willing to take a leap of faith. One thing I really like about MDK is you actually have the yarn for the patterns. (I still wish you had the variegated yarn for the sweater with the sleeves that are different from the body. I’d love to make it.)

    Today must be Black Cat Day. We just brought home a new black kitty who is named Baxter, after the Maine high peak. So I missed Rhinebeck again, but we have given this girl a warm and loving home before the winter comes.

  • If the kit colors speak to me I will go with them. If they don’t I go for the build my own camp.

  • If it’s a Rowan pattern with a hundred different colors, I stick with their genius eyes and go for the kit. Otherwise, I like to select my own colors.

  • I’m #teamkit because I love seeing color combos I wouldn’t have thought of!

  • I’m a “change my mind person” so it really depends on the project. The project picture very often will evoke my preferences.
    Gorgeous yarns make the decisions more difficult. Thx for all your help.

  • Team kit seems to do a better job than I can!

  • Oh no, I like both options!! Sometime the kit is what draws me to the project and sometimes it’s a particular skein of yarn.

  • Definitely #teambuildmyown. Although I always like to ask the opinion of others who have more colour sense than I do.

  • #teamkit. Definitely. All the right colors

  • Definitely #teamkit! Color theory terrifies me!

  • #teamkit In MDK, we trust

  • Like others have admitted, I am “teambi” :). I impulse buy kits because I can imagine myself giving or wearing the finished project. But I also love the hunt through my stash to find a long treasured yarn that is perfect.

  • I’m always looking for ideas I can knit from my prodigious stash. That said, some items are just so perfect, so luscious that I go for the kit.
    Curious- I guess you have to ck the ball band of every skein you pack to confirm the color?

  • #teambuildmyown

  • I love kits!!!!! #teamkit

  • Really loved today’s column. Those slight typing errors and corrections made me smile. I like to look at kits for color combination ideas and have purchased some but mainly choose my color combinations especially when I am using two types and colors of yarns together. Never knew I was marling until your articles about it.

  • Definitely Build Your Own. I rarely use the colors pictured in the pattern and even alternate choices…especially purples …leave me cold. I have purchased kits in the past, but startling-lee, out are still in my stash. Go figure.

  • Gotta say #teamkit only because I can’t make up my mind among do many beautiful colours!

  • #teamkit for sure! I have no color scheme talent at all! Kits make me soooo happy and less anxious!

  • Definitely #teambuildmyown – I have strong aversion to some colors and invariably they are included in kits.

  • DIY, because no matter how beautifullly put together, there will always be 1 color that I want to swap out.

  • I want to say I’m Team Pick My Own, but I really do much better with kits!

  • Err, I think I have to split the baby and say…both? I love to build my own, but for a large project like the marled throw, that would be really overwhelming. Also, I prefer to do to it myself *in person*, but online a kit can be a lot easier, especially because you just can’t trust the monitor to represent the nuances of color. I do like it when there are a couple of different kit colorways to choose from. I don’t like to be quite *that* matchy with the entire rest of the knitting world! (None of this will stop me from getting a color explosion kit when I’m done with the school semester and holiday gift knitting. Hope there are still some left for me! Otherwise I’ll be building that mountain myself one boulder at a time, whether I want to or not.)

    • So my answer is #teamkit and #teambuildmyown! Just give me ALL the yarn.

  • Usually, build my own. Exception is when there are many colors (over 10?) OR when the kit is discounted (assuming I even like the color). And remember, it is MUCH easier for the non-yarn addicted to buy me gifts if it is kitted!!

  • #teamkit

  • Definitely #teamkit!!! Give me garanimals from days gone by and I am happy!

  • I am definitely #teamkit. I’d much rather use my free time knitting than agonizing over which colors to choose (which I absolutely would do!).

  • #teamkit for me. I don’t feel creative enough to pick my own colors for most projects.

  • After reading this column, I’m #teamkit.

  • Both! I love choosing colours, but there are some kits that are absolutely me, so why not?

  • Honestly I love to build my own, but rarely have the luxury of time to do so. So…I buy kits sometimes. Next month I’m taking a fair isle color blending workshop from Tracey Doxey who LIVES in Scotland…so maybe I’ll be more inclined to take the time after that.

  • I’m a combo girl . I have some of both. It is great when I need something to do without the extra thought.

  • Isn’t there a ‘team both’? That would be me! In person, it would be fun to see the colors together to mix/match personally. On the internet, not so much as it’s hard to envision what one color over ‘here’ might look like right next to that color over ‘there’.

  • I am in agreement with 100% of the posts in this thread!

  • #teambuildmyown, never bought a kit. I love the hunt for just the right color, fiber, and feel and then pouring over my ravelry queue for just the right pattern.

  • #teamkit all the way!!!

  • I am teambuildmyown!

  • Team kit (as long as there are several color choices among them).

  • Only ever bought a kit once so I guess that makes me #teambuildmyown. Technically I’m on #teamshopyourstashandbuiildyourown

  • #teambuildmyown!

  • Team kit every time. I’m just not able to get the right colors on my own. I can’t visualize colors together so I appreciate the artistic abilities of the designers.

  • Teamkit 90% of the time. There are just too many choices otherwise and I am absolutely horrible at making up my mind.

  • At the moment I say I’m teamkit. I’d like to feel more confident about color choices, but I’m not there yet.

  • Team both!

  • I’m a team build my own but kits are winking at me…

  • %teamkit. It a time factor for me. I like it I want to knit it now please.

  • I am a total sucker for a great kit (I have bins and bins of fabulous kits with fantastic patterns and beautiful color combos) so definitely count me as #teamkit. There’s nothing that will make me pull out my credit card faster at a fiber show than a gorgeous sample with a prepacked kit ready to come home with me!

  • I’ve never bought a kit but I am not averse to it. More and more I am going for ease. Show me the color combos.

  • #teamkit

  • Definitely build my own but I have succumbed more than once to MDK’s superb kits. They are often too good to resist!

  • I do build my own which means that I often miss a color I wanted. then I have to decide how bad I want it.? what I will do with the rest of the kit if I buy it.! I have looked a the kits (Lettlopi) and wondered why the colors I wanted weren’t in a kit but then I just made my own. If the only way to get the colors I want is in a kit then I have to figure out what to do with the extra yarn (I may have some extra yarn in the “spare bed room” No one can sleep in there unless it is on or under the yarn.

  • Yep – I’ll buy the kit and then I’ll see the non-kit people do something different and I’ll buy another bundle. Why buy it once when I can buy it twice!

  • #teamkit I make enough decisions daily. Just hand me the yarn and let me get on with it!!

  • How about kits if I can have several color options?

  • Yep. Love matching pattern to yarn – or, more often than not, yarn to pattern. #teambuildmyown.

  • I am #teamkit !

    I’m still new at this and it’s really great having some of the stuff planned out for me so I can concentrate on learning the stitches.

  • I think I’m #teambuildmyown. But getting the kit built on your own is hard, so sometimes people just give up!

  • #TeamKit!!!!!

    I worked a yarn manufacturer and was in the finishing department and I use to seal packages in 3, 6, 12 balls per cello bag and you had to make sure you didn’t catch the ball in the sealer or you had a Smokey mess!! Then package them into cartons to be shipped out so I feel your pain!! But when it’s all said and done it’s so much easier when they are bagged up and you don’t need to think about it you just keeping sending them out to their new home without hassle or mess!!!

    Love your emails keep up the great work!!

    • Yes, a made-up kit with 25 balls multiplies the possibility of a packing error exponentially (well, by 25 anyway), so they do make me nervous.

  • I’m team #buildyourown, but a friend once took me to a Seattle knitting guild show-and-tell for a certain vest pattern. Most had built their own, but wouldn’t you know, I thought the one that looked the best was the original Alice Starmore colorway.

    • #teambuildmyown, although if it’s something that requires a lot of yarn like that throw in the latest Field Guide, I couldn’t possibly do it myself and need your help.

  • #teamkit
    Just received an MDK kit in the mail to make the marled hat for my husband, who wants one before the snow flies. And, I gratefully copy color combos that other far more gifted people come up with for their projects. Here’s a shout out to those talented people in the build-my-own team who kindly post the recipe and/or create the kits. The world needs us both.

  • I do so enjoy building my own!

  • #teamkit for me. I hate making decisions…and when i have to decide, usually regret it!

  • I’m #teamkit – especially if it’s the Color Explosion Throw!

  • Oh heavens, #teambuildmyown.

  • #teamkit

  • So easy! #teamkit. Although I haven’t bought many, sometimes a project is so perfect exactly the way the kit is out together.

  • I have to say I’m pretty much 50/50.

  • Definitely build my own! Putting colors together is half the fun and is the spark for wanting to get those colors on my needles!

  • I’m #teamkit for the most part because I don’t have much confidence in my ability to colour coordinate.

  • Team kit. I’m not good at selecting colors. In fact, I ask my husband if my clothing color choices go together.

  • Kits? Did somebody say kits? Count me in! 🙂

  • #teamkit. I have trouble with colors. My husband has to help me chose coordinating yarn.

  • #teamkit for me. Your color combos are always beautiful!

  • It depends, from a website I’m definitely a kit chooser. From an actual yarn store, (I’d have to drive 70 miles in traffic!), I would touch everything and choose my own.

  • Totally a kit person, though I’ve never bought one. But I”m a new knitter and learning how to how to how to. I love the colors you put together, so the day is coming…..

  • #teamkit – sorry to add to your grief, but I would either procrastinate over the choices or spend $$$$ trying to figure out the right combination.

  • I’m build your own, unless there’s a choice of kit colorway (say, blue vs. red–I’d choose red!)

  • I like the kits and purchase them when planning a large project like a sweater. It is nice to have kits in several hues.

  • #teamkit of late. Some great deals and combinations I wouldn’t have thought of

  • #teambuildmyown

  • I am #teamkit because I am inspired and love the color combos put together for me!

  • #teamkit for me

  • It depends on the moon, my “cycle”, whether or not I’ve been mansplained to in the past 24 hours, how much gas is in my car, if I actually know where my car key is, if I’ve watched the news or not, how many light bulbs in my house burned out at the same god d&&m time, or if Brittany Spears is finally free of her creepy dad. I guess I’m just fickle when it comes to kits. I think I may be pan-kitual.

  • I’m #teambuildmyown. As proof, every Stephen West and casapinka shawl I’ve made, has been an assortment of yarns. I’m the same way with the quilts I make. I never use (ok, i did it once) a manufacturer’s line of fabrics.

  • #teamkit here! I have very little color sense and what little I have is cowardly. I love to have someone else pick colors for me and be bold in doing so.

  • I love pre-made, pre-selected color kits!!! I just had to add a fourth color to 3 already in stash, and requested yarn purveyor’s assistance; Istill would have preferred that someone had said that there was just a perfect color, and kept ME out of the equation!!!!!

  • I am teamkit unless I don’t care for the colors in the kit, then I am team buildyourown.

  • Definitely team build my own. I rarely buy a kit

  • #Teamkit. I sometimes find it easier to work a pattern that I am not familiar with in someone else’s choice. I can then do NY own thing when I feel comfortable working the pattern.

  • That’s really a tough decision. I must admit when I can touch and see the possibilities I prefer to make my own. However, when in a hurry or buying from the wondrous web, I prefer to go with the preselected kits! I’ve learned to trust the kit!,

  • I would prefer a kit. I dont have good color sense

  • Okay, here is the conundrum…If the kit is coming from MDK, the colors are usually better than what I would have picked myself! Mary in cincinnati

  • I’m both. I don’t feel confident sometimes picking colors but will if the kit colors don’t do it for me.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • I like to pick my own colors. I’m 100% telling the truth. Thanks for all your good work.

  • #tembuildmyown

  • #teamkit, please. I can’t pick colors on my computer, they never meet what I see in my mind’s eye, and I trust the taste of others…

  • I am #teambuildmyown BUT I have a severe weakness for bundles for which I have no clear plan. I’m looking a big box of felted tweed and package of Euroflax minis… suggestions welcome.

  • Premade—I’ve yet to build the skills and confidence needed to choose my own.

  • #teamkit – although I’ve never bought a kit, if I see one I like, I’m gonna be all in.

  • Teambuildyourown most of the time

  • Let me build it myself, please!

  • Defnitely #teambuildmyown !!

  • #teamkit

  • #teamkit

  • I’ve never ordered a kit, so I guess build my own. However, the concept is appealing, so maybe have to try it out.

  • I prefer kits in multiple colors so I can then select the colors I like best.

  • Surprise me! I’ll take a #teamkit!!

  • Mostly #teambuildmyown but sometimes a kit is perfect!

  • I’m probably #teambuildyourown, but I’m tempted by the occasional kit.

  • I’m a Shake to Randomize kind of girl. Shuffle All? Yes please.

  • I’m #teamkit — but I want a couple of kit color options from which to choose. That’s not too much to ask, right? Right??!

  • #teamkit

  • Tram Kit! I love the combinations the professional color people choose!

  • Team Kit for me especially when it is coming from the the masters at MDK

  • #teamkit I love a kit but I especially love a kit with a few colorway options to choose from.

  • I’m definitely Team Build Your Own! Part of the fun of making is having something that’s uniquely yours! 🙂

  • Both!!

  • #teamkit I always like a surprise!❤️

  • #teamkit ! For me! I love surprises in the mail! I’ve found that some of my best knits came from preface kits of things I would never have chosen myself. I have my own palate and favorite colors but I like the flexibility of discovering new color combinations.

  • Depends….if I am making something with lots of colors and have not been able to see the yarn in person I typically opt for a kit. If the item under consideration has few colors I prefer to choose for myself.

  • #teamkit

  • Definitely, #teamknit. I don’t trust myself to put 2 colors together without help.

  • I want to be on teambuildyourown, I really do. But when I see a gorgeous new item to knit I always love the colors the designer chose. I have to say I am a regretful teamkit…

  • Color explosion! #teampickyourowncolors ❤️❤️❤️

  • #teamkit although a lot of my answer has to do with the beautiful kit-ty in the opening

  • Definitely #teamkit. I am always worried my color choices will end up clashing in real life

  • Team build my own! I like to pick my own colors!

  • Team kit 100%!!

  • I can take forever to choose TWO colors, so if there’s a kit that catches my eye I am very happy to sign on to #teamkit. On the other hand, I’ve very much enjoyed collaborating with two friends to come up with a 6-tone undyed ensemble that took the three of us as many weeks to decide. It was #teamFUN!

  • #teambuildmyown I like the colors I like

  • It’s amazing that I am such a particular person in other areas but a kit of yarn and a pattern makes me twitter. I love them. I cannot always afford them but I love them.

  • I’m definitely a build-my-own type person. I have very strict rules about colors and other people like yellow. ‘Nuff said. (And also, I do always look at the kits, just in case…)

  • #teambuildmyown! I’m not very good at color coordination… so it’s always a fun challenge to spend a few days pondering colors alone and with others before spending the money. Makes the final item more my own!

  • TeamKit. I have absolutely no color sense.

  • I am #teambuildmyown even though I have no color sense….

  • Team Kit. Color selection is not my forte. I always prefer what others put together 🙂

    • I am definitely “build my own”, you should see my watercolor paint stash!

  • I’m both.

  • #teambuildmyown, but as I am partially colour blind (so I have problems with telling shades apart) should probably go the kits! When I was tested they gave me a letter saying I shouldn’t work in an electronics factory or a paint shop – nothing about yarn stores!

  • # Team Kit I love to look at the photo and try hard to make my piece look just as good

  • Depends… on the pattern, the yarn display or photos, what’s handy, price, time available to grab or be choosy, the weather

  • So I definitely love a kit if there are at least a couple of combinations to choose from, and especially if the pattern has more than three colors. Sometimes putting it all together myself overwhelming!

  • #teambuildmyown. My color choices tend to be much brighter than most! And I love surprises. And I love to giggle at my color-selecting prowess.

  • Teamkit! Whenever I make my own selection it never seems to be as good as the kit.

  • LOL! I am indecisive when it comes to choosing one color much less multiple. But then again, I would prefer to spend hours or days contemplating what colors to choose, say for Fair Isle. Seeing a finished project or swatch with the different color combos helps so it really depends on the project.

  • I used to stand elsewhere, but now I am slouching toward #teamkit. I’ve learned that the colors my inner kindergartner loves are not the ones my outer old lady wants to wear (or watch the recipient struggle to love.

  • I believe myself to be #teambuildmyown in the same way I believe myself to be a scratch baker before a half dozen box mixes happen to fall into my cart at Trader Joe’s. So I guess, #teamkit but don’t tell anyone?

  • #teamkit for me! I like someone to pick for me 🙂

  • I definitely prefer to build my own kit. The two kits that I have gotten over the years ended up not being used for their intended projects and several skeins ended up being used with other yarns.

  • #teambuildmyown It’s probably because I already have so much yarn in colors I love. Color is my thing so if a kit has irresistible color I’ll get that too.

  • So you left out another possibility.. you build such beautiful colorful kits that us DIYers throw caution to the wind and give up our steely control freak flag. #buildmyownunlessconfrontedwithgreatness

  • #teambuildmyown, though sometimes it’s nice to just buy a kit and start knitting

  • Any kits under $50.00? We Elders are on a tight budget.

  • #teambuildmyown all the way!

  • I am #teamkit! I am not good at what colors go well together so I like to leave it to the “experts”!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • I can be a bit indecisive, so I’m #teamkit

  • Love kits. I have too many orphan skeins of yarn in my stash from yarn festivals and LYS visits while traveling. “Oh, it’s beautiful! I’ll find something to make with it!”

  • Mostly #teambuildmyown but when I fall in love with a project someone has already made, definitely #teamkit!

  • #teambuildyourown!

    • #teamkit, but I like a choice of several colorways.

  • I don’t think I’ve bought many kits. I am working on the spectra sweater. I might have bought a kit for that. I used the exact same colors except for one. That one was too overwhelming to try to go it on my own for color choices.

  • Build my own! Although sometimes it takes me so long to choose that I surrender and wish they were premade.

  • I’ve only ever worked with a kit once because my budget is pretty limited. So I’m usually #teambuildmyown, however who knows what I’d do if I could pick without worrying about cost? I’d probably be somewhere firmly in the middle.

  • #teamkit here. If forced to pick, I spend hours that could be spent Knitting!

  • #teambuildmyown. It would save me so much time agonizing over colors if I switched teams:-)

  • #teambuildmyown. I have only bought 2 kits that I can remember. Shopping online, I am more inclined to a kit since color can be tricky on a computer. But oh….the joy of just rearranging skein after skein to create that “oh so perfect” color combo is a great excuse to just pet the yarn for hours upon hours!

  • I struggle picking out colors. Team kit!

  • I like to build my own to a point. If there are few colors and I can fondle the yarn, I build it. If there are a Kaffe Fasset number of colors or I’m ordering online, it’s kit time, baby.

  • Both I like the challenge of building my own but it takes me forever to choose yarn. On the other hand if I see a kit already made up in fabulous colors-I would choose that (as I did with the Swarf)

  • I prefer kits, as long as the colors are to my liking. I probably would not buy anything with bright orange or red included, no matter how nicely it plays with the other colors. Just a personal preference kind of thing.

  • I’m #teamkit! However, if I don’t like the color combination I can easily move to #teambuildmyown.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • #teamkit. Sort of surprised but it gets me out of my color rut

  • Too many choices! I prefer kit!

  • Teamit

  • I like to choose my own. I like to look at what others choose, but I prefer to go my own way.

  • I’m generally #teambuildyourown but I’ve also purchased kits! Sometimes the convenience is that great!

  • I’m a wishy-washy, wibbly-wobbly type of whatever strikes my fancy knitter. I’ve bought kits, but mostly just buy up the colors I am drawn to for the project! Which means I’m absolutely useless in helping businesses predict how many kits to make up!!!! Sorry ’bout that!!!! But much love and appreciation to y’all at Atlas Headquarters!!!!

  • #teamkit I have terrible color sense and should never be left alone to choose my own colors. How in the heck do people do that?

  • It rather depends on my mood. :/ If I am determined to only work from my own stash, obviously I will create my own kit. But, have done the work to order my own colors for a kit, as well. There is absolutely something to be said for just making a single choice and knowing that you will have everything you need to complete the desired project (without having to obsess about colors). I have done it both ways; so, I guess, if you get to spend your time making a great pattern and it all comes out ok, either way you win. 🙂

  • i love the thought of building my own but the reality is, i can never settle on a color combination! let’s be real, i have a hard time choosing even when the kit is put together for me. i feel like one of the colors/combos will feel left out if I don’t buy it.

  • #teamkit-It forces me out of my comfort zone of palettes and makes me go for combinations my limited creativity gene may not embrace.

  • It truly depends on my mood at the time. Kits are the ultimate impulse buy – so I try to stay away from them.

  • team kit–I defer to the designers in order to minimize mistakes I might regret

  • I love a good kit. #teamkit

  • Both! I love picking myself but sometimes it’s overwhelming. A kit makes it easy.

  • I love to make my own combinations usually but I also love the ones you guys offer. I would like to try one of them.

  • I’m teamknit

  • Team kit, no wait, no definitely Team Kit!

  • I’ve never bought a kit so I only have myself to blame!

  • I am team build-my-own. Not everyone agrees with my off-the-wall colour choices.

  • Probably team kit – I don’t trust myself to pick out colors and would probably get too overwhelmed and give up before I even start.

  • #teambuildmyown definitely. For me that’s a huge part of the fun, whether it’s one color or multiple. I am, however, occasionally a sucker for an amazing kit.

  • Definitely #teambuildmyown !

  • #teambuildmyown Definitely!! Most kits I see around have waaay too many pastel color combos. Bleh!

  • Build my own – but honestly, it’s usually a just a variation on the designer’s choice.

  • Depends on the project & if I can see the yarn in person to compare colors to build my own. If not, I prefer a kit. I also appreciate a kit for projects that require several small amounts of colors.

  • Should I ever need to buy yarn again (people keep giving me their leftovers), I’d be on #teamkit. It would be nice to just start knitting, and know I had enough yarn that all went together.

  • I’m my ideal world I am make my own selection but in reality I opt for premade kits!

  • Team Kit! There are far more mills, dyers and patterns than I have time in this life, so those that eliminate decision fatigue win with me. Every. Single. Time.

  • Well I love kits. Don’t buy them all the time but there’s something irrestible when the yarn and pattern are together especially if it comes in a cute bag

  • I loved garanimals as a child, loved a school uniform…#teamkit

  • I would so love to call myself one of those marvelously confident creatives who compose their own kits. But not in this lifetime. I defer to the wisdom of those who have all the possibilities laid out before them in real space and time and the human eyeball…usually. I go for the kit!

  • I have never purchased a kit! Not that I wouldn’t- I just haven’t yet. Maybe This will be my year.

  • I’m absolutely #teamkit. My attempt at a coloring book given by a friend to cheer me up in hospital was a disaster in clashing, mismatched ugly pages. Nope – give me the color combos!

  • #teamkit I am so bad at putting colors together and always end up with the same thing. Love to have kits to tease me with new options

  • #teambuildmyown

  • #teamkit especially when ordering online! It is hard to be sure of color choices on my tiny little screen

  • I love kits! So it’s #teamkit for me.

  • I’m definitely both! Some times I am #teamkit and sometimes I am #teambuildmyown. I’ve purchased several kits that I love (Kiki Mariko Rug and Aperture Stole among them) and I’ve also just bought the Mohonk Light and Rowan Felted Tweed willy nilly to make my own!

  • Give me a huge pile of yarn, blindfold me, twirl me around a couple of times and let me dive right in!

  • # teamkit. I have hands but not the eyes.

  • I am #teamkit!

  • Team #build your own

  • I’m a team kit kind of person. Love someone else making a decision for me, sometimes!!

  • Team kit. I always think I can build colors well until I see how someone adds rust or fingernail bed pink or green monster belly and shakes up the whole damn thing. So pass the kit, please.

  • #teambuildmyown. I love to play with color!

  • #teamkits. I can never figure out color hues and tones

  • I am #teamkit. I love seeing the combinations you put together.

  • #teamkit — when ordering online I like the kits because the colors are not exactly as they seem and I know the kit maker has sussed this out for me!

  • It actually depends. Generally I like to build my own but sometimes a kit can be just right or if it isn’t everything I had in mind I may get swap out a ball or two. But the idea of kits in genesis incredibly appealing yarn or food.

  • Team build my own, because I’m a non-standard size. That said, creativity isn’t my strong point.

  • I prefer to build my own after being disappointed in a couple of kits I have ordered. Ordering from MDK is pretty much a sure thing for a kit though since I am ordering fibers that I am familiar with I.e. Rowen Felted Tweed, Féria.

  • I am mostly a #teambuildmyown but there have been occasions where a kit has spoken to me. It could be the colors, the yarn or I just was too tired to put it together myself. That is rare. I just love wandering and picking the yarn myself for the most part.

  • I am a #teamkit! I do not always trust my color selection ability so appreciate input from others.

  • #teamkit

  • #teambuildmyown I often like the colors selected for kits but I prefer to have the flexibility to build my own kits. I like to feel I can make something totally individual which, to me, is partly the point of knitting – to have something totally unique to me and as unique as me!

  • #teamkit. MDK has never led me astray!

  • If I can have the yarn in my hands I love to be part of #teambuildmyown but since all the LYS have closed (not for lack of business but because “it was too much work”) and several misadventures of ordering combos online I’m often tempted by kits!

  • I am absolutely #teambuildmy own, though I am kit-curious

  • #teamkit

  • I think of myself as #teambuildmyown. But I do succumb to some #teamkits. Why limit myself?

  • Build my own!

  • #teamkit

  • Argh! The comment robot ate my cleverly constructed comment. I won’t type all that again, so let’s just leave it at #teamkit.

  • #teamkit for sure, especially around the holidays when brain cells are needed elsewhere

  • To be honest, it depends on the project. If it is one with a lot of colors a kit is appreciated. It’s even better if there are a number of choices. If the project is a one color situation I would rather do it myself.

  • It depends? Depends on the project. If it’s a garment for me, then I’m likely choosing my own (I’m quite plush, thank you). But if the colors are irresistible for a shawl, cowl, etc., then I can’t help but give in and abandon any idea of independence. #TeamItDepends #PurpleTealsBluesGimme

  • I only ever bought one kit in my life, and that was because there was no other way to get the pattern. I had to buy more yarn to replace the colors I didn’t like. I cost me a fortune. I’ll never do that again.

  • I’m #teamkit 77% of the time and #teambuildmyown 23% of the time. I’m a major hemmhaaa-er and trying to pick multiple colours for a project sometimes makes my brain melt, but I also like to play with the pretties and try to come up with new combos.

  • Can I be awkward and say it depends on the kit? If it’s blues and greys and muted loveliness I’m all in. If it’s a jolly combination of reds or purples, I’m going to swap those babies out faster than you can say “knit”. (No shade being cast on reds and purples…..I just know what suits me and what I need to swerve around and leave for other lucky folks with less pallid skin 😉

  • #teambuildmyown. I need the practice!

  • #teambuildmyown. I usually choose a color other than the featured color for the joy of seeing how it turns out. There is no surprise if I follow the suggested color. But, I will do a kit to try a new yarn like the order I placed for 10 felted tweed.

  • #teamkit. In fact, would love a kit for the swarf with gray complimentary colors. Would you prevail upon a color-sighted colleague to create one for me?

  • #teamkit

  • I prefer to choose my own colors most of the time.

  • Team Kit – whoever chooses the yarn and the colors has my undying gratitude. I am terrible with colors and always end up doing colors I am comfortable with. I hardly ever get out of my comfort range. The kit always seems to be perfect, colorwise. I find that if I don’t buy a kit, I search my stash to find yarn and invariably I end up finding yarns that are near the colors in the kit. But never quite satisfied with my color compromises.

  • I’m both!

    • #teambuildmyown. But that is actually an aspirational goal. So also one of the 80% fibbers. Go figure.

  • I am a fibbing #teambuildmyown…

  • #teamkit here. I definitely need help with color choices because I’ve never met a color that I couldn’t match.

  • #teamkit all the way!

  • I only like to build my own if I am in the store and can mix, match, pair up and feel. Otherwise, DG Strong, I would like for you to build my kit!

  • I’m 50-50 I love picking out my own colors, but every once in a while I see a kit and say “I’ve got to have it”.
    Does that count?

  • For projects that need more than one color, I prefer a kit. I am terrible at choosing colors.

  • #teamkit, especially when there’s more than one option for the range of colors!

  • I like to pick my colors, but having a kit with the right yarn for the pattern makes me feel more secure that the knitted project will come out halfway decently.

  • Definitely #teambuildmyown. Unless the kits are at a discount! And then I’m #teamkit. 😉

  • Right now: build it myself. But never say never.

  • Team kit for sure! I love a good kit with all the bits and bobs gathered for me.

  • #teamkit all the way!!!

  • #teamkit here. With no yarn shops nearby, I have to rely on the lovely eyes of others, if it’s a multi-colored project.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • I prefer to build my own among some general choices.

  • #teamkit when ordering on line

  • I use the kits as inspiration pieces but usually prefer to pick my colors- #teambuildmyown; although I did purchase the KIKI MARICO RUG KIT. #teamkit. Yes I like waffles too! Box mixes and made from scratch.

  • I’m #teambuildmyown. I get too much joy from project planning.

  • #teamkit would be a nice option. I’ve never purchased a kit before but think it would be perfect for me since it usually takes me hours to choose color combinations for a project.

  • Team kit for me. I love your ideas.

  • #teamkit I could spend hours trying to mix and match colors until I get frustrated and lose interest OR pick a kit. So there you go.

  • Wow! I buy kits and end up using them for a different pattern than planned or break the kit apart because I want a certain yarn to complete my project. I like the idea of kits, but would be closer to team build your own!

  • #teamkit. I knit to relax and enjoy letting someone else make the decisions.

  • Build your own. Sometimes I wish I was more of a teamkit- thanks for your always fabulous newsletter.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • Team build your own!

  • I like Team Kit – sometimes I get in a
    Color rut – and that pushes me out of it.

  • Team make my own! (Mostly because I’m always trying to use stash).

    • Team build my own mostly, but sometimes I do get distracted by the kit!

  • I definitely love to pick my own colours. But in order to avoid using the same colour palette every time, often I look at the kits and colour choices for inspiration.

  • #teamkit

  • #teamkit !

  • I almost never get pattern gauge and really hate yarn chicken, so I tend to be #teambuildmyown so I can make sure I have extra yarn.

  • #teamkit….but I’d like to specify tones-I’m not big on earthy colors, prefer brighter, cheerier

  • #teamkit. Not just because my colour sense is off… I also have too many ooops experiences with substituting yarns!

  • I am #teamkit. As long as I have pictures to show me the combination, at least!

  • More often than not, I’m #teambuildyourown — but, I also enjoy a kit from time to time. Kits can help push me out of my safe-colors zone. Case in point, I got the Aperture Stole kit in Rust. I never venture into the brown palette on my own, but the rust and coppers in that kit begged me to come and play.

  • #teambuildmyown! Love that part of the creative process!

  • #teamknit. Love mkal…love zoom sessions too

  • #teamkit all the way, babee! Such a gift to have someone who knows what she’s doing see a finished product.

  • #teamkit definitely- if I like the knitted object then I can build colors for a second one.

  • #teambyo, but I love perusing kits for inspiration!

  • #teamknit. I love surprises!

  • #teambuildyourown
    My need to be in control does not allow me to have others pick colors for me. I have bought kits when they match my ideas, but it is few and far between

  • #teamkit all the way.

  • #Teamkit when I see a lovely product all knit up and I have to have it in those colors. But also #teambuildyourown when I find that perfect skein of yarn that I have to have and then will figure out my own combination project when I’m ready to knit it up.

  • #teambuildmyown, 90 percent of the time. Every so often, though, I’ll come across a design so perfectly inspired that I’ll want to make exactly what I see in those lovely photos and off I’ll go to play for the other side.

  • #teambuildyourown AND #liarliarpsntsonfire

  • #teamkit

  • Definitely a #teambuildmyown. I enjoy the challenge and fun of shopping from my stash!

  • #teamkit for sure. Sometimes the hardest part for me is selecting a color combo and feeling good about it. For some projects, I might never start if I had to pick my own colors OR try to find recommended colors in my own. I also love getting inspo from other projects of patterns I like on Ravelry. I definitely supper from analysis paralysis with color selection when multiple colors are involved. And there are people out there with amazing skill and talent with color theory.

  • #teambuildmyown
    I’ve bought two kits over the years and loved it but prefer to pick out my own colors. Both kits I purchased were from shops far far away (Hedgehog Fibres being one) so that was my excuse for not being able to pick my own colors and squish every skein first (like picking the right melon).

  • #teamknit to just enjoy the knitting

  • I am mostly #teambuildmyown, although my current project was a kit – but I subbed a purple for the second orange, (’cause really? Why were there two oranges and no purple?)

  • #teamkit I don’t know what colors work together and I can never find that one last color to make it just right!

  • I’m #teamkit.

  • I’m definitely #teambuildmyown. I love the process!

  • I’m on the fence there are times I just want to have somebody else make the choice. But also times t just want to choose myself or kit colors just aren’t right.
    If I absolutely have to I would say #teambuildmyown

  • #teambuildyourown……. Nothing but grays and blacks for me

  • Hahaha I think I’m #teambuildmyown, wanting to use my stash…but I’m much more likely to actually knit and finish a #teamkit project. Identity crisis!!!

  • I am #teambuildmyown. Then I can use yarn in my stash. Or buy more yarn!

  • #team knits

  • I go both ways! Sometimes the Kit is just so good – why mess with perfection. Other times I want to let me be me.

  • I usually prefer to build my own but for this year’s westknits mkal I bought a kit and it’s been pretty liberating! It’s a bright happy palette of hedgehog sock curated by Steven Be that my neutral-gravitating self would not have probably put together on my own.

    • Forgot the hashtag— #teambuildmyown

  • Put me down for #teamkit

  • #teamkit probably 90% of the time, especially if there are options of color sets. For the most part, that creates enough angst without having to pick multiple colors on my own and hope I picked well.

  • Love, love, love the secure, stocked feeling I get from a kit of yarn, even if I rarely use the contents for their intended purpose.

  • #teambuildmyown. But I wouldn’t pass by a gorgeous kit.

  • I like kits when I have a choice of fabulous kits- so in that way I’m #teamkit. Since I can’t often find a kit to suit my tastes I end up #teambuildmyown. I WANT the ease of #teamkit, but I often end up #teambuildmyown out of necessity!

  • I am absolutely on #teambuildmyown. I have bought kits and often they are lovely, but I have a substantial stash that I often try to knit from. Both have excellent results (most of the time).

  • #teambuildmyown, most of the time. However, when a kit really appeals to me, I’ll splurge.

  • I’m #teamkit. Too hard for me to know what colors “go” together.

  • #teambuildmyown which is truly #buildmyown. No team needed.

  • Oh, Definitely a team build my own! The hunt is half the fun….first step, stash diving…ooh that will work…..oh…no that won’t work….but it WILL work for another project to I forgot I had that! Next it’s a casual hint to my best yarn buddies (The Purl Girls) that lunch and knit shopping in local Savannah is needed ( they always fall for it) to a Sunday afternoon of online shopping…to dyeing the color I want myself……if this sounds drawn out… I can accomplish all this in just a few days…while waiting to begin, I am working on one of my other skein safaris in the meantime….Team Hunt for My Own!

  • I’m #teamkit especially when there are multiple colors in a project, like a sweater with a colorwork yoke. I’m not confident about choosing colors that go well together and prefer to leave that to the experts!

  • #teamkit! There are so many decisions in the day of teaching that sometimes you want to point and say, “I’ll take that one!”

  • #teambuildyourown I usually cannot afford kit prices.

  • #teamkit

  • I am team kit, since I help people daily pick out colors at work I like to have someone else pick for me occasionally.

  • I bought my first kit a month ago. But I’ve been knitting for 45 years. In that time I have increasingly tended toward an inability to follow a pattern, a compulsive need to tinker with a design, and a meandering search for new yarns. So we’ll see how far I get with the kit or whether it morphs into something else, new and curious and fun.

  • #teamkit, all the way!

  • #teamkit

  • I do a bit of both.

  • #teambuildmyown
    Every morning I open a gift: my two eyes. Tones, values, shades, COLOR thrown before me by mother nature just begging me to name the variations.

  • #Teamkit! I trust the color sense of others more than myself. When I first started knitting, I thought you had to knit things in the same color as the pattern sample!

  • I’m a #teamkit especially with big projects with lots of colors. I don’t have time to play with planning color combinations right now and I trust other more experienced knitters

  • #teamkit Unless I’m 100% sure I have the perfect yarns in my stash.

  • Team kit!

  • 99% of the time i build my own because there’s almost always one color that just doesn’t work for me in the prescribed mix, but then once-in-a-blue-moon, someone gets me, probably another virgo or bunny sign, and i can be content with the kit as is.

  • I have a niece who is a Fine Arts teacher and has a wonderful sense of colour and I often follow her lead in choosing colours. I am not opposed to kits but usually for me they end up being too expensive and I end up with “ bits and pieces “ that I cannot later use. In addition I am a loose knitter so I need more yarn than is called for in a pattern so I am often afraid that I might not have enough yarn to complete the project.

  • Team “depends on the project and the kits”. I do both!

  • Team#kit

  • I am terrible at making color palettes! So after years of doing a bad job, I’m, #teamknit

  • Team kit all the way! I don’t have the confidence/vision to put colors together.

  • #teamkit is a dream but I have never bought one because I have so much #miscellaneousstash

  • #teamkit usually! I trust others’ color coordination skill far more than my own!

  • Definitely team build-my-own! I love to play around with color combos and this approach keeps my joy intact!

  • This is a fantastic question! I will try #teamkit when it is a new technique or project that bowls me over, although I have clear color preferences and ultimately prefer #teambuildmyown. (and when it’s a kit, I can be pleasantly surprised because I Never Would Have Chosen Some of Those Colors.)

  • Slightly prefer #teamkit especially when ordering online. I don’t trust any of our monitors to give me true color (or what I call true? maybe color).

  • I’m usually #teambuildmyown because I know what colors I like, but I do appreciate a kit for yarn I’ve never worked with! I feel like y’all put a lot of effort into choosing a type of yarn for a pattern.

  • Most of the time #teambuildmyown, but occasionally I like a nicely curated kit.

  • #teamkit

  • I am a proud member of team kit!

  • I’m #teamkit. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed in a yarn shop or booth that I end up with nothing. That said, with small projects, like gnomes, it’s fun to pick and choose from my stash. Happy Saturday!

  • Definitely build my own. Though if a kit has a great color combo I’d buy it.

  • #teambuildmyown
    I write my own patterns for about 75% of my knitting. Usually I start with the yarn. Choosing my own colors is one of the things I love best about making my own garments.

  • #teambuildmyown
    Because I have GREAT color sense!

  • #teambuildmyown. I am not into having the exact same whatever as everyone else. I also do not jump on the newest pattern bandwagon and by the time I might be interested the kits are long gone! Kits are great to give as a gift or gift knitting for someone who loves current fashion.

  • I prefer to build my own, although there have been a few kits (just a few) that were good combinations.

  • I used to be build it myself. But during this pandemic, I have become team kit! Too many other decisions!!!

  • #team build my own! For many different reasons. The main one being I enjoy choosing which colors will go well together, depending on my mood and the ítem & pattern I’ll be knitting.

  • #teambuildmyown. Mostly because I’m always trying to get the stash to contribute to the project, which mostly doesn’t work.
    Unsolicited advice —have you tried stacking yarn into several violin bags instead of a cello bag? You might get better results.

  • I love kits! I admire “others” but I like to actually go forth in public wearing my wares!

  • #teamkit all the way! Opening a prettily packaged kit feels like getting a birthday present

  • I am probably 95% #teambuildmyown, but will sometimes buy a kit when I REALLY love the colors put together my the designer. I am always amazed by the number of knitters who are afraid to create their own combinations.

    Perhaps it is because I am an architect, but I’ve never been afraid to combine colors and explore mixes of textures as well. But a beautiful kit can be a thing of joy, too.

  • I’m a #teamkit because I stress over colors!

  • I’m a kit person at heart, but usually a cobble it together from stash and closeout sales person in practice..

  • I’m team build my own. Though I’m curious to try a kit. Perhaps one day.

  • I’m a little bit of both but will usually #teambuildmyown after creating with the kit. Gotta find my own color mix to express my inner joy.

  • #teambuildmyown but I’m looking forward to my first advent box from Wool & Vinyl.

  • I weigh in on the #teamkit side. I do not live close to a yarn store and trust that kits are carefully curated for me.

  • I have been known to order kits, but then swap out one color for yarn I already have….so I guess I am really #teambuildyourown!

  • Can you be a bit of both?? Sometimes I fall in love with a kit and the beautiful colors and sometimes I just want to do my own thing 🙂

  • Definitely #teamkit! Too indecisive and worried about pickinging the wrong colors.

  • #teamkit! I’ve amassed too many single skeins that are only good for hats or mitts.

  • I like to build my own color combos instead of purchasing kits. In a kit, there might be a color or two I am not fond of. If I put the colors together myself, then I know I will like each and every one.

  • #teambuildmyown- Although I love looking at kits, most of the time, like, 95%, I like to choose the colors, to make the final knitted project feel more my own. I’ll get a kit though, if I love the colors in the kit.

  • #teambuildmyown !! i’m quite fussy abt colors, so…also,, what Allyson said–“I’m way too pig-headed to want another person’s choices!”

  • #teambuildmyown

  • I like both #teamkit or #teambuildmyown, but most times choose #teambuildmyown . I like kits when its more small item with embellishments all in the kit

  • #teamkit for the win

  • #teambuildmyown, unless the nunber of colors is overwhelming.

  • #teamkit

  • #teambuildyourown There always seems to be one color in a kit that I don’t care for, so I love to build my own—even if I use a couple of the original colors.

  • I’m a kitter. I seem to have a prodigious stash that begs to be used, but it’s never the right amount, weight, etc. And the nearest LYS is 90 minutes away. In the snow. So I buy the kit.

  • #teambuildmyown. My creativity gene comes shining through. Definite tendency to nonconformity. Thanks for offering your wonderful yarn!

  • #teambuildmyown as I need to learn more about colors and develop my skill level. Love looking at your recommendations.

  • Sometimes you feel like a nut…and want to build your own
    On line, I want a kit. Thus knowing I have the right yarn for the pattern

  • I am a team kit type

  • Ha! I might be one of those #teambuildyourown that fibs from time to time…

  • I tell myself I’m team #buildyourown and then nearly choke on my indecision, but far more than I need, hate everything I knit and so end up replicating the kit….

  • #teambuildmyown. Though I’m tempted by the kits I have a storeroom of yarns already and always vow to use them.

  • #teamkit

  • #teamknit

  • Oh man, both. I loooove a kit but they do sell out!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • With the decline of local yarn shops, I have joined Team Kit. I can’t touch the yarns and hold them up in daylight to look at colors. Kits are helpful and take some of the risk out of an increasingly costly hobby. Matching up yarns with patterns is wonderful too. That’s why I like MDK.

  • #Teambuildmyown please and thank you. I have received kits and take them apart for other mix and match projects. It is interesting to see the colorway ideas, however, the yarn generally speaks to me about what it would like to be.

  • #kit

  • I’m mainly #teambuildmyown but occasionally I prefer #teamkit when I feel like I don’t want to obsess over choosing colors/yarn.

  • I’m #teamkit. I don’t always find it easy to pair, especially multiple colors

  • #teamkit here. More than 3 colors is a little overwhelming for me to put together – but if someone else puts it together – I know what I like.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • I want to be team ‘build-your-own’ but I finally learned that I fall in love with the colors shown on a pattern as much as the pattern itself. I’m working on a butterfly shawl now where I chose a self-striping and contrast color on my own and it’s taken me a while to be sure but I love it. So I’m working my way on to ‘ byo’ but I still love a good kit. Indecisive much?

  • #teambuildmyown
    I like everything I make to be unique. Multiples are okay, but they need to have a subtle difference

  • #teambuildmyown – but I usually use stash yarn, so almost always I end up wishing that I would have bought the kit. It’s like when you see a pretty blouse at the shops, and then go home and try and sew it yourself with leftover bed sheets. Most of the time it’s disappointing. But I still tell myself I must use up the spirit yarn.

  • I’m a build your own knitter. Though I was once given a kit as a present, and I don’t think I would have picked those three colors that ended up being spectacular together.

  • #teambuildyourown for sure. I love the idea of a predetermined kit, but always end up throwing my own hitch in it.

  • I’m a buildmyown type of person all the way. I do require a pattern, but I often make changes to it. It’s an adventure!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • It depends upon the pattern! I’m Team kit for color work shawls but I need the control of team build my own for sweaters. That may answer the fluky percentages you had seen in the past.

  • Teamkit all the way!

  • I’m #teamkit but I really really really need to learn #teambuildyourown because I have a plethora of single color skeins.

  • #teambuildmyown every time. But I use those kits for inspiration.

  • I’m getting old and lazy abotu the project-planning stage, so I’m #teamkiit more often than I used to be.

  • #teamkit most of the time for me, but I will say there are definitely times where building my own has been the right call

  • #teambuildmyown That way, I can chose what colors I want to make a project. And if they don’t work right, there is always the possibility of altering or changing the knitting project to make me happy!

  • #teamkit some days, and #teambuildmyown on others. It all depends on my mood, the project and whether or not I have a deadline.

  • I’m a little bit of both, I guess, but sometimes I get overwhelmed with color choices and making sure I’m getting the appropriate yarn for a particular pattern so I often prefer the simple ease of just purchasing the already-decided-for-me kit!

  • #teambuildmyown always. (And almost always because I have stash i need to use…)

  • I love a kit but usually work with whatever is in my stash … and I most often work with a single color, so that eliminates the need for kits, doesn’t it? Thanks for the generous giveaway!

  • OK so I do love choosing my own colors but I am definitely #Teamkit! And that being said I really need that bag because all my other bags really are full of yarn!

  • #teamkit, especially when what caught my eye wasn’t the pattern of the throw, but the beautiful colors.

  • I love kits. ❤️Its hard to buy yarn online, and I don’t have a LYS. Thanks for making kits!

  • #teamkit

  • 100% #teambuildmyown, though I love seeing the colour combos in kits. Considering colour choices is a huge part of the joy of a knitting project.

  • I am a #teamkit type of gal.

  • Definitely #teamknit. You all have better sense than I do for color matching and combination. It would take me FOREVER to decide on my own

    • Lol! That’s #teamkit!

  • #teamkit (but not for meals,)

  • I’m #teamkit, although I also like building my own

  • I’m a kit knitter, but not because of colors, just because I’m not a good enough knitter yet to swap yarns. I think of it like cooking with the exact ingredients in a recipe or having enough of an understanding of the components of a dish to make substitutions.

  • #buildmyown. For me, knitting is about customization, including color.

  • Getting a wonderful #teamkit in the mail has been the best thing ever this past year.

  • #teamkit when purchasing online for sure! In person I do love to chose my own colors.

  • Can it be both? If I particularly love the color palette of the original design, then I’m #teamkit, but I equally as often love the design but not the colors and want to do my own thing.

  • I play for both teams. It’s fun to choose maybe four or five colors for a project, but when it comes to a design by somebody like Kaffe Fassett or Marie Wallin—come on!

    So both. Depending.

  • #teamkit

  • Most definitely #teambuildmyown… choosing the colours is part of the creative process for me and picking a ready made kit is a total anathema. Unless the preselected kit has hit bull’s eye. Once I made my choices I re-arrange the pattern… use it for inspiration purposes or measurements. I knitted many items, but never was able to follow a pattern;-0

  • Tough call but the awesome thing about kits is being able to cast on immediately

  • I’ve done both, but mostly #teamkit including subscriptions for kits.

  • #teambuildmyown
    I love making sure my color combination is not the same as what everyone else is knitting – especially if I’m knitting the same pattern everyone else is knitting!

  • #teamkit, I’m no “fibber”

  • #teambuildmyown
    I once had a bad experience with a cross-stitch kit and it has forever made me worry about having enough materials, and whether or not the fiber is all from the same dye lot. Besides, I’m just contrary enough to find that one color I don’t like in almost any kit.

  • I’m usually #buildmyown but if I’m short on time or don’t feel well that day then I’m #teamkit.

  • I am #teambuildmyown except when a huge number of colors of the same yarn are needed, or when the kit is what I would choose myself.

  • I’ve never done a kit. I’m afraid it won’t be “me”.

  • I bought my first kit ever this summer and i may be a convert. Too soon to tell. #teamknit

  • I could go either way. To receive a kit pre made by the people who do this for a living gives you a winning combination! Thank you.

  • Usually #teambuildmyown. Beautiful as curated kits are, at that point, it’s been done, so why do it again?! . I am tempted, though. Every. Single. Time.

  • I am a #teambuildyourown, that being said: sometimes the people making the kits, really hit the sweet spot for me! So -hmmm – I guess I’m one of those that could be both!

  • I am #teamkit. I like getting right into the knitting rather than spend time figuring out color schemes. The downside is that the kits don’t always have the colors I would prefer. I may be more creative once I knit more colors projects.

  • #teambuildyourown

  • #teambuildmyown even though my nickname is Kit !!

  • I am definitely a #teambuildmyown. Choosing colors and yarn is the best part of knitting for me.

  • Oh, definitely #teamkit. I’m rubbish at choosing colors. I truly loved “Holiday Hell on Earth.” That’s why I send Halloween cards instead.

  • I am 99% teambuildmyown! Only a few times I have loved the designer’s chosen colors so much that I had to have the same. 😀

  • #teamkit I love colour and find other people’s choices to be inspiring.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • I am “teambuildmyown because 1. I like playing with colours and 2. because kits frequently have needles or doodads I do not need that are part of the cost. That said, I have purchased the occasional kit over the 65 years I have been knitting.

  • #teambuildmyown most of the time but I do occasionally buy a kit – I’m no fibber!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • While I am often tempted by kits, I usually end up building my own. #teambuildmyown

  • Kit. Unless I don’t like the colors that much, which happens far more than so would expect.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • #teamkit so I don’t spend forever and a day trying to decide what looks good together

  • I definitely prefer to build my own kit, partly because of my color preferences and partly because of my budget.

  • #teambuildyourown. I want my project to be unique even if lots of us are making it.

  • A kit, trusting that the best color combination has been put together!

  • #teambuildmyown! There’s something fun about playing with combinations until you feel like you’ve hit on the right thing! Thanks for the giveaways!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • #teamkit!

  • I’m a “half-n-halfer”, if that’s a thing, depending on the project and the color options. Sometimes I love the colors the pattern is shown in, so I’ll go with the kit. Other times I feel like choosing for myself.

  • #teamkit! I can spend hours looking at the options (enjoying that time immensely) and not make up my mind.

  • Both!! I’ve always considered myself #teambuildmyown, wanting to ensure individuality; but recently purchased a couple of kits and was pleasantly surprised – making me feel like #teamkit was perfectly acceptable!

  • #teambuildmyown all the way. I take inspiration from the kits, but like to explore my own color combos.

    • #teambuildyourown, as I have a large collection of yarn that I a forever trying to use in patterns I fall in love with. However, if I don’t have the right stuff, I’m happy to play for the other team.

  • I’m definitely a #teamkit!!! Mostly because I have a hard time with seeing colors that go together and don’t trust my own eyes.

  • Build my own. I enjoy choosing colors that make me happy. It’s also easier to choose colors already in my wardrobe or home, or for the person I’m knitting for.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • #teambuildmyown

  • Team Build Your Own

  • Build my own

  • #teambuildmyown

  • I’m a #teambuildmyown kind’a person, mostly!

  • Can I be both? I’m usually #teambuildyourown but lately have enjoyed being #teamkit. I think it depends what I’m knitting!

  • It depends. If I fall in love with a project because of the yarns chosen by the designer, I’m #teamkit. If the kitted colors don’t suit me (or my intended recipient), I’m #teambuildyourown. But, if I build my own, it is extremely helpful to do it while in the same physical space as the yarn I’m choosing. So for MDK (and I’ve bought multiple awesome kits from you), I’d say stick with the kits, but keep a few odd balls lying around. You never know when the muses might strike.

  • Totally #teambuildyourown. Partly is so can fool myself about the cost until the end!

  • Can I be a bit of both? I’m a #teamkit if it’s colorwork where the colors play off each other to create light and shadows. I like to be on #teambuildmyown if I have a specific color way in mind or if the project calls for 4 or fewer colors.

  • I prefer to build my own. I have never bought a kit for knitting or for quilting.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • #teamkit I like to see colors I would not have thought of combined and feel safer seeing the finished look before I begin, because it usually takes me a long time to finish!

  • I am a #teambuildmyown mainly because I have a library of yarn from which to choose, or I choose to purchase from my LYS.

  • Team build my own

  • Team kit please

  • #teamkit all. the. way.

  • #teamkit for the win. I am such a ditherer that I will build my own thinking that it wasn’t the look of the kit that hooked me …. And then buy the kit …. I guess I’m kinda a #teambuildmyown too! See! Dithering!

  • MosDef build my own. The few times I have bought kits, they tend to sit in my stash forever. LOVE them, had to HAVE them, just not as inspired to dive into them as I am when I pick everything.

  • #Teamkit. I often fall for the projects in the colors the item was made in

  • #teamkit – I am not a fibber. I prefer a pre-made kit with all the colors selected….or at least I do now!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • Recently I have been more of a kit person because some of my substitutions in “I’ll do it myself” 3 year old style haven’t exactly worked 😉

  • #teamkit most of the time. My confidence in selecting color combos better than a kit is low. I have been known to kit and sub.

  • I am a #teamkit person most of the time because II like experiencing different types of yarn (that i might not normally know about, if I didn’t purchase the kit) but sometimes the yarn ends up not suiting the pattern, or I have a different pattern in mind…….I also mix and match kit yarns or add stash yarn to it. – I chose muted earth colors for the Day tripper cardigan – in that case, I like to choose my own colors:)

  • #Teamkit for large projects with many colors.

  • I mostly want to build my own, but if I see a kit in colors that I really like I will consider it. Usually I just have to change something. The pattern, the type of yarn, etc. I rarely knit a pattern as written. I’m not great at following most recipes either.

  • #teambuildmyown I’m OCD about colors.

  • Build my own. Except it’s hard on;ine

  • Do it myself

  • Team Build my own-however I buy kits when they appeal to me too! I just seem to buy the yarn no matter how it’s packaged!

  • #teamkit usually. Although I also buy kits for the yarn combo and then make something different with it. I think it stems from some anxieties about whether I can match colors well, especially when I am trying to put together two variegated yarns in some way.

  • #teamkit definitely! Occasionally I will build my own but I rest a lot easier with a kit.

  • Unless the kit and/or colors of the original knit sample are in my color wheelhouse or one I’m willing to go out on a limb for, I’m #teambuildmyown (so I guess I go both ways??). I like to be sure the finished project will be one I, or whoever I knit a gift for, can wear or use. And DG, I’m totally with you on the meal kits. The idea is really appealing but I don’t think I could EVER let someone choose my produce for me.

  • It really depends on the project…sometimes I’m a #teamkit and sometimes I just need to pick my own colors. I can get completely sucked into kits on social media sites and voila! before I even know it I’ve purchased more yarn. Can’t seem to ever run out of projects to knit!!!

  • I go both ways. I look at kits to see if something catches my eye. If nothing does or one is close, I will build my own kit. #teamkit #teambuildmyown

  • I think of myself as a member of #teambuildmyown. But choosing seems impossible sometimes… Finding a kit in my own colour palette is not always an option. That’s why I build my own.

  • I love kits, but let me choose the colors!

  • I am both #teamkit and #teambuildmyown. It all depends on whether or the not the colors in the kit ‘grab’ me.

  • I am a teambuildmyown member. In over 50 years of knitting I have only knit a few patterns where a used the specified yarn. And ddon’t ask me how many times I tweak the patterns.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • Can’t I be both! Some days I feels like a kit, some days I don’t! Build your own kit is fun but sometimes, no.
    Sincere apologies to the Hershey candy company

  • #teambuildmyown – I always have to change up something in a kit to get exactly what I’m looking for!

  • #dependsontheproject for me. I like to play with colors and try to incorporate stash yarn. But I did just order a Kiki Mariko rug kit because I don’t own a single skein of bulky yarn and the kit was a quick and easy way to get just what was needed.

  • I am definitely Team Choose My Own!

  • #teamkit! I don’t have to overthink anything.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • #teambuildyourown I am SOOOO picky about colors, especially colors sitting next to each other.

  • Um, well… I like to think I’m capable of building my own… but sometimes I find a kit I like, copy most of it, and swap out a couple yarns for something I like better. Not a fan of speckled yarns, so those usually go first!

  • #teamkit. My head starts spinning when I start thinking of the endless possibilities and I would rather be fondling the yarn and knitting.

  • I am #teambuildmyown. Have yet to ever buy a kit.

  • Both, maybe!?

    I love to play with colors myself and see them come together while I’m making the project, but I also appreciate the indulgence of a well made kit.

  • I’m #teamkit most of the time. When I see a pattern made up— it’s the color and texture combo of the chosen yarns, as well as the item itself that draws my eye.

  • #teamvuildmyown

  • I am a # teamkit. I am not good at putting colors together and be happy to knit what I get. Thank you Love your sense of humor.

  • #teamknit all the way. As much as I would love to have the color matching magic that so many seem to have been born with, I have learned the hard way that unless I want everything to be shades of purple, it’s best to leave color choice to the professionals.

  • #teambuildmyown

  • usually #teambuildmyown but recently tried to conceive of a Shift cowl with something other than the spincycle yarn that Andrea Mowry used and just couldn’t do it online – So I turned into a #teamkit

  • #teambuildyourown

  • I am definitely a #teambuild my own!

  • Want to enter the drawing. I’m a #teambuildmyown.
    I have enjoyed MDK for years starting with log cabin afghans from the books. Try to use my stash but it usually involves getting more yarn. Knitting has been my salvation during this pandemic.

  • Team Kit!

  • I’m on the #teambuildmyown. Color is everything for me. That’s why I’m a knitter in the first place. A kit with my choice of yarns is always good though.

  • #teambuildmyown although sometimes there are kits that really tempt me. I do love picking my own unique colors. These essays are my favorite parts of Snippets!

  • I am team build my own! Sometimes all It takes to make a combination beautiful is one odd color and you never know which colors draw you in!

  • As a fairly knew knitter I would say I started as a #teamknit. I believe as I get more experience this will shift to a #teambuildmyown kinda knitter.

  • I’ve always been a #buildmyown but as I mature, I’m finding my color palette needs a bit of color infusion, so now I’m #teamknit It’s interesting as I peruse patterns to see the color combinations I wouldn’t have thought about and I’m finding I love them all.

  • Depends, but #teamkit!

  • I have never purchased a kit (though kits have been purchased for me as gifts). I really like to do my own thing. I mean, half the time (maybe more?) I don’t even use the recommended yarn, so kits just aren’t my cup of tea.

    However, I do think that non-knitters should probably only be allowed to purchase kits. It takes any guesswork out of it for a person who is blissfully ignorant of yarn stuff.

  • I’m a #teambuildmyown.

  • Build your own for me, but I love that the kits are there for my clueless family to glom onto when I ask for more yarn for holidays ( which is always).

  • I’m #TeamKit, but I always plan to make my own. I am one of the 90% of shoppers who answered your question.

  • #teambuildmyown
    but occasionally I see a kit that rocks my #teambuildmyown boat and that is always fun!

  • I am a #team kit with a twist- I always appreciate it when there is an alternate colorway kit ..sort of a PlanB so that I have a longer runway to make my decision. I like the idea that whomever is designing for kit and colors has a sense of what the end result needs to look like!
    LOL, I have a 100 year stash that I can always dig into if I need to build my own PlanB (-;=

  • As a rank beginner, I am a #teamkit for sure!

  • It depends. Sometimes the kit is just what you love; other times I enjoy picking my own combinations.

  • #teamkit for sure! Otherwise, I’d buy twice the required yarn simply because I couldn’t decide!!

  • I am certainly inspired by others’ picks but ultimately join #teambuildmyown. Fun!!

  • I’m comfortable on both teams. I almost always browse the kits on offer, but if I don’t fall in love with one, I’m happy to build my own!

  • I would really like #teamkit!!!!! Makes me drool thinking of all the great combos I might never even consider.

  • #teambuildmyown. I have only used designers recommended colors and yarn twice.

  • #teamkit. I like discovering new color combinations that I wouldn’t necessarily think of.

  • #teamkit for sure!

  • I am definitely #teamkit, but have been known then to use the yarn for something else completely. I once took a cowl kit and made a lovely Baby Surprise Jacket.

  • Well, isn’t this just a stumper! As a Knitting Knewb, I started last year with kits. Two kits quickly led to approximately nine thousand and five more. Somewhere around kit four or five, I started taking those patterns and – gasp! – jumped off the diving board into the pool of yarn self-selection. About eight months into my knitting obsession, I even designed a draped buttoned neck collar pattern for a friend. So, I feel like I *should* take on a haughty tone and say “I only build my own.” But really, kits are fun and some designers’ (read: *every* MDK designer ever) patterns and color combos are just too yummy to resist. So much so that I just bought two more kits and a few skeins of purple hues for a build-my-own project. So there you have it: #ConflictedInPortland. 🙂

  • I think I prefer making my own sets. To be fair, I have never knit from a hit. Maybe I would love it!

  • Definitely team build my own. I have strong color preferences and don’t want to have someone else select them for me.

  • #teambuildmyown as choosing colors is always such a joy. However, you can call me a liar when colors already in the kit are what I probably would have found after a few hours of color play!

  • Team build my own.

  • #teambuildmyown . . . and I’m 100% NOT fibbing! I am, apparently, an alien. My affinities [in any category—colors, music, TV, movies, books, you name it—I’m just weird (or fabulously interesting—who knows?)] don’t seem to match anyone else’s ever.

  • I am definitely #teamkit. My “buildmyown” skills are still a work in progress.

  • I am a hybrid. There is usually one color (sometimes two) in a kit that I don’t care for and I end up building my own kit by starting with the kit colors and swapping out what doesn’t sing to me.

  • I’m definitely #teambuildyourown. Many years ago I made a baby sweater using the exact yarn & colors called for. That’s the closest I ever came to a kit. And although the sweater turned out great, there was just disappointment on my part when I’d finished. I guess because there was no surprise factor at the end.

  • I build my own. But I’m thinking of trying a kit as my colour selections can be a bit weird when there are more than one or two.

  • #teambuildmyown unless the kit is just perfect!

  • #teambuildmyown

  • #teambuildmyown

  • #teamkit for the occasional projects that are practically perfect in every way and call to me heart. Mostly I’m #teambuildmyown and sub in completely different yarns depending on my mood…

  • Also definitely #teambuildmyown! I love color and choosing combinations that please my eye and the intended use. Part of the pleasure of a new project of agonizing over yarn colors

  • I like the beauty of a kit in the perfect color combination. I think that’s fun.

  • #teambuildmy own

  • I’m relatively new to color work and started with the Shetland Wool Week hat – which my LYS kits up the yarn for based on the pattern. So I’ve bought the kits for those the last two years. But I’ve knit scarves for years and have always picked my own yarn for whatever pattern. Actually have one pattern I’m working for the second time and was halfway through that when I realized I’ve worked it both times in DK and the pattern calls for fingering weight…. oops? But I do like what I’m making so I’m continuing with it!
    Most kits I see I don’t care for the colors, so I’d pick my own if I was going to knit the pattern. For that matter, most patterns I pick the yarn (watching the weight) based on what I want and not on what the pattern suggests.

  • I see your kits and that’s what I want, to do my own thing I would have to take up residence in the warehouse so that everything was there if I changed my mind of course I would then be paralysed with indecision so nothing would get done or completed, kits are exciting because you have to do just a little bit more to see what is going to happen and you feel so clever when you finish something so beautiful. Kits for me

  • Team kit. I trust yarn professionals to see all the color nuances, and it gets me outside of my burgundy/teal/purple box.

  • #teamkit

  • #teambuildmyown.

    And thank you for the giveaway! You all are awesome.

  • #teamkit Even though I am tempted to fib and say the other option!

  • Very much #teambuildmyown. I’m completely unable to surrender the best part to someone else!

  • I’m a team kit most of the time.

  • #teamkit

  • Generally, I’m #teambuildmyown but every so often there’s a project I need to make exactly as pictured!

  • Build my own! Rarely do I even use the suggested yarn in a pattern, and only once can I think of a time when I went for the same yarn and actual colourway of a project (which is not yet knitted, but that is beside the point)! So fun to see what I have amassed in my stash and apply some of it to a different project than (maybe) initially intended.

  • I straddle this fence but slip off often to BUILD YOUR OWN.

  • Definitely kit person. Loving my Kiki mariko kit in progress. Made one building it myself from what they had on my LYS shelves, but it didn’t sparkle like this one does. It takes me forever to pick…and then I doubt.

  • I don’t feel confident about my color pairing (although I am not colorblind), so I really like seeing kits to give me ideas.

    • Both. It depends on the project and if there is a kit I really like or if I have yarn in my stash that would be a good fit.

  • #teamkit a surprise is more fun

  • Depends on my mood, but usually i am #teambuildmyown. Getting the colors to jibe with my mood is fun and allows me more time with the creative process

  • #TeamKit – I don’t trust my color sense but when I see a selection, I usually know which one is for me.

  • #teamkit all the way!

  • #teamkit

  • #teambuildmyown

  • I am definitely #teambuildmyown.

  • You’re gonna love this: depends on the pattern! If ‘you’ manage to hit exactly ‘my’ colors, I’ll happily go for the kit. Otherwise, I’m for do-it yourself.

  • I definitely belong in #teamkit.

  • I’m #teamkit. I like others to pick yarn colors for me.

  • Team build my own. And I’m not fibbing because I honestly don’t think I’ve ever bought a kit before. I do admire the beauty of kits from afar, though.

  • #teamkit

  • Most of the time I’m for #teamkit, but once in a while I like to do the #teambuildyourown!

  • #teambuildyourown until I see the perfect combination in a kit. Then I’m a #fibber. 😉

  • #teamknit. Sometimes I don’t want to have to strain my brain with making the color choices. I want to just pick it up and get going.

  • #teamkit

  • Definitely #teambuildmyown

  • #teambuildmyown. In fact I am sitting here knitting on my Color Explosion Blanket made up of worsted weight heathers on US10.5 needles ( I want a bigger blanket without the math) and definitely without any hot pink yarn.

  • I am #teamkit. Don’t want the anxiety that goes with trying to get it right. I prefer to have someone else to blame if I don’t like the colors – JK – of course.

  • #teamkit! I have very little confidence in my ability to choose the perfect coordinating/contrasting colors.

  • #teamkit (mostly) here. I have a tendency to knit an item in exactly the yarn and colors of the sample, so a kit makes this easy.

  • Team kit for me. I have spent too much time looking for a pattern after I buy the yarn.

  • I’m a team kit. It’s fun to see what gets put together.

  • I am definitely team kit.

  • Can I be both? Do I HAVE to choose? Some color combos in kits are gorgeous, some not my cuppa so I build my own. +#isitjustme?

  • #TeamBuildMyOwn…more often than not from my stash.

  • I like to pick my own colors but sometime…. Just sometimes the kits are perfection in their color selection and I can’t imagine finding a better combination. Those perfect combinations are hard to resist.

  • I am definitely #teamkit…. I am challenged by curating my own color combinations and have had disasters in the past.

  • I am a #teamkit. I mss getting together with my local Friday night team in Bowling Green.

  • I am #teambuildmyown. I wonder if I fall into the 90%? Love your newsletter. I was at Rhinebeck last weekend and sad I didn’t get to say hi! We ran out of time to go to the publisher’s building.

  • #teamkit as I am still new to putting my own colors together….I will leave that to the experts!!

  • #teamkit

  • #teambuildmyown – preferably from my stash. There’s nothing more satisfying than going through, matching colors, and finding skeins that work together (and of course making room for more yarn purchases.)

  • #teamkit. I seem to always want to by the kit for sample or one I have seen. I wish I was the other way sometimes, just so I felt more artistic.

  • I’m actually #teamitdepends fabulous #teamkit and I’m in, fabulous pattern but not crazy about the yarns, #teambuildmyown !

  • Both #teamkit and #teambuildmyown. I often pick my own colors and jump right in without a pattern. But I can’t resist buying some beautiful kits.

  • I am #teambuildmyown; it keeps the finished item unique to me while speaking to different versions of it on others.

  • Don’t get me to lying… #teamkit

  • A kit, please. All yarn shops should have kits made up and ready to sell. I bet kits would sell more product than asking knitters to make decisions on the spot.

  • I am usually team #buildmyown…. picking colors I love or that look just right for the project and its recipient, but I fell hard for the Watercolor Cowl kit, even after I made Kaffe’s Garter Stripe Shawl with my own selection of felted tweeds. Sometimes a kit looks just perfect, and I don’t mind that my project may end up looking identical to someone else’s, since I live in a small town and probably won’t ever see the same kit on another knitter anyway. And you all have some pretty perfect kits!!

  • I am definitely #teambuildmyown.

  • #teambuildmyown, always wanting something differnt

  • teambuildmyown! Choosing colors is one of my favorite parts of the process! I don’t think I’ve ever bought a kit . . .

  • Definitely #teamkit

  • I vote for #teambuildmyown.I do not anticipate ever being able to write my own patterns. Choosing my own colors makes the finished object a little more, “my own.”

  • #trambuildmyown – I love taking a pattern and making a kit of my own with it. Sometimes it’s a wild success, mostly I don’t love the final product but, one of my favorite parts of knitting is the design process and dreaming of the gorgeous final product I’ll get to wear (or give away/gift)!

  • Is it cheating if I say “it depends “? If I’m charmed by a kit I’m a #teamknit. But if I’m not, #teambuildmyown is the way to go.

  • Depends on the pattern and whether or not I like the color/colors of the kit. And sometimes it’s less expensive to buy the kit which could include extras like needles, etc.

  • #teambuildmyown usually because I’m can’t afford the kit yarn.

  • I find myself buying more kits lately but it depends on the colors. For me, it always depends on the colors in a kit.

  • #teambuildmyown all the way, although I LOVE to gaze at/drool over the kits.

  • #teamkit all the way! I need to make something once just like it looks in the picture before I am brave enough to venture out on my own and try different yarns or colors!

  • Usually I’d be all “Build your own”, unless by some happy coincidence one of the kit options bowls me over with a recommended color scheme. Then the “Team Kit” makes it’s way through the back door, so to speak, and ends up on my dooorstep, taking the agonizing color choice out of my hands and into those of a professional!

  • #teambuildmyown. I feel the promise in a kit, but I love putting colors/fibers together.

  • #teambuildmyown-definitely. However sometimes those kits are pretty irresistible !

  • #teamkit – I have no colour sense or confidence

  • I’m team it depends – I like kits and I like to build my own

  • #teambuildmyown…love choosing my colors and feel!

  • This is not going to be a simple answer, ‘cuz I don’t do those. I prefer a prebuilt kit if: 1) The designer/yarn store picked epic colors (does yellow feature prominently? Then I’m in!) and/or 2) It comes with lots of coordinating extras (think stitch markers, bags, etc.). I prefer to build my own if: 1) The designer/yarn store picked less than epic colors (is it themes in beige? Then I’m out!), and/or 2) The designer/yarn store made the kit with the four colors that are 3-10 times the cost of all of the others in that yarn, and/or 3) I am making it for someone who has specific color/fiber requests.

  • Either way, it just depends on the project.

  • #teamkit

  • Team build my own, I can only think of one kit I’ve bought in 20 years of knitting!

  • #teambuildmyown I need to have fun with color matching as part of the project as a whole.

  • 90% of the time, I’m #teambuildmyown, but every now and again I see a really excellent kit where the colors sing a song to my heart, and then I’m happy to buy the kit!

  • #Teamkit

  • I am #teambuildmyown. I will construct my own “kits” from my stash, putting yarn and a pattern in a project bag, so I get just the color and style I want. I have bought a few kits that already have the perfect yarn for the pattern and my preferences.

  • #teamkit it makes me try new colours. If left alone I always gravitate to different shades of purple

  • I enjoy #teamkit since it gives me lots and lots of colors to use and I don’t have to think about it much. Just knit, knit, knit!

  • I prefer kits.

Come Shop With Us

My Cart0
There are no products in the cart!
Continue shopping