Towards the TKGA certification

In 2023, I embarked on the ambitious goal of becoming certified by The American Knitting Guild Association.
It’s a goal I still value, but I now realise how much work and reasearch it implies. You need to answer dozens and dozens of questions and you need to reference your answers. Just trying to reach level 1 opened a totally new world to me, I discovered the existence of techniques I now use regularly. Being a member of the American Knitting Guild Association allows you to access all their content and it is just an amazing wealth of information ! What is also great is that membership comes with the access to all their tech-edited patterns ! This is by far the cheapest way of buying error-free intermediate to advanced patterns; and you don’t just get access to the current one, but to all their previous issues too!

It is now 2025 and I haven’t even reached that Level. I still don’t have the answers to quite a few of the Level 1 questions. In Switzerland, knitting is more a dying tradition than anything else. Getting access to explanations to advanced techniques has turned into quite an expensive quest. We have a wonderful public library but it is useless as far as knitting is concerned. I had to order everything online. And when you have no one to guide you whatsoever, you are kind of dabbing in the dark.

For the certification, you have to knit and send swatches. And you have to use a very specific kind of wool. This too was a hassle for me. I first chose one with some 30 % alpaca content and that was a big time-wasting mistake. So I ended up ordering wool from the US. And, last but not least, my perfectionism came into the way. Big big time.
Self-discovery is not all honey.
Thus the title of this page “Towards the TKGA certification“, because this is the path I am following. I am not there yet and addressing my perfectionism is as much as a goal than acquiring new techniques. This path I will continue to follow for quite a while. Whoever is TKGA-certified is both knowledgeable and a great knitter! These ladies are my guides. I hope you readers can be my companions too.

I want to knit my own clothes. I want them to look good. I want them to last long. I want to teach knitting to beginners. I value my skill and don’t want it to be wasted in fast fashion knits. I want to design my own knits. All this is becoming my reality.
In Switzerland, climate change is already here. Less wool, more silk and plant fibre blends or I will melt! Thus more shaping. More techniques. A higher skill level. I hope this blog will reach similarly-minded people and lead to fruitful conversations as well as further fibre art explorations.

Since January 2025, I am a member of Maryna Shevchenko’s (10rowsaday) knitting club. I truly admire her. Her website is full of gems and she gives live lessons once a month to club members. My only regret is that I didn’t join earlier on. Not only is she a great teacher but it’s nice to exchange with fellow knitters, however far away they live!