🤩 Doanity: Where Korean Knitwear Designers Drop Their Patterns
Most knitters globally buy patterns on Ravelry, right?
But inside Korea, local knitters usually buy patterns on doanity.com.🧶
Doanity was created by Kim Daeri (from Banul Story), paying out of her own pocket to launch almost the very first standalone knitting platform in Korea. Since she pays for server fees herself, if too much international traffic hits, it might cost her a lot… but talking about Korean knitting without mentioning Doanity is impossible. (Guys, click the ads on Doanity if you visit!)😅
Anyway, Doanity makes it super easy for indie designers to upload patterns, lowering the barrier for pattern creators while letting buyers explore all kinds of designs. Plus, there’s a dedicated community tab where you can ask questions to experienced knitters when you get stuck, check pattern reviews, stay updated on local events, and see what’s trending. It’s a huge part of the K-knitting scene.
Sometimes designers run event-based seasonal discounts exclusively and run free patterns on Doanity, so definitely drop by and browse! 😲
💬 Inside the Korean Knitting Community (Ham-tteu & Tteugae-bang)
👯♀️ How Gen Z Knitters Hang Out (Ham-tteu & Movie Theaters)
Before Doanity, knitting communities in Korea mostly lived in Naver Cafes (online forums). But as the average age of knitters dropped, the space expanded. These days, personal knitting Instagrams or YouTube channels are super active, forming mini-communities of their own.
That’s how Ham-tteu (함뜨→ ¹함께 ²뜨기 → ²knitting ¹together) became so popular both online and offline. There are even events where people rent out an entire movie theater to knit while watching a movie together—called Movie Theater Knitting (also started by Kim Daeri!👏).
👒 The OG Korean Knit Community: The Tteugae-bang (뜨개방)
But… the real traditional knitting community is the Tteugae-bang (뜨개방) (literally translated as “Knit Room”).🚪 These are tiny neighborhood yarn shops located in local streets or traditional markets. Originally just places that sell yarn, people naturally gather there even if they aren’t buying anything, just to knit together and learn. Even today, you’ll see groups of local moms hanging out there, chatting and knitting.
It’s not like modern shops running paid classes or official meetups. People just gather because the knit room exists. If you ever walk into one, they’ll welcome you right into the conversation (and honestly, they will constantly feed you snacks while you’re there 🤣).
📌 5 Korean Knitwear Designers to Add to Your Feed 👇
1. 바늘이야기 김대리 Banul Story Kim Daeri | @daerikimb
- Style: Beginner-friendly, classic & daily, versatile top-down designs.
- The Deal: The absolute leading force behind the current Korean knitting craze! She releases patterns under both the Banul Story brand and her personal line (both available via Banul Story). Except for colorwork chart patterns, most of her releases are written patterns. From complete beginners to upper-intermediates, she offers everything: needles, crochet, accessories, garments, and blankets. Since she’s affiliated with Banul Story, her recommended yarn is always Banul Story yarn. 🪡
(Wait, what is Banul Story? I broke that down in my last post, so go check that out!👉 [Where to Buy Yarn in Seoul]) - Personal Highlight — ‘Lowkey Cardigan’: This single pattern completely dominated the Korean knitting scene last winter. It’s a customizable top-down cardigan pattern that lets you mix and match collar vs. no-collar, short vs. long sleeves, and basic vs. standard fits. It blew up so hard that it expanded into Chunky, Sweater, and T-shirt variations. (I personally made two—a short-sleeve collared one for summer and a long-sleeve no collared one for winter!)
[Pattern Construction Details] 😉
The Arc Linen Lowkey Cardigan is a simultaneous top-down cardigan. You start from the upper back, shape the back neck dip and shoulders separately, and then pick up stitches along the shoulder line to work the sleeves together with the body. Starting from the back using a bottom-up approach creates a rounded back neck line—a clean detail hard to achieve in standard top-down methods. Plus, picking up stitches directly from the back cast-on edge leaves a subtle horizontal design line across the back. Since sleeves are worked as you go, stitch pickup is minimal, and yarn cutting is required only once during shoulder shaping!
2. 호럴로 hollo | @holloknit
- Style: Needle-knitted animal plushies & creatures.
- The Deal: A designer who specializes in needle-knitted animal amigurumi, consistently ranking in the top 5 across local pattern charts. Her catalog boasts over 55 crazy-cute designs: hamsters, prairie dogs, chameleons, hedgehogs, guinea pigs, fennec foxes, leopard geckos, penguins, owls, red pandas, axolotls, cockatiels, turtles, weasels, kiwi birds, bats, snakes, flying squirrels… (phew, out of breath!). Honestly, whatever pet you have, she probably has a pattern for it. 🤙
- Personal Real Talk: Full disclosure—I haven’t actually knitted one of her patterns yet. Why? Because I don’t have the hand dexterity for micro-knitting… my hands cramp up 😭 But her designs are so impossibly cute that they’re sitting firmly on my bucket list.
3. 호호수 Hohosu | @hohosu_
- Style: Trendy, street-leaning, wearable semi-oversized silhouettes.
- The Deal: In my opinion, she drops some of the most current, trendy patterns in the Korean scene right now. I personally prefer unisex, street-inspired, and oversized fits, and I used to feel annoyed that handmade knitwear often leaned too sweet or cute on me.😇 Hohosu designs pieces like zip-ups and anoraks that hit the exact sweet spot of cozy yet cool.
- Personal Highlight — ‘From Hood Cardigan’: Her latest release is a semi-oversized hooded cardigan made with crochet filet technique, featuring a motif of two small birds flying over flowers. I usually don’t pay much attention to filet crochet trends, but this one… I want it so bad. (Pattern hoarder confession: I bought it, but haven’t started knitting it yet ^^.,,.)
4. 수민 Sumin | @knits.pourmoi
- Style: Pure mood x ♾️, European-infused aesthetic, distinct structured fit.
- The Deal: Uniquely, she’s a Korean pattern designer based in France. She has a very distinct design signature and silhouette. Her signature fit is polarizing in the best way: if it’s your taste, you’ll be obsessed; if not, you might find it unique. But maintaining that consistent aesthetic identity is definitely her biggest strength. 👍
- Personal Highlight — ‘Christstollen Cardigan’: My first impression of her work was the Christstollen Cardigan, which looks like softly falling snowflakes and feels warm just looking at it. ❄️ I love it, but it involves steeking (cutting your knitting!), so as a total coward, I’m waiting until I build up enough courage to try it.
- Global Friendly: She’s one of the most international-community-friendly Korean designers! The Christstollen Cardigan pattern is available on Ravelry in 7 languages: English, Korean, Chinese, Danish, French, German, and Japanese.
5. 숲니츠 Soopknits | @soopknits
- Style: Cozy, subtle textures, winter-centric (“Soop” = “Forest” in Korean)🌲
- The Deal: True to her name, her designs carry a warm, holiday-season warmth. Instead of overly “loud” or bright motifs, her patterns lean into calm, subtle textures. They feel deeply comforting and snug, hitting that exact winter mood.☃️
- Personal Highlight — ‘Athens Cardigan’: This winter, I really want to cast on her Athens Cardigan using a deep red yarn. 🎄 You know that specific feeling of finishing a sweater right in time for Christmas and wearing it on the day? If you want to join me in wearing an Athens Cardigan on Christmas, check out her Ravelry link!
📖 Want to Craft Patterns by Korean Designers?
Loving the minimalist Korean knitwear aesthetic, but worried about reading Korean pattern terms or finding the original yarn?
- Decode Korean Stitch Terms: Grab the [K-Crochet & Knitting Terms Translation Sheet] to clear up abbreviations, needle sizes, and common pattern phrases.