The last time my friend was over, I asked her the basic, everyone-is-wondering-this, non-knitter questions: "Is that hard?" (Yes, really I went about it like a moron), "How did you start?", "Can you teach other people?" (aka ME???), "What do I need to start?", etc. Basically, her mom taught her, who learned from her mom, who learned from... You get the idea. And she said it was also trial and error. Honestly, she wasn't much help in the " learning " process, but did say if I did learn and got stuck on something, she'd be happy to walk me through it. I'm a self-starter anyway and was determined to do it!
After she left, I hit the Google:
"How to knit"
"Knitting for beginners"
"Idiot's guide to knitting"
"HELP ME KNIT"
I spent a few good hours scouring the interwebs, gaining a decent knitting vocabulary: cast-on (and the many ways to do it), stitches (garter, stockinette, seed, rib, etc), knit, purl, needles (materials, sizes, DPNS vs. straight vs. circular, etc), gauge, yarn (type, weight, length, color, tension, etc), patterns/charts and all the abbreviations that go with them, Continental vs. English, increases and decreases... This list could go on for days, and I didn't even make mention of all the accessories and gadgets associated with the craft. Needless to say - I was a little overwhelmed.
The next day I made my way to the pitiful craft store we have on base. Honestly, it's probably a good thing it's so small/under stocked because I found myself with limited options. There weren't seven aisles of stuff like if I'd gone to Michael's or JoAnn's, and I found no overwhelming feeling of, "What the hell am I getting into?!?" I looked over the stuff as if I knew what I was doing, and ended up grabbing a skein (a ball, a bundle, a thing) of teal, acrylic, Lion's Brand yarn and some metal, size 8 straight needles. When I got home, I decided to just try learning the basics, no pattern, no specific project in mind. I learned very quickly that I needed visuals. YouTube became my best teacher! After about a week, once I felt I had a semi-firm grasp on what I was doing, I decided to start an actual project. My friend offered up some great sites (with free patterns!!!), as well as a ball of yarn and a pair of smaller needles once I picked my first project:
Ravelry
Knitting Pattern Central
Love Knitting
*Pinterest is a great catch-all, although you have to dig!!! Most of the time it's stuff already knitted that is being sold, but I've found great ideas and then google searched for a free version somewhere else!!
And for the baby shower gift... BABY UGGS!!!
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| I, unfortunately, did not get a picture of these right after I finished them; these are after a few runs in the washer (btw you aren't supposed to wash wool!!) - but it gives you a general idea of my first attempt! |
That was my first project, and it didn't turn out so badly. I realized after the fact that I did the sole incorrectly, but it was my first time ever so don't judge!!! In any case... it was definitely nerve-wracking and a bit overwhelming. But after I rested from the knitting for a few days, I realized I would get better with time and decided to do a little something for the baby to give to Mom and Dad on his birth day. So to have the skills necessary - I decided to knit a few other projects for practice! Stay tuned for those projects and future lessons!!
Until next time...
EDIT (Mar 18, 2015):
- Choosing what cast-on that worked best for me was difficult. There's no video out there that says "THIS IS THE WAY TO DO IT." And just because someone else says it's the easiest way doesn't mean it is - everyone knits differently. I also found that I didn't understand the concept of moving my yarn to the back for knit stitches and bringing the yarn forward for purl stitches. I actually had to have my friend show it to me. Also, don't be overwhelmed if your hands/fingers get tired quickly, or if you're "uncomfortable" with the motions. It took me a few weeks to really find a groove for how to hold the needles and how/where to tension the yarn. Here's a video I made showing my preferred cast-on method, and another video showing knit and purl stitches and how I hold my stuff:
- When binding off, I was tightening the yarn too much, afraid that it'd be too loose/the knot would come undone, and found that the work became bunched and curled, like this...
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| http://knitxpressions.com/2012/07/02/four-squares/ |
I realized that I needed to bind off more loosely than I casted-on/knitted.
Sometimes switching to a needle two or three times larger (if you find it difficult to loosen
your tension) can help with this. Just make sure not to pull the knot so tight
that it still curls.
Here are some helpful tips from Simple Knitting.
- Cheap doesn't always mean best! Knitting can be an expensive hobby, whether it be necessity (you HAVE to knit with a particular blend of yarn) or just your desire to have kick-ass looking stuff (like these wonderful needles from KnitPicks that I broke down and bought OR this glorious yarn) and the tools of the trade do matter, to some extent. But, sometimes, you can find things that you love for an affordable price. These are a few of my favorite gadgets:
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| Knit Happy Fold-N-Go Notions Box!!!! I love things and I love having a thing to put things in! Before this bad boy, I was using a couple of pencil cases and it made my knitting bag just look raggedy. So this was the solution and I absolutely love it!!!! |
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| Point Protectors/Stoppers :) These nifty little do-dads make DPNS into straight needles and/or they keep your knitting from falling off the ends of your needles! And if you're a beginner and need the help, they are labeled L and R to help you remember which side of your work is which!! |
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| CABLE NEEDLES - I love cables!!! I love how they look, how they knit, and I try to put them in as many projects as I can! These are Lion Brand, but any brand will do. These just happened to be the ones I got here on base and they work just fine :) |
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