Replies to Comments: Learning to Knit
January 24th, 2005 at 8:50 am (uncategorized)
Tim asked for my recommendations on the best way to learn to knit. I would strongly suggest you get a friend who knows how to knit to show you the basics, or take a learn-to-knit class at a local yarn shop. Some books that are great to have on hand no matter your knitting skills:
Knitter’s Handbook : A Comprehensive Guide to the Principles and Techniques of Handknitting
A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker (there are four of this. link is for the first)
Having a knowledgeable friend is invaluable when learning to knit or working on something new. As for websites (which is really what he asked about). I honestly don’t know. There are plenty of sites out there that have little video clips on how to do particular stitches, but I don’t know of one that would be good for walking a beginner through the steps. Maybe one of my readers can give some suggestions?
I have used the basic garter stitch dishcloth as a first project for one of my friends when showing them the basics. It’s a useful item, gauge doesn’t matter, and gets done fairly quickly and covers increasing, decreasing, casting on, binding off. The only thing it doesn’t do is include the purl stitch. The yarn it uses is inexpensive, and I always have a few balls of it in my stash either for myself to use or to pass on to another person.
Whenever someone tells me, ‘Oh I could never do that’ or ‘I tried it once but it just didn’t work’, I remind them that it’s going to be extremely awkward at begin with. They will feel like they have at least five thumbs and none of them are doing what they should be. They will also knit very very tightly at first. As they become more confident with the motions, the stitches will loosen up. All of these things are normal, and if they are willing to give it more than 10 minutes of their time, they might find it’s enjoyable!
Think of all the hours people spend playing Golf! Going to the driving range, playing 9 or 18 holes with their buddies. I can’t imagine the first time they did it they were very good at it.
I love knitting because it’s a very down-to-earth hobby; compared to my day job (working on computers where an electrical fritz can erase my entire life’s work in a moment) it’s tactile, it’s at my own pace and I produce something tangible. I also love it because it’s portable; I’m a cross stitcher, quilter, weaver and most recently a spinner. None of these have quite the portability of knitting. (Before you spinners get all up in arms about drop spindles, I know .. I know, but I’m just not that good at it yet)
Best of all is when I tell my daughter to go get shoes and socks and she gets the socks I handknit for her. Talk about warm fuzzy happy feeling! And with that, back to my knitting :)
tim said,
January 25th, 2005 at 7:25 am
OooooOoO - thanks for this post!! I’ll order the book from amazon as a starter and see how far I can get… I’ll have to find some knitting friends around here that don’t know my wife or else I won’t be able to do this on the sly.
judy said,
January 25th, 2005 at 9:49 am
Sally Melville’s books, The Knit Stitch and The Purl Stitch, are also great for beginning knitters. They illustrate both continental and english knitting methods with good pictures, and directions. The projects after each section reinforce the techniques introduced at the beginning of the chapter.
tim said,
February 7th, 2005 at 8:04 am
Okay… I didn’t make it to the knitting shop this weekend like I had planned, but I called in reinforcements i.e. the wife. I was hoping for this to be a surprise, but I wanted additional motivation. So now, we have a date planned to the museum and then a hop over to the knitting shop this coming weekend. I’ll let you know how this goes.