When people find out I am a knitter, they have one of several reactions: “Hey, so am I!” “Cool, will you make me a sweater?” or, by far the most frequent, “Oh, yeah, I learned once but was terrible and stopped.”
I’ve been knitting for over 20 years, and teaching friends, co-workers and strangers for about 10. It’s part of who I am, and it’s how I make sense of the world. I even wrote a book about it.
Still, when I hear that last response, I try not to blab on and on about how soothing and anchoring knitting is, nor do I spew statistics about how needlework has been proven to reduce stress hormones, or how it can help kick addiction, and even potentially prevent low-level memory loss.
I do, however, want to dispel the notion that some people aren’t “crafty” and therefore can’t knit. Anyone can! It doesn’t take some special crafting gene, and you don’t need superhuman dexterity (or even a lot of patience). You just need to follow a few basic rules and, most important, you have to want it.
That sounds … simple. So why do so many people give it up?
Who really knows! People quit lots of things for lots of reasons. That said, there are a couple of common, easily avoidable mistakes that make new knitters (and their teachers) stumble.
Pop culture and general wisdom will tell you that your first project should be a scarf. Do not do this! Scarves take forever to finish, they show errors very obviously and, most of all, nobody really wants one. For a lot of people who quit early on, “I gave up on knitting” actually means “I gave up on knitting a scarf I grew to hate.”
Instead, after you’ve mastered the basics of knitting — don’t worry, we’ll get to that — try your hand at a hat. They take far less time, mistakes are much less obvious and hats are beloved by everyone who has a head. They’re more complicated, but that means you’ll learn more on your first real go-round.
Another reason new knitters give up is that projects can sometimes drag on, so try to give yourself a deadline for your first: maybe you’ll want to wear the completed item on an upcoming trip or to give it to someone for their birthday.
Last, accept that it’s O.K. to be bad at something when you’re first starting out. As adults we so rarely try things we’ve never experienced before, and there’s truly something liberating in sucking for a week or two before finally getting the hang of it.
How to get started with materials
First, acquaint yourself with your local yarn store (your LYS). Smaller, independent shops tend to be more personal — though generally more expensive — while big box stores like Michaels and JOANN are often less pricey and less intimate.
If going to a physical location isn’t an option, you can order your materials from an online store like WEBS, which stocks an enormous variety of yarn, needles and notions at all price points, or Knitpicks, which carries its own affordable house brands. If at all possible, touch your yarn before you buy it, because not only are you going to spend an inordinate amount of time with it, you’re also going to want to actually like the end product.
For those first few projects, generally you’ll want yarn that’s medium-weight, otherwise known as worsted — not as thin as dental floss nor as thick as rope — and make sure to read its label to figure out which size needles you should buy to go along with it (generally sizes 6 to 9). Don’t worry too much about your first needles; the size is the important thing, and what they’re made of (bamboo, aluminum, plastic) and how they look (straight versus circular) is more a matter of preference than anything else.
You’ve got all your stuff. Now what?
It’s time to figure out what kind of student you are.
If you learn best in an in-person or group setting and don’t mind potentially spending some time and money, contact your LYS to find out when and how they teach beginners. Sometimes the price of admission is just buying the materials there, and often it’s more for longer, more intensive courses.
A lot of local libraries, religious institutions, and YMCA-type establishments offer knitting groups, and online databases like Meetup.com can be a great way to find circles or even just teachers in your area as well. And if you learn best one-on-one, find a friend, family member, neighbor, or member of a community group who’s willing to go over the basics with you.
If you prefer to learn on your own and you’re willing to invest some cash, check out a fee-based online course like those offered by Craftsy, which provides video tutorials and step-by-step instructions for students of all levels. You can preview each instructor’s videos to see if you like their vibe, their speed, and their voice — an important thing, especially because you’ll have to rewind at least a few times before you get the steps down.
If you prefer to learn from a book, I recommend “Stitch ‘n Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook” by Debbie Stoller; this is the book that taught me everything my grandma didn’t, from seaming to sweaters, and it’s all written out in simple, easy-to-understand language.
Finally, you can buy preassembled kits of materials that come with directions for beginners. I like the ones sold by We Are Knitters, but fair warning: Kits like these can cost more than it would be to buy the materials à la carte. Still, they’re designed to go along with their accompanying pattern, and the quality is generally high.
If you’re not willing or able to spend money, there are plenty of free online resources, although, without some structure or oversight, the risk of quitting can increase. The videos from KnittingHelp.com are clear and well-paced, and I often send students there when they panic in the middle of the night and text me asking how to pick up a dropped stitch. As with Craftsy, it might take some digging around to find an instructor that you like.
Time to sit down and get started
Congratulations: You’re ready to knit!
Block out a chunk of time in your schedule to put some initial time into whichever learning method you prefer. It should be at least a couple of hours with minimal interruptions at first (although soon you should be able to knit and listen to a podcast or watch TV). When you’re first starting, try to do multiple sessions in a short period — a good beginner’s pace is about three times per week.
Give yourself time to learn the following techniques: casting on, the knit stitch, the purl stitch, decreasing, increasing, and casting off. Each of these will take some trial and error, but once you know them, you’ll be able to make most beginner patterns. (And don’t forget to take breaks to stretch your hands.)
Once you’re comfortably underway and looking for inspiration, sign up for an account on Ravelry. It’s a knitting social network with 5 million users (including me). There are also phenomenal (and often free) patterns, sortable by difficulty and popularity; a full database of yarn; forums to help new and experienced knitters alike; and galleries of other users’ projects, modifications, triumphs, and failures. Ravelry is also the perfect place to show off your work, as is Instagram and Facebook.
Now get to it, and enjoy your new favorite hobby! The best part of knitting isn’t what you make by yourself, but how it ties you to other people. So please feel free to email me with questions, frustrations, brags, and anything, or find me on Twitter at @alanna and Instagram at alannabean (where you can also take a look at a bunch of my craft projects).
Common but weird knitting terms to know
LYS: Abbreviation of “local yarn store.” Fair warning: some LYSes can keep strange hours, so it’s best to call before stopping by for the first time.
U.F.O.: Unfinished object. Some projects are destined to be UFOs forever, lying around half-knitted until you finally decide to frog them.
Frogging: Giving up on a project and ripping out the stitches. So named because the sound it makes, supposedly, is “rip-it rip-it rip-it.”
DPNs: Double-pointed needles. These are what you’ll use to knit round items with small circumferences, like sleeves and socks, but don’t worry about them right now — they’re often daunting to beginners because you need to work with four or five at a time. You’ll get there eventually.
Casting on: Getting the first row of stitches onto the needle. Sometimes trickier to learn than knitting itself.
Casting off: When you’ve finally, blessedly reached the end, and you have to get the stitches off the needle such that they don’t immediately unravel.
Blocking: The step that comes after finishing a project when you steam, dampen, or gently manipulate the fabric so that it assumes the shape and drape you’d like it to.
Gauge swatching: The step that comes before starting a project during which you knit a small bit of fabric with the needles and yarn you plan to use to calculate exactly how many stitches per inch you’re getting since it can vary so much from person to person.