I fancy taking up knitting!

[Catchingbentcoppers]

I'm at home a lot just now going through some treatment and I'm getting incredibly bored.

I fancy knitting something. My friend knits little blankets for babies so I thought this would be the easiest thing to start off with. Anyone have any easy patterns? I don't even know what did needles or what wool to get so I'd be grateful for some tips!

Look for a local group, our library has one as does the community centre; I tried crochet with little success 😂

I taught myself the basic stitches from you tube so that I could knit for my dd's school's latest charity fundraiser. I'd love to get really good at knitting but i do find reading patterns a bit scary!

The Ravelry website will give you more patterns than you can shake a knitting needle at! Some of them are free. Each pattern should advise on needles and yarn required.

YouTube tutorials are good for methods (they saved my two attempts at crochet multiple times).

Can you knit already or are you starting from scratch? YouTube for tutorials if you need to learn or even for a refresher.

4mm needles and double knitting (often abbreviated to DK) yarn. Stylecraft Special is a good DK yarn and costs about £2 for a 100g ball. Ask at a charity shop if they have any needles and yarn for sale - for some reason the ones round here keep craft stuff behind the counter and not on general display.

Baby wool is a bit more expensive than Stylecraft but is softer. If you have a local yarn shop they are great with advice.

Where are you?! I teach knitting and crochet classes. Failing that, there are plenty of YouTube tutorials for beginners which will give you the basics. Let me know if I can help!

There’s a community on here called Woolly Hugs where there are lots of people knitting squares and blankets for people who are in need of a woolly hug. Beginners are always welcome. There’s a website here www.woollyhugs.org/
You could see if there’s any craft and chat groups at your local library, I’ve taught lots of people to crochet at my local craft group. There’s lots of instruction videos on YouTube too

DOuble Knit yarn and size 4mm knitting needles is a good place to start. Stylecraft special dk is an acrylic yarn which is about £1.80. I like Drops Merino which is on offer at the moment at www.woolwarehouse.co.uk
All drops yarns are on offer at the moment. In terms of knitting needles, I like to use addi or knit pro circular needles.

Get on Pinterest and search free easy knitting patterns, and yy to YouTube suggestion - watching someone do it makes so much more sense than seeing diagrams in a book. Double knitting yarn (dk) is what you'll likely find most free patterns use.

@Catchingbentcoppers - would you be happy to say what area you are in - there might be a local MNer who knows of a knitting group or who knits and would come and teach you.

If it helps, I am near Paisley, I knit, and I'd be happy to meet you and give you some pointers.

YouTube is also very useful, as previous posters have said.

Oh how fabulous, I literally thought no one would be interested in my knitting thread! 😂

I can knit and purl quite neatly but anything out of the ordinary is beyond my capabilities. I will search out woolly hugs too!

I'm in rural Bedfordshire @sparkli.

Hurray! There are only two basic stitches (knit and purl). Learn them off YouTube and you'll be away!

If you can get someone else to help out and show you basics like casting on (making initial stitches) and binding off (taking work off needles at end) then it'll be easier. Find a friendly old lady?

I wouldn't start with a blanket, do a scarf or something with approx 30 stitches. Blankets can have a large number of stitches, progress can be slow and you'll get bored and fed up.

I'm in north northants @Catchingbentcoppers if that will help you. I can get to Bedford reasonably easily.

Also join Ravelry - online site with tons of free patterns, I think you can select easy ones

Look at the Love Knitting website too. They have a section of free patterns. Drops wool is excellent value indeed. I like to use bamboo needles, but you can get cheaper ones.

If you knit blankets or cardigans or hats for babies, I bet your local hospital would love to have them. There are some very simple patterns and a hat can be finished in an evening.

Our local hospital is very happy to have our efforts and they also sell the garments in their hospital shop.

I used to knit A LOT and can highly recommend Ravelry. The pattern search is fabulous.

You need Lolly’s lil wool shack in your life.

www.lollyslilwoolshack.com/

facebook.com/lollyslilwoolshack/?locale2=en_GB

And their craft group for support and patterns etc

m.facebook.com/groups/1334664666639371?group_view_referrer=pages_groups_card&page_id=950024535133715

Another suggestion here for Woolly Hugs - the topic is in 'Body and Soul' with new requests appearing first in Chat. The website is good as is the Facebook page where they show photos of the finished blankets. I knit lots of plain(ish) squares as I can't do many fancy stitches.
I go to a couple of Knit & Natter groups, one in the library the other in a church hall. Everyone is supportive and helpful if you have a problem and we are often swapping patterns and giving each other oddments of wool.

Oh I'm excited now! Off to do some research. Thanks again folks.

Have a look at the innocent big knit website.
thebigknit.co.uk
Little hats raising money for age uk 🙂
I have made about 20 now, these were my first few!

I bought some yarn and needles the other week to try and do something productive, but having the attention span of a gnat at the moment haven't even opened the bag. Will go and do that now