Learning to knit

[parrotonmyshoulder]

I really want to be able to knit, following patterns.
I can do the very basics - cast on, knit, purl, increase and decrease.
What would be the best way to properly learn? There aren’t any ‘knit and batter’ groups I can get to.
I have made some dishcloths and a hot water bottle cover to practise stitches this week (off work sick so more time than usual!).

Do you have a local proper wool shop?

I want to learn too. I can crochet quite well but only basic knitting.
I have a hankering to knit a woolly jumper!

Go on to a site like allfreeknitting.com or ravelry and filter for beginner patters.

You have all the stitches once you know how to increase, decrease knit and purl. From there it's just the order you do them in that gives you the shape of the item and the pattern of the knit. If there are any terms or abbreviations you don't know you can look them up as you go.

Thanks. That’s what I did with the hot water bottle cover. I need to keep my ambitions small I suppose!
Yes I have two local wool shops but no time when they’re open really.

Is a circular needle easy? My mUm and Nan always used straight needles and sewed together.

My DC who is a self-taught knitter swore by circular needles.

I think Youtube or other videos are a big help. Mine just used books most of the time, they started simple and worked up. Don't try to run before you can walk!

Try looking at TinCanKnits to see if anything takes your fancy, they have a series of free patterns designed for beginners and make them really easy to follow.

I came to say what FatAgainItsLettuceTime said.

All knitting is just knit and purl combo’s in the right order, with correctly counted increases and decreases. It took me ages to realise this, and also the fact that it’s all just an attempt to get each loop from one side to the other by adding more loops.

A pattern is just a coded language. But then so is English or Maths. Once you know the code, you’re sorted.

If you just want to get better at making stitches and regulate your tension, look up Louise Tilbrook online. She writes patterns for shawls and blankets that are almost exclusively all knit stitch. This makes a fabric made up of garter stitch, where as fabric made of a row of knits followed by a row of purl is stocking stitch or stockinette, to our friends across the Atlantic.

Be brave.

My husband’s second ever project was a shawl with Estonian lace and some members of my knit and natter group were aghast that I “let” him do such a seemingly complex pattern!!!

Firstly, “let him”?!?! He’s a grown adult capable of making his own decisions.
Secondly, he’s an engineer with a very good visual perception, so he found it much easier to imagine what a 9 stitches from 1 process might look like!!

Running before I can walk is my MO, but thank you. I will try to listen!

You can still knit separate pieces on a circular needle. You don’t have to join in the round. I rarely do, but I ONLY use circs. Knit Pro are my preference.

The thing with circs is you can ‘t lose a needle if you go out with your knitting. I often knit in cafes or the pub or at friends’ houses. Straight needles can get lost or left behind, or you can drop stitches off your needle if you don’t use a cap. Doesn’t happen with circs because you more the work to the middle of the cable and shove the work back in your knitting bag.

I think what I’m lacking are skills like counting correctly!

I love TinCanKnits. I have some fabulous purple fade hand dyed in my stash to make a Flax one day soon.

My yarn and patterns stashes are both SABLE.

Get a row counter - or 12. I have many.

You can get some to go on your finger, a bit like a watch. A barrel that goes on your needle or even on a cord to go around your neck. Very very useful.

I recently knit a jumper all in one piece from sleeve cuff to cuff. Minimal sewing up at the end and I LOVE IT!!!

I’ll find a link.

But also, Flax and Flax light by TinCanKnits are free patterns and ace.

I recently knit a jumper all in one piece from sleeve cuff to cuff. Minimal sewing up at the end and I LOVE IT!!!

I did this with a batwing jumper in the late 1980s ... I never liked sewing up either! I dont knit jumpers any more as I prefer something that looks a little less 'homemade' but I have taken to knitting blankets, 200+ stitches on a circular needle, as I find I can mindlessly knit those in front of the television in the evening.

JenniferAlisonPhilippaSue, have you done a 10 (other number of sts per row are available) stitch blanket?

Just finished my third. They make great gifts and are pretty quick if you don’t put Aran versions aside because it’s a record temp busting summer!!! Picture shows number 1, I think.

The things that revolutionised knitting for me are row counters and stitch markers. I have two types of markers, ones that loop on like theseamzn.eu/d/djMRUR9

And ones that you can open and close like these amzn.eu/d/hQd8ZEI

When knitting any kind of repeating pattern, mark the beginning and end of each section of the repeat. So if your pattern says:

K6, (K3,P3,K3) repeat to last six stitches, K6

I'd put a marker after the 6th stitch, then every 9 stitches, to the last 6 stitches. That way I see every time I need to start the repeat. And I can count back if I get out of the pattern somehow,

I also use them when casting on for large projects like blankets, I put one every 20 stitches I've cast on, so I don't have to keep counting from the beginning if I lose count.

Row counters. amzn.eu/d/iuGs0fw these ones sit on the end of your needle, so you won't lose them. Others sit on your thumb, or on your wrist or on a necklace. Or if you need to do for example 20 rows, I often just mark 20 lines on a bit of paper and cross them off as I go.

The more you knit the more you will learn. Keep doing it and you'll turn around one day and discover you have a dozen different sets of needles and you're stashing yarn all over the house.