Beginner Knitter Advice Please.

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So I have had a desire for a while to try taking up knitting. So I thought why not start now in the hope that it will keep me occupied whilst in dry January/not sales shopping/scrolling endlessly on IG & Facebook

So I'm here for advice on the best way to start since childhood. Are there any apps that knitters would recommend for learning and places to buy decent (but not too pricey) 'starter kits' with patterns?

I don't want to go to crazy to start with as I can be the queen of starting hobbies and not committing in all honesty but I'd really like to find something to start creating a chill time that doesn't require me leaving the house due to wfh and disabilities that sometimes leave me in bed with pain.

I would really love to (over much---- time) be able to knit small toys.

TIA

Hello. Knitting is lovely.

Try looking at easyasknit website. They have simple patterns and tutorials and are for the UK.

YouTube is also good for tutorials.

When I started I found the comfort of using 'lifelines' and knowing how to unpick and pick up dropped stitches was really helpful. Everyone makes mistakes!

I buy my yarn online as it's much cheaper !

Yay I'm excited for you! Knitting is the best.

Ravelry is a fantastic website for finding patterns. Tincanknits have a great range of free basic patterns aimed at beginners.

If you get a circular needle you can knit both flat and in the round. No need to spend loads to start, though nice yarn can be expensive. Some charity shops have craft/knitting sections where you can find tools too.

I would just buy a pair of knitting needles and a ball of wool, you need to practice the basics before you try to make anything.
As pp said, YouTube has lots of instruction videos for beginners. I also like the DK books for crafting beginners. They do an excellent knitting one and a crochet one, available from The Works.
Good luck, but be warned, it's very easy to become addicted to yarn shopping! 😁

I would start with something that does not require a pattern. Like a chunky knit scarf. Get big needles and heavy yarn. Don’t buy on line as when you first start your fingers are stiff. So go and feel the yarn so that you know it is nice to use.

Avoid Acrylic, go for something with bamboo or silk. Curl the yarn through your fingers as if you are rubbing in pastry.. You want something that does not spit into fibres

i love hobby craft they do some beautiful jewel colours in chunky. To begin with avoid marble or multi fleck. If you use a plain yarn you can see and count your stitches easily.

I would recommend getting a pair of 4 mm needles and a ball of Stylecraft Special DK wool. 4mm is a common size and Stylecraft special doesn't fray or split, is cheap and doesn't stick or squeak on your needles. Plus you can wash what you make without it shrinking or felting.

With regard needles, go for metal if you don't mind the click clack knitting noise or decent wood ones, not super cheap B&M or pound shop ones because they'll split or bend too much. Plastic ones can be a bit sticky and make it difficult to knit smoothly. I really like KnitPro Symfonie needles, they are smooth, good and pointy, strong so they don't feel like they're bending and they're really pretty.

A good way to learn is to pick up a knitting magazine like Simply knitting, they always have a mix of beginner and advanced patters, they always have a few pages towards the back devoted to step by step guides on how to knit and showing a variety of common stitches and they always have a jargon buster/abbreviations section that helps de-code the patterns.

Other than that, start by just doing a long swatch, a row of knit, a row of purl, a row of knit, a row of purl. Keep going till you realise you've stopped walking yourself through the steps of ' insert needle, wrap wool round....' then keep going for a bit longer, you want to build muscle memory.

By doing this you will have learnt how to cast on, knit, purl and cast off.

Once you can do knit stitch and purl stitch you can knit anything, because it's all just a combination of those 2 stitches.

• Garter stitch - just use the knit stitch for every row
• Stockinette - row of knit, row of purl
• Rib - cast on an even number of stitches, alternate Knit and Purl on the same row

Row 1 - K, P, K, P, K, P Row 2 - K, P, K, P, K, P gives you a fine rib stitch Row 1 - K, K, K, P, P, P, K, K, K, P, P, P Row 2 - K, K, K, P, P, P, K, K, K, P, P, P Gives you wider ribs

I wouldn't bother with starter kits tbh - they are unnecessarily expensive! There are loads of total beginner videos on YouTube. Or books - 'Knitty Gritty' is quite a good one. At the very beginning all you need is a ball of wool and some needles (appropriate size for the wool you've got). Then get practising!

Once you've got the hang of the basics, you can head over to ravelry.com which has an enormous number of patterns, many of them free. It looks a bit daunting at first, but you can search them by difficulty level- there are plenty suitable for beginners!

Knitting is a wonderful hobby! I started as a complete beginner in my late 30s and can now knit complicated Fairisle and cable jumpers, plus added crochet and spinning to my skills!

Exactly this. Get some chunky wool in a colour that you love and the needles suggested on the band and start with a scarf. At the end of every row check carefully and unpick if you see any dropped stitches before you have too much to pull out.

Knitting is so relaxing and soothing and you’ll get a great sense of satisfaction.

After that you can watch some YouTube videos and learn different stitches and how to follow a pattern.

Always knit to the end of a row before putting your knitting down. Never put your needles into the ball of wool (might split the wool). Put your knitting down before it feels like a chore, it should be a pleasure.

Remember my mother’s advice… never knit for a man before you are married 🤣

Have fun!

All of the above is good advice, but I wouldn't start with a scarf - they have to be quite long to be useful, and you may well get heartily sick of it before you've finished it. Some cotton yarn and 4mm needles and you'll be knitting dishcloths before starting on a bigger project.

Ooh thanks for the tips so far! I see Ravelry mentioned more than once so i will google that.

Love the idea if just freestyle knitting to start with, just to get the hang of things before starting on a pattern. And yes dish cloths maybe better than a scarf to keep it short and sweet.

(Sorry for not mentioning each poster)

Hi OP, good luck with starting to knit! Other posters have given loads of good advice already. I see that you want to be able to knit toys eventually so here is a super simple bunny tutorial that you can make one you've learned how to cast on, do a knit stitch and bind off:

I’d recommend finding a local knitting group. Most knitters love to pass on their wisdom.

Oh gosh i've just created an account on Ravelry 🤯 mind blown!
So i've moved over to amazon looking at knitpro needles. I have seen both aluminium and bamboo and some offering lightweight?

Also im guessing I should start with 25-30 length, is this the equivalent to a medium?

I usually have more than one knitting project on th go. Not only to stop getting bored but a different weight are good for my hands.

I have made these for my DD and DiLS for when you get a bit more expert.mit is much easier than it looks. If anyone wants a copy PM me me

This

@TuesdaysAreBest I'm having a look for a local group also for when I can get out.

@Rictasmorticia aww that looks cute! Over ambitious for next winter project?

25 to 35 is pretty normal length. You can use shorter ones for little projects (fewer stitches to fit on the needle) or some people like longer ones. Bamboo or wooden needles can be quite good for beginners as they are less slippy.

The most important thing is the thickness of the needle though. It needs to be rught for the thickness of wool and the project. If you're just practising at first, I'd recommend an aran weight wool to start with. 4.5 to 5.5 mm needles would be best for that. But you can just buy any ball of wool you fancy, and it will say on the label what size needles to use.

Thanks @clawmachine this is exactly what I'm aiming for!

So i have ordered a pair of birch wood 4mm needles and a ball of lovely red DK wool to start making.... squares I guess 😂 I cant wait. I'll be back with an update.

Please post pictures of your progress

@Rictasmorticia i think you posted something confidential by accusing

Ooops @Rictasmorticia *not accused (fat fingers)

I tried to delete this. Does any one know how I get rid of it. Maybe some can report it for me

@Rictasmorticia I have reported it for you x