Tips for taking up knitting

[TheKatzKlaws]

I don't have a huge amount of spare time (a 1 year old...), but I would like to take up a hobby that is relaxing and creative for when I do have a few minutes. I remember my nan and mum knitting a lot when I was young and they did show me how but it was far too long ago to remember!

Are there any knitters here that could give some tips on where to start? What needles and materials are good to start with? I have a wool shop in my local market so will pop in there to have a look around and ask but would love to have a rough idea of what I'm looking for.

Thanks all!

Everyone always says start with a scarf, but a scarf is a long boring project, uneven tension is quite obvious and there's nowhere to hide your mistakes... I've been knitting for years and never made a scarf.

My first ever project (after a few practice squares) was a baby jumper. You can find knitalongs or tutorials on YouTube or ask an experienced knitter for help if you get stuck.

I learned English style and if you're right handed I do think it makes it a little easier to get started. I knit continental now but I will often switch back to English if I need to do a complicated sequence of stitches or some fiddly unpicking.

Also, if you have the money, use nice yarns once you start a proper project. There's no point spending loads of time and energy making something out of cheap yarn if you can afford better.

My big tip as parent of small child who knits for short relaxation snippets.

Beanie hats with chunky wool, knitted on the round.

Rather than going backwards and forwards you go round and round in a spiral. Theyre more forgiving on tension. You make progress and actually finish stuff because there’s less knitting in a hat than a scarf. Theyre easy to pick up and put down.

I took up knitting when pregnant with ds, who turns eight next week. I now have two large storage cube units full of wool, a house full of mostly completed knitted projects and about 100 sets of knitting needles in different lengths, sizes, straight, circular, dpn, sock needles etc etc. I have 5 projects on the go and about 10 more in my 'to make' list. Its a slippery slope, I tell you!

Charity shops and ebay are fab for knitting needles, and wool. Ravelry.com is the first place I go to for patterns, also a lot of the wool sellers and manufacturers have their own patterns online too. I often search youtube for unfamiliar stitches and there are lots of lovely helpful videos out there.

My local wool shop is independently run, and also has a stitch and natter group which is a lovely bunch of people, very willing to advise. If you have a local independent wool seller, go have a chat with them, chances are they are connected to a secret underground network of lovely knitters and crocheters!

My top tip is if you are making something for someone, make a note of the laundry instructions on the wool band, and pass that info on when you pass on the gift. Nothing worse than working hard on something made of pure wool, only for the recipient to unknowingly chuck it in the tumble dryer.

Enjoy your lovely new hobby!

So true I got into knitting in 2024 through crochet which I started in 2023. Now I’m starting to think about spinning - I want to do all the woolly things!

I used Bella Coco on youtube to learn crochet. I had more success with simple flowers than with granny squares at first, my squares always came out missing a corner or something. I use Very Pink Knits on Youtube whenever I come across something I can’t get my head around in a knitting pattern - she does some very slow ones which I find really useful.

They’re great crafts to get into, hope you love it!

When I was in school we knitted chicks with a hole in the middle to fit a Cadbury creme egg. Have tried to teach myself crochet and can cast on and make a chain so far. Would love to be able to make a hat!

I’m on a slippery slope. I needed to order a crochet hook for my knitting and I somehow found myself ordering a whole crochet starter kit 🤣

I agree, which is why my first knitting project was a hat with a tree design. I even bought some lovely yarn to make it. Sadly, said lovely yarn has wool in it so made my head itchy, so I need to make a lining so I can wear it again.

🤣 hope you enjoy it! What did you get out of interest?

@longtompot I bought this from Amazon, was only £14.99!

Can I ask a quick question? When a pattern says row 1 is that the cast on row or does it start after that? Thanks

@Ilikeyoursleeves Usually it says cast on x number of stitches and then the next row would be row one, but the pattern should tell you. People do write them differently sometimes, so it can be confusing.
One thing I do when struggling with a pattern is write it down. One, it means I have a copy to hand, and two it can clear up a pattern if I have been struggling to understand it. This is usually due to me not reading it all and missing a line out when I have been reading it through.

I’ve royally F’d up my hat I’m knitting! Started off as 42 rows and only just realised as I near the end that I now have 55 rows 😳😳😳😳

Chatgpt has said I’ve overstitched when I’ve moved between knit and purls. Arghh. Going to unravel the entire thing now but I also have a huge hole in it somehow so prob best to start again!

It’s my first hat though and only second thing I’ve knitted so I’m learning!

@Ilikeyoursleeves its annoying when that happens, but frame it as you have, that you have learnt how to do xyz rather than a waste of time. For me, frogging meant I got to work on my tension and how to hold my needles comfortably

I’ve seen various knitting designers and teachers on insta say that having to unravel and reknit is just part of the process, it’s inevitable, and it’s the best way to learn, which has helped me not feel too disheartened when I’m having to do it (which is a lot because I’m only a couple of years in). Chin up and just do it 😬😂

I'll just add the wise words from my granny "if you're not ripping out, you're not knitting enough". I learnt to knit as a child but only started again about 10 years ago and in that time I've gone from baby cardies/jumpers (small and easy to complete) to adult stuff. I'm currently wearing a sleeveless knitted thing which is one of 4 I've knitted since September.

I remember the horror, upset and throwing a project down because something had gone wrong and I just didn't know how to fix it to now accepting that with most things I cast on at least a couple of times, knit a good few rows then realise I've miscounted or cocked up the pattern and have to start again 😂.

I just remember in the early days talking to my granny who was quite cross as she was sewing up and realised that she'd knitted 2 right fronts to a cardie instead of a left and right. And another time when instead of attaching the right front to the back she'd mistaken the sleeve for a front. She'd been knitting for nearly 80 years so it gave me hope!!

Glad you posted OP. I’m also thinking of taking it up

This has turned into a really lovely thread! So glad I'm not the only one taking it up. (Not that I've had a spare minute to get started though 🙄)

It’s annoying having to rip back, but it’s unusual not to make some sort of mistake. I tend to make mistakes when I get carried away watching Netflix and stop concentrating. But I LOVE watching TV and knitting!

I remember my mum telling me that she taught her younger sister to knit. She was following a pattern and suddenly burst into tears. My mum asked her what was wrong and she said that she had done all this work and now she was supposed to rip it out. Mum looked at the pattern and it said ‘rep’ for repeat, which my auntie mistook for ‘rip’🤣

Can I ask what I’m meant to do when I finish the rows? At the ‘now you have a gorgeous rectangle’ bit? Do I cast off?? And then sew it together?

Do the instructions go on over the page? It looks like you're knitting a hat? It may be that you will thread through the love stitches and draw them together to bring the top of the hat together.

Oh I hadn’t even turned it over 🤣🤣🤣🤣😳🙈 Yes there’s another page!

Yay! Happy hatting! Do show us how it turns out!

I have finished my hat!! I absolutely LOVE IT! I’m so glad I unravelled it all and started again as I made sure I did it all correctly this time. Worked out how to sew it all up and even added a Pom Pom! This is the hat and matching scarf. I am so utterly satisfied and now have the knitting bug!

What should I knit next?! Any suggestions??

(sticker on my face so I can remain anonymous 🤣)

Omg love this!! I need to get knitting 🤦🏻‍♀️

If there's a knitting group in a library or community centre near you, you might enjoy it and someone might show you things in person.
Or a yarn festival. I asked someone if she could show my daughter to spin at a yarn festival because I didn't trust myself to remember after 20 years. They did and my daughter loves spinning now.
Those kinds of gatherings often have workshops too. My personal favourite teacher so far is Sylvia Watts Cherry.

I also quite like knitting magazines. Knitting or The Knitter. The most recent edition of Knitting has patterns that each teach a different skill. There's also an online magazine called Knitty.

I also really liked the game of wool on channel four. Not everyone liked it, and it was edited to make the judges look a bit critical (they're actually really lovely). If you watch it as a bit of fun with the contestants enthusing about how much they like knitting, it is good company while you knit.