It's late. I can't sleep so was wondering - Is knitting easy?!

[Alambil]

Yes, I am sat here in bed contemplating the intricacies of knitting.

I think it is a worth-while skill to have, especially as a parent so was wondering:

Do any MNers knit?

Can left-handed people do it?

Is it a cheap or expensive hobby?

How hard is it to learn?

Where can I learn?

Ok, will go to sleep now!!

lol i was trying to teach dd2 tongiht

How did it go? my mum tried to teach me once but her being right handed and me left, well, it didn't work out!

It is easy. I have taught 6 yr olds to knit using pointy chopsticks. But crocheting is much easier!

ohhh no it's not!! I've seen that thread

My nana taught me but never how to cast on or off, so after she died I was a bit scuppered. But then I was bought a dog jumper to knit (my friends are just the most thoughtful )

I found this site www.knittinghelp.com/ and the videos on there are easy to follow and she does this really quite cool casting on thing. Which is a phrase I never thought I would say.

Having said all that the dog jumper is still only about 5 rows big. But I will get round to it. Promise. Because the mini schnauzer needs a red jumper with his initials on.

I love knitting, I'm really rubbish at it tho - there is a huge discrepancy between my enthusiasm/obsession with it and my actual ability. I encouraged lots of friends to take it up with me and they are all knitting incredibly complicated garments and toys and stuff while I'm still plodding slowly through scarves and iPod cosies YEARS later.

My best bit is buying wool really, and imagining all the amazing things I will make with it. I draw a major mental blank at anything to do with counting so any pattern has to be very very simple for me - but I can do cabling on a good day!

Was thinking of starting a thread asking for advice on how to gently improve/introduce new knitting skills - it would be nice to move on a bit, maybe to dpns or some other Extreme and Advanced knitting but it always looks like such a massive leap.

I started knitting less than a year ago and now I am slightly obsessed

As a non-arty person, I am quite impressed by how I can actually Make Something That Someone Can Wear.

It does help to have a knitter on hand to show you things when you get stuck (enter my MIL).

I started with a blanket and then moved on to baby hats, then baby cardigans, then toys then all sorts of things - me and my sister have a blog so we can keep track of what we are doing and we are also members on ravelry which has a MN group as well.

Good luck!

It's easy and difficult, depending on what you're doing!!
The basics are very easy though and very relaxing

I find it hard, even though I like crocehet and sewing, I fine knitting quite a lot harder.

I took it up about two years ago ish, having learned from my granny and at school (my Sindy had a lot of mini skirts and boob tubes).

It is easy. There are the basic techniques and then a whole raft of nifty tricks. You have to negotiate the differences in American and British patterns but it's not hard. I can follow complex patterns, and anything I don't understand or I want to refresh my memory on: it's all on the web. Plus, the chances are the designer is online, too, so you can just email her (him) if necessary.

But for starting out, scarves are good, blankets, that sort of thing. A child's sweater, a hat knitted in the round on double-pointed needles (not as scary as it looks), then a pair of socks.....

Oh she is enjoying it, tho there are slightly more stitches than i started her with

The hardest bit with learning to do different styles of knitting is figuring out how to follow the patterns. Once you work that out you start to see how the stitches are made and that actually they aren't that complicated. Something like cable looks scary to start with and impresses people no end but is quite straightforward. It's much more satisfying than knitting plain scarves .

I love the look of cabling... very smart.

I really want something to do with my hands of an evening that isn't MN (shock horror) or eating .

Is it particularly expensive? Would wool from Wilkinson's be as good as from the haberdashers down the road?

I am rather excited about it - I could knit me and ds (or ds and I) scarves for the winter!

i think it's hard

and very very boring

but the finished results can look lovely

if you are going to knit with petrochemical 'wool' (acrylic) then it's not expensive at all - don't know what wilkinsons is but get some and have a go

Knitting's fab - I knitted a jumper for dp this Christmas and it's still looking OK..!

I'm left handed but learnt to knit right handed no problem.

It can be expensive but depends on the wool.

The best way to learn is to watch someone and get them to show you - do you know anyone who knits?

Good luck!

If you are left-handed, you should try learning to knit German (or Continental) style. The knitting help video site linked to above is good for that.

I have had a peek at the link - it looks fab.

My nan knits but she gave up trying to teach me (lol!) so I will learn myself

Might beg and plead to steal some needles off her though lol

somehow i have been persuaded into knitting dd2 a beret

my sister lent me a copy of 'stitch 'n bitch' whichis a great book for a learner. i only started a few months ago and have alread knitted 2.5 cardies 3 scarves and am utterly obsessed.

it can be expensive but you can hunt down bargains online or in the bargain bins in shops.

I've been knitting for 40 years (ULPPPPPP!!!) since my gran taught me. Like a lot of things it gets easier with practice, I can do it watching the tv etc. I love knitting things for my boys and the more intricate and complicated aran patterns the better. I would say that my knitting habit is bloody expensive but thats because I won't knit in acrylic yarn. Worth it for the finished item though. I get wool from ebay, people often selling amounts of very good quality stuff that are enough for a child.
Wool from Wilkinsons, er no thanks. The higher % wool content the better, and most of Wilkinsons or our local market stuff is 100% acrylic.
I used to be on the next mat at Yoga classes to a lady who ran a stitchnbitch. She has her own website with patterns and info and blog on at here and also sells a dvd of knitting instruction which I have seen and is much better than trying to learn from stills in a book.

It is expensive because I think most knitters are in it for the yarn - there are fabulous yarn shops around and I have tried to like cheaper yarn but I don't. For a year my local shop was one of the cheaper varieties and I kept trying to get things from there for projects but if I asked for pure cotton they used to look at me like I had two heads and then try and sell me some acrylic anyway.

Having said that, there is a company called Stylecraft and they are v cheap, and do a couple of yarns that look ok in a basic sort of way. I am not a fan of Wendy wools; Patons do some really nice ones; Sirdar can be ok but I have found them a bit of a pain to knit with.

The more susceptible-to-yarn-porn among us (me and tamum, definitely) love Noro and Rowan and pure silks and American ones you have to send off for. £££. I am not allowing myself to buy anything this year, it's getting ridiculous.

Was that Colinette, Vacua?

prism are you thingy (not sureif you are namechanging for some dark and mysterious reason)?

rowan wool is lovely lovely but way too expensive.