Kickstart your knitting journey
Knitting is the best hobby, if you ask me (who runs a whole blog about it 🙃). Many of my non-knitting friends have asked me for pattern suggestions for a first or maybe second project, and I always say: start with something that excites you! If a dish cloth or plain scarf does not speak to your heart, make something else - even if it is supposedly more difficult.
Truth be told, knitting is not the easiest to pick up - which I learned when I tried to teach a beginners class at the end of last year. So, having a project, where you feel the spark or which you can see yourself using at the end, will make such a difference in the process.
There will come a time when it feels like it is a never-ending process and like you are making no progress at all. I have found that excitement for a project can help with persevering. And let’s be real… which dish cloth ever sparked any type of joy?
“People limit themselves because of fear and they shouldn’t. At the end, it’s just a knit and purl stitch. Just go for it!”
Read the interview with Jimmy Does Knitting here.
Here are my top tips for a beginner knitter!
The bigger the yarn, the quicker the project will grow.
And the quicker you will see progress. Find a pattern for bulky, sport or even DK weight yarn. I promise you that watching your piece grow row by row will give satisfaction and that feeling of “Only one more row”, which seasoned knitters know all too well, will kick in.
Choose a project with simple stitches.
For beginners, it is essential to repeat the same stitch over and over and over again, so that the movement really gets into your muscle memory. A project with only knit stitches, for example, will really help to solidify this.
Avoid complex shaping, cables and colour work.
I would argue those are all slightly advanced techniques and may make a first or second project too daunting, leaving it more prone to be cast aside. Instead, if you are looking for multiple colours, consider colourblocking or using a colourful yarn (handdyed or self-striping, for example). A good trick, I find, is using a simple stitch pattern but colourful yarn.
Casting on is probably the hardest part.
But I promise once you get going, you will fall in love with the repetitive nature of knitting, stitch after stitch, while watching your piece grow, row by row. However, casting on is fiddly and may take out all the fun before the actual knitting even starts. Look for the long-tail cast on method online, which brings me to…
The school of YouTube will always come to the rescue.
If you don’t have a kind friend, family member or colleague to teach you in real life, there are so many of them on YouTube ready to show you every single technique you could ever dream of. Follow these tutorials in your own time, take it step by step and rewind as often as needed. (Sometimes, I find it useful to find another YouTuber to show me the same thing in a different language or just in their personal way before it actually clicks. So, no harm in trying out a few!)
Don’t expect perfection.
Talking to my perfectionists out there, but when learning something new cut yourself some slack. Accept that it is unlikely that you will produce something without mistakes from the get-go. Instead, be kind to yourself. Find joy in the (learning) process and individuality when you discover a hole or two. I personally like to tell people those were (unintentional) design choices! ;)
“Don’t make yourself small. Be bold and see where it leads you!”