I love sharing educational information about knitting with you all. Sometimes I write it, and sometimes I find good posts from other people to share. This time it’s sharing a post that gets really deep into what is happening when you make a stitch and how yarn turns into knitting. This basic understanding of what a stitch is (that it’s just a piece of yarn, and how we manipulate it determines if it makes a knit or a purl) helps you understand that knit and purl are just the front and back of the same stitch.
You’ll want to read the whole post over at 10 Rows a Day, but I think it’s really important for new knitters (and others who might not have learned this when they were newer knitters) to understand what the stitches look like and how they’re made.
We call it “reading” your knitting, and it’s essential for noticing and knowing how to fix mistakes. It also helps you when your knitting pattern says something like “knit the knits and purl the purls as you see them.” If you don’t know what you’re looking for (or what you’re seeing) then you can’t follow this instruction.
Also once you intellectually understand that each stitch is a little piece of yarn, it feels a little less daunting to fixed a dropped stitch or another mistake in your knitting. And honestly, once you have the power and the confidence to fix mistakes — even if you have to rip out your work to do it — that’s when you start to gain the confidence to try new things, whether a new to you technique or a garment you’ve never knit before.
What helped you gain confidence or a deeper understanding of knitting when you were getting started? Have a tip you wish you knew when you were getting started? Let’s talk about it!
[Photo: 10 Rows a Day]
