Today I’m sharing a fun post from newer knitter Heather Jones full of great tips for newer knitters. I hope you enjoy it!
You could say that I was jumping on the “knitting is trendy again” bandwagon when I decided to pick up knitting needles. My grandmother and mother had taught me the basic knit stitch when I was tiny, but I only seemed to knit a never-ending and mistake-ridden scarf! However, older and (hopefully) wiser, I seem to have caught the knitting bug!
Armed with a few Knit & Stitch magazines pinched from my mum (useful for the stitch explanation section), I actually started pretty ambitiously with a headband knit on, wait for it, DPNs (double-pointed knitting needles). The reason for this is that I still didn’t know how to do a purl stitch and I was just so fed up of scarves! Although DPNs were probably a little beyond my capabilities at the start when it felt as though I had too many thumbs, I chose chunky wool in a bright cheerful colour, which meant that 1. I got to use reassuringly large needles, 2. It would knit up more quickly, and 3. At least the colour would still look nice and hopefully cover up any mistakes I would inevitably make!
Although tiny and not quite perfect (the cast off edge was a bit tight and it doesn’t lie flat), it was everything I could wish for; I’d practiced my knit stitch, re-learnt how to cast on and off and was pleased to be told that I was a neat knitter. Who knew?!
From this simple headband, I dived heard first into knitting and haven’t looked back. From my own experiences in the last year, here are my top tips as a beginner knitter to other beginner knitters.
Think Big
I know that fine knits are gorgeous and timeless, but I’ve found that I can get quite disheartened when something I’m working on hardly seems to grow. So since chunky knits are super trendy too, I totally embrace big wool. It knits up fast so you won’t get bored with your WIP (work in progress), is super cosy and has such a lovely texture to it.
Be Adventurous
They say “fortune favours the brave,” and I’ve found that while it doesn’t always work out knitting wise, you at least have fun and learn from your mistakes. As I said above, I’m not a fan of knitting scarves, but I love making other accessories like chunky bobble hats and fingerless mittens.
Not only are they a bit more interesting I think, but they teach you how to do valuable skills like pompoms(!), sewing up, DPNs, ribbing and decreasing/increasing. All in a nice small package, too.
Keep Help Handy
I’m lucky as my lovely and talented mum is not too far away if I find myself in a tangled knot with my knitting, as so often happens. Somehow she can see exactly what I’ve done and how to fix it and has salvaged many a piece that I would have otherwise abandoned in despair. If you don’t have a willing family member or friend with knitting skills available to you, then you can always join a local knitting group, which is a lovely way to meet new people too, or become friendly with an independent knitting shop. I’ve always found them really helpful for not only wool and tension advice, but also for solving some mistakes.
So if like me you are pretty new to knitting, then I hope that you love it as much as I do! And I would love to hear about your projects and tips too in the comments section!
