Helpful Tips For the Beginner Knitter

Knits and purls are the basics of knitting.  These two stitches alone can help you create some wonderful hats, scarves, washcloths, and other simple-to-knit items.

Lots of people begin knitting socks.  I have never knit a pair of socks in my life!  I may try to one day, but I began knitting by creating warm, winter scarves for myself.  

Doing knit and purl stitches back and forth across the short row of a scarf will help you see just how the stitches look when put together, or piled row upon row.  This is good practice for getting used to your needles and figuring how to hold the yarn comfortably.

I began knitting using straight needles, but circular needles can take their place.  If you want to save money, buy circular needles that can be used for either knitting in the round, or a back and forth project like a scarf.  

Before you can knit anything you must know how to get the yarn onto the needle.  This is called "casing on" or doing a "cast on".

There are many more ways of casting on than I ever knew about, but all you need for a simple item like a scarf, is the basic cast on.  I have also learned the "long-tail cast on" and have found it easy and fast.

On my blog, I have a page of video tutorials showing various ways to cast on.  Use either way to cast stitches onto your needles and then you can begin knitting and purling your scarf.

When you get to the end of your scarf, or dishcloth, you will have to stop knitting.  The stitches will need to be hooked together by the easy cast-off.

See the excellent video below to see how to bind off when finishing your project.

All you really need to begin knitting is a set of needles and some yarn.

Needles can be made of many types of material, the most popular being metal, plastic, or wood / bamboo.  Metal needles will be slippery compared to wood, so I suggest using wood for more control - stitches won't slide off the end of the needle as easily when you don't want them to!

Yarn comes in all sizes from very thin "lace" weight to super bulky.  I love the feel of the bulky "Rasta" yarn from Malabrigo.  I've made one hat and scarf set, and am making another scarf.  It may be a little too thick for beginners, but don't start off with a really thin yarn.

A "normal" yarn would be anything called "worsted weight", and that type of yarn is perfect to start with.  For knitting a scarf with worsted weight yarn, choose a needle size 6, 7 or 8.  Gauge is not important in a scarf, but often you will be told to "check your gauge" for other projects.  More on that at another time.  A long scarf will take about 3 skeins of yarn.  A hat will use 1 skein or less.

Find a free pattern to follow, whether a scarf or something else, which will tell you needle size, yarn type.  I have a section of free patterns saved on my Pinterest knitting board.

Choose a light color yarn because the stitches are easier to see.  Merino wool comes as machine washable or hand wash.  Unless you want to hand-wash your item, look for yarn that can easily be cleaned.  If you wash a wool item incorrectly, it can shrink up and "felt".  You don't want that to happen after all that hard work!

Once a project is begun, you will stop knitting at some point and put down the project.

When you go back again to continue, it can sometimes be difficult to remember how to hold the needles correctly and begin knitting again.  

This is something you may not think of until the time comes.  Which needle is held where?

On straight needles there isn't much of a problem because the right hand needle will be empty because you finished the row.  Pick it up and begin - the yarn will be coming off the left hand needle where the project is.  

However, if both needles have stitches on them, because you stopped mid-row, the needle with the yarn hanging off it will go in your right hand.

On circular needles, it's the same thing.  Even though the ends of the needles are attached by a cord, pretend they are not, and follow the advice above for straight needles.

When working in the round, the yarn will always be coming off the right hand needle.

This may not make sense until you accidentally begin knitting the wrong way and totally mess up your item... it has happened to me more than once!

Yarn is sold everywhere.  The local Walmart has cheap yarn, and craft stores will also carry all types of yarn.  If you live near a nice store, go there and pick out your yarn in person.  Salespeople can help answer questions too.

When you fist start out, don't spend a lot of money on yarn.  Buy something that will work for your project.  A simple dishcloth takes very little yarn, but it should be cotton, or a blend that is washable.  

If your first project is a scarf to wear in winter, find a warm wool yarn.  Merino wool is a favorite with knitters because it is not scratchy like regular wool can be.

I've been knitting long enough to know that I dislike acrylic yarn and will only use natural fiber yarns.  There are so many beautiful hand-dyed yarns to choose from I don't know why anyone chooses cheap man-made fiber.  

That is my preference.

Some of us don't live near a fun yarn store.  When I recently began some serious knitting, I had to scour the internet for good online yarn stores.  That link goes to my blog page where I list my 4 favorite places to buy nice yarn.  

As you get more experience, and branch out to make pretty items like shawls, sweaters, hats and mittens, it's worth spending a little extra money to have nice yarn to work with.  After all, much effort, time and love goes into knitting a special item.

So you have mastered casting on, knitting and purling, and binding off.  

I hope some of what I have included on this page has been helpful.

There is much more to come.  I am learning a lot about knitting myself, so we can learn together!

One of the first projects I tried was knitting a winter hat for myself.  Learning to knit in the round is not difficult.  In fact, it is easier in some ways.

Practice some new stitches and ways to combine stitches to create a pattern.  (Dishcloth knitting is a good way to do this. The Sugar' n Cream cotton yarn - shown above - is what I use for my dishcloths.  It's cheap, and a big spool contains lots of yarn.)