I was just skimming through your knitting tag out of curiosity bc I've always wanted to learn, and now I have the irresistible urge to pick up knitting. Problem: I have absolutely no clue anything about knitting. Like. Not even the slightest. WHAT DO. I WANT TO JOIN THE KNITTING CLUB. WHERE AND HOW DO I START.
Hey! Welcome to the club! Settle in because knitting is a Thing I Like To Explain and it can get Intense.
So to start ANY knitting, you’re going to need to know three things:
How to knit a knit stitch; and
How to cast off/bind off (they mean the same thing).
The best way to learn how to do this, IMO, is to knit a scarf. Scarves are easy because you don’t need any fancy techniques, you can make them out of any material, it teaches you the above three basic things, you have to practice the same stitch over and over again because scarves are long, and at the end of it you have a scarf. (If you don’t have the patience for a scarf, you can do a potholder.)
There are three kinds of needles: straight (them’s your classic needles), circular (basically two needles but held together with a plastic cord), and double pointed (they’re pointed on each end instead of having a point and a little bulby thing). Fuck the latter two, we don’t care about them. You’re going to learn on straight needles.
Go out and get yourself decently cheap yarn. This is not the time to get, like, some alpaca cashmere blend. You also want to get yourself a set of needles. I first learned how to knit a scarf using size 10 straight needles and Lion Brand Hometown USA yarn. I like that pairing of yarn and size because it means the scarf gets done quicker and everything is bigger (therefore easier to see). I would get a couple of balls of the same color in case of accidents or if you just want a long scarf. You might also want a needle with a huge eye (they’re usually sold as tapestry or darning needles), a pair of scissors, and maybe a crochet hook for emergencies.
I don’t know if you prefer reading or watching your tutorials. I tend to favor a mix. So:
Casting on (i.e. putting the stitches on the needle): reading tutorial and video tutorial. (This is just one way to cast on, but I like it better than other methods)
Knitting a knit stitch (i.e. the thing you’re going to be doing a lot of): reading tutorial and video tutorial.
Binding off (i.e. finishing the damn thing): reading tutorial and video tutorial.
I am linking you to tutorials for English style knitting. There’s such a thing as Continental style knitting but I don’t know how the fuck it works and therefore I cannot explain it.
So. Get your needles. Cast on like 12 stitches, or however many stitches across as you think good for a thing that goes around your neck. Practice the knit stitch, going back and forth, until you reach the end of the ball (here’s how to add a new ball of yarn and/or a new color if you want to be really daring and try stripes). Doing only knit stitches is called garter stitch. Once it’s long enough for you, bind off.
It will look wonky! It may meander, or be wider in some parts and thinner in others! This is unimportant. It’s a scarf. If you get a hole while knitting, you probably dropped a stitch (here’s how to fix it) or accidentally added a stitch with yarn-over (in which case you will probably need to frog).
You’ll notice I’m not explaining purling. You can move on to purling after you’ve made a scarf. You will do this by making another scarf, this time all purls instead of all knits. This is also garter stitch! Here’s how to purl: reading tutorial and video tutorial.
After this, every single pattern is going to be a mix of knit and purl stitches. A fancy thing like lace or cabling might need some special technique, but the base is always knitting and purling and anyway you can google the fancy stuff.
And before I end, some common knitting phrases:
A row is one line of stitches. So if you start with the first stitch in the row and go to the end, that’s one row.
When a pattern says something like K1, that means “knit one stitch.” K3P3 means “knit three stitches, then purl three stitches.”
Knitting one row and then purling a row is called stockinette stitch.
Going knit-purl, knit-purl is called 1x1 rib. K2P2 is 2x2 rib, etc.
M1 means “make one stitch.” You’re not there yet, but it basically means adding a stitch, so if you started with 10 stitches cast on, now you have 11.
YO means yarn-over. It’s a way of making a new stitch that adds a hole.
I hope this helps. If any of this is confusing, feel free to PM me.
