Guide for New Knitters: Step Two

Step 1: Original post if you’ve never even picked up a pair of needles before

Interested in taking up knitting? I definitely recommend it to keep your hands busy, even if it’s just something small you create while you’re winding down your day or binge watching your favorite show. In my first post in this series, Advice for the Newbie Knitter, I recommended my favorite yarn for beginners and favorite type of knitting needles plus my favorite tutorials for your first two projects (a scarf then a hat).

So what comes next? For me, it was making a bunch of other beanies because hats were something I could see myself wearing in the wintertime and they were manageable to make (a couple of days for me as a new knitter probably). But you need to decide for yourself what is your favorite item to knit or what would you ideally like to knit? What is going to keep your interest? If you’re not sure, pull from this list:

What to knit for your next project?

Scarves or cowls
- There are tons of simple scarf patterns and they’re very repetitive so I sometimes get bored, but they are great for beginners because of the duplicative processes. These are great especially if you were scarves or want to gift it to someone you does, but keep in mind these will probably take awhile to complete, at least a week.
Beanies
- Relatively quick project, could finish in one day. But do you wear hats? If not, maybe skip this one because I find more motivation in the fact that I will use the finished object.
Blanket
- This is a huge project that will take a VERY long time. You could start with a baby blanket. On the plus side, though, it would be repetitive and you could practice the simplest of stitches.
Pillow
- Another home item with is a great addition to your couch. There are definitely intricate pillow patterns out there, but simple patterns also exist as well and you can see your handiwork every day once it’s complete.

The basic stitches

It takes awhile to read your stitches so start with the simplest patterns. Really, every knitting pattern at the basic level is just a combination of knit and purl stitches. If you’ve already knit a hat more than likely the brim of your hat includes both knit and purl stitches. Take a look at the below graphic I made (this is the hat I recommend to make in step one of the Advice for the Newbie Knitter series)

Knit stitches produce a “v“ effect and a purl stitch produces a “bump.“ When it comes to reading your stitches while you are working on your project, the analogy that clicked with me was that a knit stitch looks like a scarf wrapped around its neck, while a purl stitch looks like a scarf choking you. If that doesn’t make any sense, don’t worry, it takes awhile to fully understand. Take a look at the video below by VeryPinkKnits that will hopefully help you understand what a knit stitch will look like and what a purl stitch will look like while you’re in the middle of your project. Side note: VeryPink Knits is an EXCELLENT resource for learning knitting basics, I definitely recommend her videos.

Yarn and needles

If you only purchased one pair of needles or you don’t have the required needles sizes for your new projects, I’d recommend purchasing some cheapies from Amazon while you’re still getting the hang of things. (I now have an interchangeable needle set, but started with the most affordable on Amazon).

Needles: 16 in circular needles and/or 40 in circular needles

The size needled you need depends on which project you pick, but these sets are cheap and will give you almost every needle size you could need. These needles WILL eventually break, but for me, they were cheap enough to make sense while I was still learning.

Also, stick with bulky or super bulky yarn for these projects. I find these weights so much more manageable and quicker to finish projects in than smaller weights of yarn.

Yarn: The weight of yarn you need will depend on on which project and pattern you choose to knit next, but my go-to at the beginner for super bulky weight yarn, was Lionbrand Woolease Thick and Quick and for bulky yarn, I used a ton of Loops and Threads Charisma.

Knitting patterns

Also how do you find knitting patterns, you ask? I started with Google and AllFreeKnitting because I didn’t want to pay for any patterns, especially as I was starting out. There are tons of simple and free beginner patters online, I don’t think there’s a need to purchase any just yet. Also I shied away from Ravelry at the beginning because it seemed like too much work to just set up an email and password for some reason (what was I thinking?) but that’s truly all you have to do and once you sign in, you now have a directory for thousands of knitting pattern sat your disposal. I’ll get into Ravelry and the resource that it is in the next step/post of this series, but if you want to check it out, it is a wonderful avenue to explore if you’re very interested in taking the next step.

I’ll link to some of the simplest patterns in each category I listed at the top of the article for you:

Hats and beanies: This list includes a great line-up of beginner hats and beanies

Assortment of beginner patterns: This list includes 23 easy knitting patterns. I recommend knitting one of the scarves, blankets or the pillow. This list does include some more adventurous options like a cardigan and pullover and if you feel you’re ready, go for it!

Hopefully this round-up was helpful for you and please feel free to comment or each out to me if you need any help!