Learn to Knit!

I love teaching people how to knit. I love knitting myself--besides writing, it's one of the few creative things that I do, so I love empowering others to create as well.

I find that quite often, when I have the opportunity to teach knitting, I am overwhelmed with the task of instructing people on what materials to be prepared with. My hope is that from now until forever, I'll be able to refer them to this blog post.

Yarn: My recommendation is to buy something fairly heavy in a simple texture and color. When beginners buy yarn that has very complicated textures or colors, it enables mistakes. It also hides mistakes, but then you can't learn from them. Very thin or fragile yarn can also be discouraging to new knitters because of breaking and/or the impression of very very slow progress.

I recommend 2 skeins (balls), to ensure that you will have enough for your beginner's scarf. If you want blocks/stripes, buy two skeins of the same style of yarn in two different colors. I don't recommend anything more ambitious than that for any one's first project.

Needles: On the back of nearly every skein of yarn that is commercially available is a symbolic code. Pick out some thick, plain yarn that you can live with, then look on the label for the crossed knitting needles, and the "U.S. #n." I recommend anything larger than an 8, but preferably 10, 10.5 or 11.

I also recommend circular needles (connected with a flexible cable) in the 16" range. If you really really want to use the long straight ones, go ahead and buy them, but if you ever become a habitual knitter, I guarantee that you'll end up replacing them with circulars.

Other Stuff: Scissors, a tapestry needle, and a bag to keep it all together will all get together to make your life a better place. If you're really serious, I also recommend a small journal to keep track of patterns, changes, ideas, and plans.

Questions? Leave a comment and I'll get back to you asap!