I come from a family of knitters. I am told my grandmother
was a wonderful knitter. When I was a child, she made beautifully over-sized Christmas stockings for my sister, brother and I, as well as a bunch of my
cousins, all customized in holiday colors with our names. I always loved taking
those stockings out of the box each year and admiring her handiwork. Perhaps
that's where my inspiration to become a knitter someday began.
It wasn't until I was in my late twenties that I gave the
craft thought again. I had just gotten engaged, moved to a new area, and
suddenly found myself lacking the social life and activities I had back
home. I found myself laying around and
watching mindless television more often than I ever had in my life, and I
started to feel lazy and restless. As winter time rolled around, I knew
something had to change.
I was walking downtown one day when my local yarn shop storefront caught my eye. The front windows had many handcrafted items on display, and I saw that they also held classes. That’s when it clicked for me, I could try knitting. The thought excited me, and I went home, went on my LYS website and enrolled in the next upcoming beginner knitting class. For the next three consecutive weekends, I learned the basics of casting on, knit and purl, and binding off. While I enjoyed learning, the craft didn't come easily for me right away. Knitting consists of learning how to hold needles, and yarn at the same time, as well as attempting to knit or purl the stitches, and it can be really awkward at first trying to juggle that combination! I found the key is persistence, and I had to practice holding needles, making stitches, casting on and binding off each day that I wasn’t in class, even just knitting a tiny swatch, so I wouldn't forget – binding/casting off is especially easy to forget if you don’t do it often!
I was walking downtown one day when my local yarn shop storefront caught my eye. The front windows had many handcrafted items on display, and I saw that they also held classes. That’s when it clicked for me, I could try knitting. The thought excited me, and I went home, went on my LYS website and enrolled in the next upcoming beginner knitting class. For the next three consecutive weekends, I learned the basics of casting on, knit and purl, and binding off. While I enjoyed learning, the craft didn't come easily for me right away. Knitting consists of learning how to hold needles, and yarn at the same time, as well as attempting to knit or purl the stitches, and it can be really awkward at first trying to juggle that combination! I found the key is persistence, and I had to practice holding needles, making stitches, casting on and binding off each day that I wasn’t in class, even just knitting a tiny swatch, so I wouldn't forget – binding/casting off is especially easy to forget if you don’t do it often!
By the way, at first my knitting was filled with dropped
stitches/ holes. It’s totally normal, but was really frustrating for me, as I
tend to be sort of a perfectionist and just wanted to rip out and start again!
But the best advice my instructor gave to me was “just keep going” you’ll get
it.
And keep going I did – I felt confident enough with what I had learned by the third week of class to start my first pattern, which was this little pink hat pictured below:
And keep going I did – I felt confident enough with what I had learned by the third week of class to start my first pattern, which was this little pink hat pictured below:
After I finished knitting this hat, having mastered the basics,
I was ready to tackle something more difficult, and that’s when I really
started knitting.
From there, I started absorbing the meaning of patterns; different stitches. My LYS offers classes for knitting help on Tuesday nights, and I went to a couple of those in the beginning, but most of what I know has been self-taught through YouTube videos and online tutorials. I encourage new knitters to take advantage of these resources, as the information you can find is endless. Personally, it helped me to take a class and physically work with an instructor in the beginning and I would recommend that. Then, you can supplement your knowledge with what is out there on the Internet. I have listed a bunch of sites that I find helpful in the resource section of my site.
Happy knitting! I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about me and how I got started. Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have at andrea@azknitz.com!
From there, I started absorbing the meaning of patterns; different stitches. My LYS offers classes for knitting help on Tuesday nights, and I went to a couple of those in the beginning, but most of what I know has been self-taught through YouTube videos and online tutorials. I encourage new knitters to take advantage of these resources, as the information you can find is endless. Personally, it helped me to take a class and physically work with an instructor in the beginning and I would recommend that. Then, you can supplement your knowledge with what is out there on the Internet. I have listed a bunch of sites that I find helpful in the resource section of my site.
Happy knitting! I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about me and how I got started. Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have at andrea@azknitz.com!
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