Trying Knitting for the First Time – Look at My Nasty Beginner Creations!

Knitting was always something that I wanted to learn, but never had the time to actually try. The idea of creating fuzzy sweaters, cute bonnets and scarves from balls of yarn? Imagine having that skill to DIY an entire winter outfit! Yes, it’s probably gonna take hours of work, but won’t it be worth it knowing you did it all on your own?

Knitting is a technique where you manipulate yarn to make fabric. Using your knitting needles, you can make consecutive pattern of knots or stiches with your yarn until you create for example, a scarf or even an whole blanket! The limit is endless and the more ambitious your project is, the more time and focus you have dedicate to it.

I Needed a New Hobby and an Outlet to Relax My Brain

Aside for my passion of trying new things, I also needed to find a new hobby where I can slow down and let my brain chill out. With so many things going on in my life right now and a million more things I wanna do, my everyday can get quite chaotic. I needed some dedicated time away from doing work every week. But, what exactly do I do? Yes, I can set in some time every weekend to lie in bed and just do nothing, but that only either makes me restless or super bummed about life. That’s when I thought Knitting would be perfect for me!

With knitting, you are forced to settle in and work for literally hours just to knit rows upon rows of stiches or patterns. There’s no need to think too much because you’re just repeating the same motions over and over again. I also like how there is observable progress with every minute you put into your work. You’re never wasting time at all, but rather you’re taking the time to make each of those individual stiches. And trust me, when I say each those stiches or knots matter!

You Only Need 3 items to Get Started

Knitting is super easy and you don’t need a lot of materials at all if you want to learn how to knit. Basically, what you’ll need are just three things: a ball of yarn, knitting needles and a pair of scissors. If you don’t have knitting needles, you can actually start with chopsticks.

Once you wanna attempt bigger projects, you can invest in crochet needles, knitting needles and yarns of different sizes.

I got too excited about the idea of starting to knit that I kind of ordered an entire store’s worth of knitting supplies. I don’t even know how to use the other things I bought. Haha.

Learning How to Knit for Beginners

I would be lying if I told you I learned how to knit from the get go. It took about two hours for me to learn how to knit correctly after watching and replaying various Youtube tutorials. Once you get the technique down though, you just need to keep practicing and practicing. That’s how you get better and faster.

To start a project, you have to make a slip knot with your yarn first. Put your slip knot on the needle and then cast on your first stiches, depending on how wide you want your project to be. Then, you knit the rows by passing each stitch from one needle to the other. Your project will grow longer when you add more and more rows of stiches. After that, you can cast off to remove your project from your knitting needles. For beginners, there’re two types of stiches you need to learn: the Knit stitch and the Purl stitch.

I was finally able to get the techniques down when I found these tutorial videos by RJ Knits. Such a life savior!

Take a Look at My Nasty Creations!

Here are some of my initial projects when I started teaching myself how to knit. They’re not perfect and for some reason, I created such weird triangular shapes. If you mess up stiches in the middle of your work, you also create these big holes.

This is my first attempt at the Knitting. Also, it’s important to know that the size of the knitting needles will determine the space between your rows. The size of your yarn also matters. For beginners, the bulkier the yarn, the better.

Below is my second attempt, I tried Purling this time. I used more tension to tighten the stiches together. I kept it short. It has even sides, no mistakes and was casted off the needles perfectly!

My latest completed project is this one. I’m not really sure what it is. Originally, it was supposed to be a scarf, but I casted on too many stitches, unintentionally making it wider than I wanted. It’s also too short to be a blanket so I’m settling for a shawl of some sort. I already used 3 whole balls of yarn and you can also see that I made a couple of bit errors in my knots.

And that’s kind of the frustrating part about it. You can dedicate so much time on the project, but you can make a single mistake and it could ruin the whole thing. I also suggest looking for actual knitting patterns in Pinterest or online if you really want to make a certain project in mind.

Right now, I’m currently working on a tightly knitted scarf. I feel like I need to practice more of the basics before I attempt more advance knitting techniques and projects like bonnets and sweaters. I can’t make big mistakes anymore!

Knitting is Super Addicting!

Now, I try to knit whenever I can. I do it when I’m listening to podcasts or intentionally watching boring movies or shows in Netflix. I also do it when I need to focus on something so my mind won’t wander off to unwanted places at times. Hahaha. But yeah, knitting is proving to be good for my mental health and relaxation. I recommend you guys to try it too. It’s super easy and a great new skill to impress your friends with. You can even knit them crafty gifts for Christmas. I mean Knitting is an actual labor of love so they better appreciate it! Won’t that be extra special?

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