Teaching and training is my passion…

Throughout my life I have enjoyed teaching people many different things. Sometimes I get to teach people how to enjoy things in the great outdoors of Colorado such as hunting, flyfishing and backpacking. Other times it’s a craft I am passing on to friends or family like knitting or fly tying.

Most of my days are spent teaching and training staff in the funeral profession. Those topics are much different: grief, rights and rituals of funeral service, internalization of a loss etc.

While these types of activities are wildly different from one another they all have something in common. A foundation. Every skill you learn has a foundation or fundamentals that you must master in order to move on to the next level of your craft.

The old cliché about crawling before walking and walking before running is all too true in knitting as well.

That being said, this is hands on, real world learning. Knitting is something you learn by doing. Yes, it helps to understand the basic concepts and how it works but with knitting there is no better way to learn than to have your brain guide your clumsy hands through the motions.

In my experience, if you want to learn how to knit you should first get yourself the materials you need. Luckily, that is very simple. The reason I say get the materials first is because sometimes watching a video or learning from charts or photos can be intimidating and keep you from taking the next steps toward actually learning.

For the beginner I would recommend a thicker yarn and fatter needles. The basic yarn I recommend to first timers is Lion Brand Wool-Ease because it will hold up to the wear and tear you will put it through in this learning phase. I would pair this yarn with shorter bamboo needles in size 11 (if using US sizes) or 8mm (if using UK sizes) because they “grip” the yarn better than metal needles. If the yarn slides on your needles too easily the more likely they are to slip right off the end.

A couple days later…

So, your package has arrived with your yarn and needles. Time to go over the 4 things you MUST learn in order to brag to your friends and family that you know how to knit.

1) CAST ON:

Cast on is a knitting term you will see with every project. All this refers to is the act of creating the very first stiches for your project. This is the starting point. The number of stitches you cast on will generally determine how wide your project is or how big around, if knitting in a circle.

 

As you get deeper into knitting you will notice there are numerous ways to cast stitches onto your needle but for beginners, I prefer to teach the BACKWARDS LOOP cast on. As you progress and you master these basics you can start to learn the different methods and the proper times and patterns to use them.

2) KNIT STITCH:

Once you have the first stitches on the needle, it is time to start creating some length. Knitting is nothing more than a series of connected loops. After the first loops have been cast on to the needle, the next step is to start adding on more layers of loops.

Just like the cast on, the knit stitch can be performed in a few different ways. I can’t really say there is one way that is better than the other or even that one way is faster than another. Pick the method that feels most comfortable to you. My video here will teach you the way I teach beginners. I would recommend learning this first and once you have mastered it, begin experimenting with other techniques.

The great news is that nearly everything else you do in knitting is a variation of the knit stitch. Because this is the case, make sure you MASTER the knit stitch before moving on to more advanced techniques.

 

3) PURL STITCH:

Now that you have mastered the knit stitch it is time to move on to the purl stitch. The purl stitch is basically the knit stitch performed in reverse.

Once again, there are many ways to perform the purl stitch but learn a way that is comfortable to you and allows you to easily switch between knits and purls. This will make more sense once you progress to this point.

4) BIND OFF:

You have reached the end of your project. If you just pull the stitches off the needle your newly created layers of connected loops will simply unravel and fall apart. In order to preserve your hard work, you will need to know how to bind these stitches off.

Just like the previous 3 steps, guess what, there are MANY ways to bind off. My video here will show you what is probably the simplest way. Now, this bind off method is the ideal for every situation but for the beginner knitter it is perfect.

 

THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING

Now that you know about the first 4 fundamentals of knitting, its time to put them into practice. Like I said in the beginning, the only way to really learn how to knit is to KNIT! For some of you this will come easy and fast. For others of you it will be difficult and confusing. All I can say is don’t give up. This is a skill that will last a lifetime and that you will be able to pass onto others. For me it is a way to surprise my wife, kids, family and friends with meaningful gifts that they will cherish for years.