The coldest of the cold months are just around the corner and like most things about winter, it’s the best time to cosy up under some warm blankets while we make the most of the extended effects of COVID-19. By this time, you may have run out of books to read (by books we mean Netflix series), taking a break from online purchases, or just bored out of your mind. Fortunately, if you’re taking a cue from the weather it might be a good time to learn or re-learn something perfect for the season – knitting. Yes, the thing that is type cast as something old ladies do but can also be both useful and enjoyable.

Why knitting?

It’s so easy to buy comfortable warmer today with online commerce, but the old art of making your own garments is not lost. In these uncertain and stressful times, it’s not a bad idea to find something to help you centre yourself and calm your mind. The advantages of knitting range from being one of the most practical skills you can learn to something that keeps your mind sharp and focused.

Getting Started

If you already know how to knit properly, chances are you’ve already experienced a few of its benefits, but if you don’t then this is a good place to start. You’ll begin with the materials and the basic skills you need to learn at first then once you master them you’re off to make your first crafts. Here’s what you need:

Materials

First off, you’ll need materials for knitting. For starters, you’ll need yarn and needles and as a beginner, you might want to start with thick yarn and needles. Socks are one of the most favoured wear to knit during winter so procuring your favourite sock yarn and its respective needle size will be your first haul. However, if you prefer to make scarfs with thick yarn or tightly-knitted hats, you can get the right type of yarn and needle to get the job done.

You don’t have to purchase expensive materials on the get-go, it’ll be much easier to make mistakes on acrylic yarns than on the artisan type. Also, as mentioned, thick or “worsted” yarns are easier to knit than fine ones so you’ll want to consider that as well. For the needles, you can use plastic or bamboo depending on what you want. Again, for the size, you’ll have to get the recommended sizes indicated on the yarn label. Going off too much from the recommendation can make your knitting too tight.

Basic Stitches

There are a lot of types of stitches or knitting even for beginners, but to make it simple, you can start with the commonly used stitches. Mastering them allows you to progress easily to other types and advance to more complicated ones.

Cast On

Casting on is the first step in knitting which means putting the yarn into the needle. There are different types of casting and you can learn about them from other sources if you want. It is at this stage that certain dimensions of your knits are determined so it’s important that you understand the importance of this stage.

You can start by making a slipknot and wrap it tightly on one needle. Then grab the yarn connected to the ball and hook it around your thumb. As it is firmly hooked, use your needle to create a loop, slide the tip under it, and into your loop.

Hold the needle along with the yarn connected to the ball and wrap the yarn around the needle from the back. Pull your thumb gently away from the needle to increase the size of the loop and put it over the needle. Tighten the loop by pulling the free yarn and do the process again starting after connecting the slipknot.

Knit Stitch

This is the most basic type of stitching and the easiest one to learn. After you’ve made the stitches on one of your needles, you transfer that needle to your non-dominant hand (let’s say it’s your left hand) and take your other needle with your right hand.

Push the second needle from the bottom through the first stitch and wrap it with the yarn from the ball. Pull that same needle gently out from the wrap while picking the yarn of the new loop and push into it making a new stitch.

Then pull the right needle from the left one along with the new stitch. You can use the free yarn connected to the ball to tighten the stitch on the second needle.

Do the process again until you’ve moved all of the stitches from the left needle.

Now it’s time for you to actually do what you learned from here and start off with some of the simplest winter wear like a sock or a scarf. Don’t expect your first output to be perfect, but the goal is to be kind to yourself and try to be better at it.