adventures in knitting: a crocheter learns to knit
I have always wanted to learn to knit but I have always been so intimidated. I tried once when I was 13 or 14 and I quickly gave up because I felt extremely overwhelmed. Since that experience, I haven’t tried to knit again because I was nervous all of those overwhelmed feelings would return with full force.
Almost 10 years later, I finally feel confident enough to try again and take you all along for the ride as I navigate through the world of knitting!
A little back story:
When I was a kid I lived next to an elderly lady named Julia that loved to crochet and bake. She constantly brought us lots of baked good and crocheted items. Every time my mom, sister and I went to visit her, she was sitting in her floral recliner crocheting while watching the soaps. My mom would sit and speak with her while my sister and I played throughout her home. Every time I looked over at Julia and my mom, Julia was always crocheting
It wasn’t until I was older that I noticed how much work went into all of the lovely items she gave us. After this realization, I no longer played and ran around her home instead I would sit with my mom and watch Julia crochet. One day I worked up the nerve to ask if she would teach me to crochet (I didn’t need to be nervous, she was the sweetest woman, however I was a very shy kid). She was thrilled! She gave me my first crochet hook, skein of yarn and recommended some crochet books to help me.
That began the obsession and I have been crocheting ever since! I started Crochet with Kathryn in 2022 and almost a year in, I have learned more about crocheting in a single year than I have in the last decade. With my newfound confidence and knowledge, I feel ready to venture into knitting!
I am thrilled to begin this journey and I hope some of you will join me!
First things first, getting the supplies...
Needles. I need knitting needles.
After watching many YouTube videos on knitting supplies online, I found that detachable knitting needles in the round are the way to go because of their versatility; plus I won’t have to continue to buy needles of the same size with different length cords attached for future projects. Many videos I watched said that anything you want to knit can be done so with needles in the round, whether you want to make something in the round or not.
I found the knitting set I wanted on Amazon, complete with several different sizes in needles and cords plus a case!
I started my crochet journey with aluminum hooks, why not also begin my knitting journey with aluminum needles? I still have my original set of hooks a decade later and I anticipate having these needles just as long.
The link to this exact set is here.
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First Impressions
I couldn’t wait to jump into it so I grabbed some worsted weight yarn from my stash, watched a couple of YouTube tutorials by NimbleNeedles, and I started a couple of test swatches.
First up was the knit stitch, as seen on the left. I made a swatch of 25 x 25 with only a few mistakes and dropped stitches. I also had a very long tail from casting on. I’m still not entirely sure how much of a tail to leave so that is something I will have to work on. For my first time knitting, I think I did pretty well!
The hand positioning and pulling the yarn through with knitting needles is far different from that of crochet so it was very difficult to maneuver at first. Holding the needles in both hands felt very unnatural to me but as I worked through the rows, it started to feel less uncomfortable. The knit stitch swatch took me far longer than I care to admit but hopefully with some practice the speed will come.
Because of the way I crochet, I found that I liked to “pick” the yarn while knitting vs “throwing” the yarn because that is most similar to what I do crocheting. Picking the yarn is when you grab the yarn with your needle and pull the yarn through the stitch. Throwing the yarn is when you place the yarn around the needle and then pull it through the stitch
Knitters, please tell me if this is incorrect so I can correct myself and learn 🙂
Front of 1st swatch
Close up
Back of 1st swatch
Purling
Once I finished my knit stitch swatch I was very eager to move onto something more complicated even though my first attempt wasn’t exactly the best… what can I say? I’m impatient.
At first, I thought purling all of the rows of my second swatch that I would end up with the classic “v” stitch I think of when I think of knitting. Well I was wrong, and because I didn’t watch the entire video on continental knitting it took me too long and LOTS of confusion to correctly identify that in order the achieve the continental knit look, I would have to alternate between purling and the knit stitch unless you are knitting in the round.
I won’t be forgetting that anytime soon!
Front of 2nd swatch
Close up
Back of 2nd swatch
As you can see, there is a clear progression of my work; the confusion of why my only purled rows looked just like if I was only doing the knit stitch, figuring out continental knitting, then back to confusion.
Amist all of the confusion, I looked up a cheat sheet that told me where and how to insert my yarn in both purling and doing the knit stitch. Immediately, my test swatch was looking promising! I realized I was inserting the needles and pulling the yarn through the incorrect part of the stitch aka I was inserting RIGHT TO LEFT instead of the correct LEFT TO RIGHT.
If you are new to knitting I highly recommend having a guide you can refer to when you are still learning. There are tons of cheat sheets out there! I used the “Knit vs Purl – the difference between these basic stitches…” by NimbleNeedles. It was very helpful!
The Third (and Final) Test Swatch
After so much trial and error, I didn’t want to continue on the second swatch because I wanted to see my progression on a new swatch and in new colors. Also, looking at my past mistakes made me cringe.
With a blank slate, I got to work and carefully worked on each row, referring to my guide along the way. Finally, I feel like I have gotten the hang of continental knitting! After successfully completing many rows, frogging and redoing rows, I decided it was time to move on again and learn how to do ribbing. To do ribbing in knitting, all you have to do is alternate between the knit and purl stitch. The knit stitch is raised and the purl stitch is sunken in, creating that ribbing effect.
Front of 3rd swatch
Back of 3rd swatch
All swatches
I feel ready to tackle my first ever project! I love the way the rainbow variegated yarn looks and it is screaming to be a sweater. Even though it is ill advised, I want my first project to be a sweater! Most videos I have seen and blogs I have read all advise the first project to be something simple like a scarf and with chunky yarn but I think I’m going to dive straight into the deep end
Avoiding my Mistakes
My first piece of advice is to WATCH THE ENTIRETY OF A TUTORIAL. If I would have done this, I could have saved myself time and loads of frustration. I am an impatient person and expect myself to pick things up with ease so when that does not happen, I get frustrated. This is why I gave up knitting the first time I attempted to learn so many years ago. I am still working on treating myself with compassion and understanding, and will continue to do so for a long time I assume.
A perfect lead into my second piece of advice: give yourself grace! You cannot expect to be amazing at something the very first time you try it! It is okay to make mistakes and be imperfect. I constantly have to remind myself that I learn more from mistakes than I do when I get something right the first time. I will never forget that I was inserting my needles incorrectly when knitting and I know I will never make that mistake again because of it.
Things I still need to work on
After hours on knitting, there are still a couple of things that I need to work on:
– Tension
– Hand placement
– Learning to fix dropped stitches
– Speed
Final Thoughts
My confidence has sky rocketed because I completed something that before had overwhelmed and defeated me. Will I be continuing my knitting journey? Absolutely! I feel like a more complete fiber artist now that I have added knitting to my skill set, all be it knitting poorly but knitting none the less! I always felt like I wasn’t really a fiber artist because I couldn’t knit; I felt insecure about that gap in my resume. It feels incredible to finally be able to say I learned to knit and actually enjoy it!
With practice, I believe it could be a fun side hobby to continue as I focus on crochet. Don’t worry! I will still be designing crochet patterns!
I am looking forward to my first knitting project! I enjoyed documenting my knitting process and plan to do so with my first project as well! It is decided, I am making a sweater with the variegated yarn! It is going to be beautiful and I hope you will join me as I navigate and hone my knitting skills!
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