How to get started?

[cvcraven]

Hi there!
I know absolutely nothing about knitting but I want to learn. A friend sent me to this website. I've started watching the videos but I don't have any supplies to practice with yet.

What does a beginner truly need to get started?

I"ll make a run to Jo Ann's tomorrow to buy supplies but honestly I'm a little overwhelmed. LOL

[DorothyDot]

Okay, I'm going to be teaching a group come January, and here's what I've told them:

Get one skein of Worsted-weight 4-ply yarn that is not wool. Be sure to pick out your very-most favorite color.

Get a pair of size 7 or 8 knitting needles.

When we meet, I will have them learn how to cast on and how to do the knitting stitch. Then, once they can complete one row of knitting, I'll get them to frog it and cast on about 30 stitches. They will then do the knit stitch until a square is formed, then they'll learn how to bind off. Presto! One potholder/dishcloth. Goofs are allowed, perfection not required!

Then I'll blow their minds by... teaching them to purl. Then they'll cast on another 30 stitches and [you guessed it!] Purl until they have another square. For a potholder, they can sew the 2 squares together. Again, goofs allowed. Just gives their results more character, right?

Now it'll be the stockinette stitch: knit one row, purl one row. And then I'll let them pick out a simple pattern to do.

Gofer it! Knitting is not hard at all - just those 2 stitches: Knit and Purl. Get them down, and the World is Yours! [sorta]

Dot

[cdjack]

I learned how to knit using the book "Stitch N' Bitch". I had not discovered this site yet.
I'm a very visual learner so the book worked great for me (so do Amy's videos). However, I do know someone who tape recorded themselves reading the instructions on how to do the knit stitch and the purl stitch. She would listen to herself as she attempted the stitches. Sounds weird, but it worked for her.

[Jints]

When choosing your first yarn colours, I'd avoid black. Very dark colours are quite hard on the eyes and more difficult to see the stitches on.
Also found this, has some good information
http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-knit.htm

[suzeeq]

Yes, light colors or variegated because you can see stitches easier. I would recommend a size 9 or 10 needle though, it works very well with worsted weight yarn and makes the sts larger so you can see them better. The videos here are helpful and I found some at http://www.knittingwisdom.com/classes/basics.htm that seem to be pretty good.

[brittyknits]

You also might want to check the thread called New Knitter started by Grumbles in the General Knitting forum-- there are a lot of posts about this--including my own .

[cvcraven]

Thanks for all your suggestions! I really appreciate it!
I will check out those sites and see what I can do. LOL


I'm sure I'll be back in a few days with a ton of questions.

[MerigoldinWA]

Any needle size between about a 7 and a 10 would work. About any worsted weight yarn, wool or acrylic. Make it smooth (not any sort of fun fur or weird texture) and like someone said not a dark color. Any kind of needles will work, but personally and from the experience I've had teaching others to knit, I don't recommend the 14 inch long ones. I much prefer 10 inch straight needles or almost any length of circular needle (just pretend the two ends of the circular needle are two regular straight needles and work back and forth in rows). You might like a needle that is not real slippery to begin with, wood or bamboo or even nylon or plastic might be easier to work with at first than aluminum, but if that is all you can find it would do.

That is all you need to get started. There are lots of choices and some may work better than others but needles and yarn is really all you need. Any yarn, any needles in a pinch. :-) And to be honest what I like or dislike or what anyone likes or dislikes, may not be what you will find YOU like, or dislike.