Knitting - A Beginners Guide

Knitting is a fun experience where you can be creative and practical at the same time. For example, you can create practical pieces like scarves, hats and sweaters. Use a fun fashion fabric and the piece becomes fabulous. Keep it for yourself or give it away as a gift that will be much appreciated. Knitting takes practice, so before starting any project always gather all the supplies you need and read the pattern over carefully. Here are some other things to keep in mind when you are first starting out.

Pattern Ratings

Patterns are rated by skill level. There are four different levels: beginner, easy, intermediate and advanced. Before buying a pattern, take note of the skill level. It's best to start with simple patterns and build up your skills from there. This way you won't become overwhelmed and stop knitting before really giving it a chance.

Beginner: These patterns are perfect for first time knitters. Beginner patterns use a limited number of basic stitches, require only minimal shaping and are easy to finish off.

Easy: These patterns build on the basic stitches and repetitive patterns learned in the beginner projects. Easy patterns then go on to introduce simple colour changes and simple ways to shape and finish projects.

Intermediate: Intermediate patterns use a variety of stitches and techniques, which may require using special needles like cable needles. They also build on colour changes in order to create patterns through the use of colour. More shaping and finishing methods are introduced.

Advanced: Advanced patterns are detailed and intricate. They may also be labelled as "Experienced" because you really do need a lot of experience if you are going to tackle these patterns. These patterns use advanced stitches and techniques, detailed shaping and intricate finishing methods.

Supplies Required

Basic knitting supplies include knitting needles and wool. Knitting needles come in a variety of sizes and are made from a variety of material, including wood, aluminum, steel and plastic. The size of the knitting needle will influence the finished size of your project. Wool also comes in a large variety of colours, textures and weight (how thick the wool is). Be sure to read the pattern you have chosen to see what kind of wool and weight it recommends to use. If you use a different wool or needle size then what is recommended, be sure to test the gauge before starting the pattern.

Gauge

Above I mentioned a thing called "gauge". The gauge is the number of stitches and rows that are knitted to produce an inch of finished product. The gauge is determined by the size of the needles and the weight or thickness of the wool used. If you are using a different size of needle or wool weight than the pattern you are following, then it is a must to knit a gauge swatch. Even if you are using the needle or weight recommended, it is still a good idea to knit a gauge swatch.

If the size of the swatch you knitted matches the size given in the pattern, then you are ready to do your pattern. If it doesn't and you knit the pattern anyways, then your finished project will be larger or smaller than it is suppose to be. If you want your finished project to be the size the pattern calls for, then change the wool weight or the size of the knitting needles and redo your gauge swatch. Once it matches, then go ahead and knit the pattern.

To create a gauge swatch, use the needles and yarn you plan to use for the project. Cast on more stitches than the pattern calls for in the gauge swatch. Knit at least four inches and then loosely bind off the stitches. Use a ruler and count the number of stitches going across one inch and the number of stitch going down one inch. If you have more stitches per inch than the gauge of the pattern calls for, you will need to change to larger needles. If you have fewer stitches per inch than the gauge of the pattern calls for, you will need to change to smaller needles