What to Buy to Learn to Knit

One great way to learn knitting or crochet is to find a local yarn store and sign up for a beginners' class. This will provide you with personal support and let you learn in real time. It will also connect you with other knitters, which can be a valuable part of the knitting experience.

If you are simply too busy to attend a class, you can learn to knit in your odd minutes of spare time using various websites. Websites are great for learning new techniques because many include diagrams, videos, and written explanations. So, whether you learn visually, audibly, or through reading, you can find the one that is right for you. One great website that includes videos is knittinghelp.com

Maybe you don't like the idea of sitting at a computer to learn a fiber art. If this is the case, you can find many great books that will provide written explanations and diagrams. Check the library if you don't want to invest in owning a new book. Librarians are great resources and local libraries are gold mines of info. Recently published books that are great for beginners include Debbie Stoller's Stitch n Bitch series. There are also numerous booklets and pamphlets available published by large yarn companies, such as Lion Brand, and sold in craft stores and yarn stores.

Also, a great place to look is to tv shows, such as DIY's Knitty Gritty, or dvd's of knitting instruction. The television shows always prove to be inspiring, no mater your skill level, and dvd's, though pricey, can be paused, rewound, and watched over again for years to come.

What supplies will you need to have on hand to learn to knit?

One of the greatest things about knitting and crocheting is how little one actually needs to create something new. (How much one chooses to collect, on the other hand, is a different matter.) To knit, you must have yarn and two matching needles. The needles are more like pointed sticks than like needles you may be used to.

The best yarn to start with is smooth and light colored. This will allow you to more easily see your stitches. Wool is a nice choice, but if money is an issue, acrylics can be found that are just as good. Acrylic yarn is man made, and generally less expensive than wool, but can feel plasticy and be less pleasurable to touch. My absolute favorite acrylic yarn is Caron's Simply Soft. It is soft to touch, keeps it's quality with wear and washing, and comes in zillions of pretty colors.

To work with a worsted weight yarn, like Simply Soft, you will want knitting needles ranging from size 7-9 or a crochet hook ranging from size h-j. The material that these are made from is your choice. Wood has more "grab" on the yarn, metal is easier to handle for those with an extra tight tension, but can be too slick for beginners, and plastic can sometimes bend, but is generally a good material for beginners, since needles made from it are less expensive.

Needles come in different forms, straight, circular, and double pointed being the main types. Straight needles look like two sticks with points on one end, and knob on the other. Circular needles are the sticks joined into one object by a flexible cord, usually made of nylon. They can be used to knit flat pieces or tubes. Double pointed needles come in sets of four or five and have points at each end, with no knobs. They are used mainly to knit tubes.

A 16 inch long circular needle in the correct size to use with your chosen yarn is an ideal first needle purchase. It can be used to knit the flat practice pieces for learning and is just the took needed to make a great first project, a hat. A hat makes a great first project because it's small enough to be finished without too much frustration (unlike a scarf) and it's much more interesting than practice squares. Another good first project would be rectangle slippers. These are slippers that involve knitting a simple rectangle, which becomes a slipper by the way it is folded and sewn together.

With these supplies and a good website, book, dvd, or teacher, a new knitter will have all he or she needs to start knitting. If you know a someone who wants to become a knitter, why not give them a gift of these things so they can get started today? If you'd like to get started knitting yourself, you don't have to invest too much money to buy just the right supplies to help you learn.