Atlas Insider
Peer Pressure
The other day, Ann looked at me and posed an important question “Why aren’t you knitting?”
Good question, Ann.
I have all of the ingredients to make a knitter: a heavy craft background, some free time, a copy of Skill Set with a Box of Joy (the cutest set of supplies). Plus: access to Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne for any and all knitting related questions.
Why am I not knitting?
See that at the bottom? That is my very, very first bit of knitting.
I did start. I picked up my copy of Skill Set. I watched the videos, hand-wound my yarn, learned to knit and purl, carefully making my way through the chapters of such a handy little book until I had my very own hand-knit hat in my hands.
Then I stopped.
Why keep going when I just made this hat? Kay complimented my very first hand-knit as I held it up on our morning zoom. Obviously I can’t make anything else and run the risk of ruining my compliment streak. I’ve peaked as a knitter. (There is a big assumption here that any further projects won’t be worthy of a Kay Gardiner compliment. I’m not putting pressure on it or anything.)
Since then, in times I could have been knitting, I’ve instead been mulling this knitting thing over. Intimidation is not quite the feeling, but overwhelm.
When you are a beginner knitter who happens to work at MDK, the Bar For Knitting Is Very High, even if it’s self imposed.
I don’t like being a beginner. I want to skip to the part where I have a pile of sweaters I’ve made like Ann’s pile of sweaters she’s made.
I guess I don’t have to start with a Norwegian sweater or a cable party a la Norah Gaughan or a lace table cloth. I can figure it out as I go—even if it’s not beginner friendly or worthy of a Kay Gardiner Compliment. (Even though Kay is nice and will probably give me one anyway.) Everyone starts somewhere, so they say.
Not to spoil the ending, but I have started knitting since the fateful day Ann asked that question.
Drum roll, please. My very first project is: The Scrunchie Bag. I captured a fleeting moment of inspiration brought on by a recent trip to Turkey and bought the pattern at the airport on the way home. I rooted around in the community yarn bin at MDK World Headquarters to find two skeins of Felted Tweed in complimentary shades of purple and took off towards glory.
I’ve made slow-but-steady progress. I’ve frogged only once to re-figure out an i-cord—which as it turns out, I was doing correctly! I just didn’t know what an i-cord was! Learning is fun. I really mean that.
My take-aways so far:
- It sort of feels like magic.
- I actually do like being a beginner.
- It almost feels like a crime to call this a craft. It’s art and labor and math.
- It makes me feel close to my grandma, who we lost in August.
- I get it.
I’m halfway through my first project and already thinking about my second, maybe even third.
I’m guessing that makes me a knitter.
What was your first project? Do you have advice for a beginner knitter?
Come Shop With Us
Emily, it’s going to be wonderful! Knitting is a continuum. It may feel like there forwards and then a lot of backwards, but actually it’s all moving forward (and getting better). Keep going, you’ve got this.
Since I feel like an eternal beginner (even though I have a perfectly knitted lace shawlette to prove otherwise – you know the one – and a tiny stack of decently knit wearables I actually take out on the town) painfully based on how much time I spend tinking vs. actually knitting, I have this to share. It is ALL knitting. Enjoy each stitch. Walk away for awhile when fixing any one error has been reknitted one stitch too far, then come back later (maybe five years later but who’s counting), and consider Wendy Bernard’s comment that goes something like this: keep in mind the vision of the end product you are trying to achieve. Every time I want to ignore a “minor” mistake that I know will affect me in a major way, I think of that comment. (Expressed by her differently but I hope based on the same idea). And enjoy that perfect hat, and every creation forward, perfect or not. It is Yours! Every stitch. And one to be proud of. And related to the tinking aspect of knitting, when I went back and saw that picture of Ann’s stacks of sweaters, I automatically started counting them by threes, the same multiple I use when counting the myriad number of stitches on my needles, and miraculously – according to Ann’s text – they came out even!
I also count stitches by threes! My mother taught me to do this, but I haven’t met anyone else who did!
(And Emily, you’ve got real joy ahead…)
Just read Didi’s Comment which said in 3 sentences what took me more than 5 times that many to say the same thing. Yikes. Hopefully the Wendy Bernard advice was at least useful.
Even though I have been knitting off and on for 50 years, I still find projects to start with a technique I have never done before. Each project can make you feel like a beginner at something, but that’s okay. I look at them as adventures and with excitement.
As a fellow yogi enthusiast, when I knit, I tend to ponder the qualities of shtira and sukha both in my knitting and in myself as I’m knitting. Do you do likewise?
The first project I made was a V-neck raglan long sleeved sweater. My mom taught me when I was 14. She thought it was a good first project to teach basic KP, ribbing, increase/decrease and finishing. Wish I still had that sweater. It turned out okay! She was a stickler on the finishing.
I focus on ‘the act of knitting’ rather than the finished project. I love the meditative qualities of the process. If I make mistakes (we all do), I’ve learned to fix them. I practice my knitting every day — and I stick to one project at a time. I do want to finish one, before I begin another.
Of course I love all the garments I’ve been able to create and am thrilled when a stranger asks about what I’m wearing. I get to say, yes, “I made that”.
That’s me. You will find your knitting path. Just pick up the needles to begin!
There’s a community yarn bin at MDK World Headquarters? It makes sense, of course, but still WOW—what a place to work!
That struck me too! Oh joy!!
How exciting for you! May you have many years of knitting ahead of you. And welcome to MDK! Looking forward to your next article.
Hi Emily, I didn’t know what i-cord was either. Thought it was something like parachute cord that you bought at a craft store. Finally learned at Shakerag class a few years ago by sitting next to someone who taught me. Bless that knitter!!
Also, I’m much better at building a yarn stash.
Emily, you are doing great, and being a beginner at anything is fun!
My first real project was a trio of hats for some friends, and it’s only gotten better since then.
I was going to suggest a Sophie scarf for your next project, but it looks like the Scrunchie bag is almost the same thing!
But yeah, a Sophie scarf is a great beginner project, and fun to wear!
My first project was the bottom portion of a sweater that taught me the importance of swatching. I kept knitting and knitting and it was barely getting longer. I finally took it off the circular needle and discovered it was three times too big.
After that disaster, I knit the Chauncey sweater by Isabell Kraemer. It turned out perfect and I still wear and love it all the time.
There’s always more to learn with knitting, but I miss the beginning when every single project offered the opportunity to learn a new technique or skill.
Doll clothes. My mom was an incredible knitter….i have 2 sisters and we all had mitts ( with strings!), scarves, hats, sweaters. She knit, ripped out and reknit as we grew. I am the eldest so I think I started knitting before I started school. Knitting has just always been part of the rhythm of my life!
Emily, you rock! I love that you bought a pattern at the airport and have followed through. Just as you with your Grandma, I have a connection with my dear mom every time I pick up yarn and needles to begin a fiber journey. She’s been gone 27 years, but her lessons ring true. What a gift she gave me. Bravo to you on your knitting journey!
Bravo to you!! There’s no going back now! I think it’s not a bad thing to always consider yourself a beginner. That way you always have something to learn.
If you want a Kay Gardiner Compliment, knit a heap of dishcloths. (PS: That “community yarn bin” is really Kermt’s office….)
You bought a pattern in an airport? That makes you a knitter for sure!
Congratulations on moving on to other projects. You have reminded me that the girl in the dorm room next door to me, sophomore year in college, learned how to knit on Norwegian sweaters. Actually, IMO, knitting is addictive. I’ve been doing it for 72 years and love it. I hope you get there, too.
I began learning to knit 10 years ago when I retired. My first project was a garter stitch cowl, knitted flat, and closed with a sewn on button. Since then I have been knitting most every day on all sorts of projects. I began to realize that each project offered me an opportunity to learn something new about the craft and that was a very valuable thing, even if I didn’t especially like the finished product. I value how much I have learned over these years and look forward to learning still more.
Just. Keep. Swimming.
“It almost feels like a crime to call this a craft. It’s art and labor and math.” This is the most insightful comment from a beginner I have ever heard, Emily!!!
Look at that sweet hat you made…and the colors of Felted Tweed you selected!! W O W
I get it that the bar feels high learning at MDK. 27 years into knitting, I still mess up when my LYS teacher comes over to watch me!!
I wish there was a category: “A Laughfest of Bloopers.” on the MDK website. We would all be showing up there, including Kay and Ann. They have taught me – over and over again – that no one is exempt from mistakes, epic or otherwise.
You are a beginning knitter. So many adventures await you. It is a very special time for every knitter.
Welcome aboard!! I am rooting for you!!!
The journey, not the destination
Stitch by stitch, project by project you learn a little at a time (didn’t think I’d ever see the difference between a knit and a purl but then I did). I remember gripping my needles so tightly in fear of stitches falling off but learned to relax. You have the best possible environment to learn in! Luckily I had a LYS close by & was in there a couple times a week getting help for probably the first year (always so helpful, kind, & encouraging)—I was hooked, eager to learn, and not giving up. After a while if I got bored I took a class & learned something new. Found friends to knit with. It’s been nearly a lifelong companion now, a great journey—welcome to the club!
I’ve knit off and on for 60 odd years (some of which were very odd). In that time, there have been many changes to what I knit, the yarn and tools I use, and how I knit.
I’ve had incredibly productive years knitting wise, and others that have been not gotten much done.
It’s a hobby, set your own pace, learn new things when you’re ready to add new skills.
Above all, enjoy your knitting time!
My mother taught me to knit when I stayed home from school with the flu – I made a headband. My next project was in middle school and I made a scarf for my brother. I knitted a vest in college. As a newlywed, I remember a neighbor who knit sweaters which I thought was way out of my league. When knitting became popular again through social media, I became addicted to Pinterest and now I have knit tons of projects. Keep it up! I try to learn a new technique every year.
My first project was a pair of slippers that I knit in the 5th grade. I grew up in Massachusetts and when it was too cold for us to go out for recess at school, our teacher, Marguerite Shurtleff, taught us all how to knit (boys included)! I thought I already knew how to knit because both of my grandmothers had taught me the knit and purl stitches, but following a pattern for slippers made me a real knitter. My next really real project was a tennis sweater, you know the white v-neck ones with the burgundy and navy stripes and cables? My Great Aunt Pauline and my Aunt Louise held my hands while I knit that one summer while staying with them on Cape Cod. Now that was a real project, and I wore that until it wore out. I’m 75 now and still knit every day, although arthritis is beginning to slow me down a bit. But knitters have got to knit!!
Welcome! We are so glad you are a knitter!
My first project was a blanket. No, I do not still have it. I unraveled it for the yarn, made something else out of it. Unraveled that, made something else, and wound up giving that away to a soon to be ex-boyfriend. (I did not have much money and was scrambling to make ends meet. Making things was more important than having them.)
The great thing about knitting is that you can do it any way that works for you. I totally unravel projects to turn the yarn into something better, but there are knitters who are running for the bathroom just reading that. Just take what you need and put the rest into the community advice bin for someone else to use. (And hang on to those needles. You have no idea what will happen if you misplace them and have to get another, inadequate, pair.)
I know how you feel. I have been knitting for 70 years, and I still feel like a very unsure beginner. I grew up in Norway and started knitting at age 7. it always has to be a sweater not a kofte (jacket). I am deathly afraid of steeking. Some day.
Welcome to the wonderful world of knitting, Emily! My first knitted project was a baby set with a sweater, bonnet, and booties when I was pregnant with my oldest (she’s almost 29 now). I had 24/7 sickness and wanted something to do while I was in bed feeling miserable so I got a “learn to knit in a day” kit and finished the baby set in a week of vacation. (It probably helped that I already had been crocheting since I was 8 or 9.) I still enjoy both and go through phases when I do more of one than the other.
You’ll never be sorry. (If you’re not frogging, you’re not learning…) You’ll always be learning. Oh, also. You cross paths with so many lovely people. It just helps ‘fill the well.’
Enjoyed every one of these comments. They are all so true. A couple of them gave me the impression that I might not have properly presented Wendy Bernard’s advice and I don’t want to do that to her. As I recall (it’s been years) I think she said some thing like, if you visualize the final product you are more likely to end up with it – whether you are a project or a process knitter (are those the right words? Yikes, I’ve forgotten!) or any other kind of knitter. For me, I found that to be very helpful, as I was floundering at the time with a project and this made sense to me as a kind of guide post. Hope I said it better this time!
Knitting (and fiber arts more broadly) isn’t just a rabbit hole; there’s an entire wonderland down there to get lost in. And I 100% agree that it can be overwhelming! My advice for a beginner is this: You can be a casual knitter, and you do not need to go all the way to collecting vintage spinning wheels and weaving your own cloth. Learn and make what makes you happy. (If you get excited about more down the road, great! But take it one– or maybe two– projects at a time.) My cousin knits one scarf every winter. I (the autistic one) am learning about sheep fleece production locally and natural dying and brioche knitting and and and… That’s how knitting fits into our lives! And that’s 100% okay. :).
Welcome to being a knitter! Do it on your terms:). And have fun!